Causal Argument |
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By the end of this lesson, you should be able to do each of the following:
Read Chapter 11 of Everything’s an Argument before you
come to class on Tuesday. Write an outline for your causal
argument and bring it to class on Thursday. This outline should contain a claim, as well as notes for
your introduction, support, rebuttal, and conclusion. Think Fast: In
class I will play part of a taped lecture from a series called Conquest of
the Americas. Take notes on
this lecture, focusing on the speaker’s claim and evidence. Presentation: Causal
Argument (Professor Canada) Cooperative Learning:
Working with the other members of your group, analyze Marshall Eakins’s
argument in the taped lecture.
What evidence has Eakins used to support his claim? Has his support come in the form of
analogies, correlations, or other kinds of support? Do you find his argument convincing? Explain your assessment. Discussion: During
this time, we will discuss the insights and questions that have emerged
during our reading, “Think Fast” exercise, presentations, and cooperative
learning. Think Again: Choose
an event or a phenomenon from the colonial period of American history and
write a question about this event or phenomenon that begins with the word
“Why.” Now, using a bubble
diagram, speculate on some possible answers to your question. Conferences: During
these one-on-one conferences, I will review some of your writing, orally quiz
you on lesson objectives, and field your questions. Announcements: We
will wrap up this lesson with announcements regarding upcoming lessons, as
well as other relevant subjects. Make sure you know the meaning and significance of each of the following terms:
Everything’s an Argument provides specific
tips on writing causal arguments. Updated December 30, 2002
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IntroductionHaving completed our unit on evaluations, we turn now to causal argument. Please bring your text books to our regular classroom, Dial 147, where we will begin discussing the structure of causal argument and launch the process of constructing one. DiscussionCausal argument underlies two of the most common, challenging, and difficult questions we confront in our lives: “Why?” and “What if?” When paleontologists consider the reasons why dinosaurs became extinct, when historians debate the causes of a war, when environmentalists speculate on the effects of pollution, and when psychologists study the effects of racism, they are working in the realm of causal argument. That is, they are examining the complex process by which people, forces, events, and other phenomena interact to bring about other phenomena. Although some people may speak of proving a causal connection between two things, causal argument is by its very nature highly speculative and prone to mistakes. Part of the difficulty, as any scientist can attest, lies in isolating variables. In other words, when examining the many factors that may have caused an event to occur or the many effects that may be traced back to a cause, we must be careful to determine exactly which ones really are valid. Take, for example, the apparently simple case of the Civil War. Anyone who has studied this conflict knows that slavery was an important issue that divided the northern and southern states. In the three decades preceding the Civil War, however, America also was experiencing a number of other important phenomena: social upheaval, migration and immigration, technological changes, and even an economic panic. How can we prove that it was slavery and not one of these other factors that caused the war? The answer is that we can’t. Indeed, as in other kinds of argument, we rarely can prove our causal claims definitively. What we can do is to present compelling evidence that suggests a connection between what we are labeling as causes and effects. Occasionally, we may be able to find primary or secondary sources that themselves make the connection. Abraham Lincoln and other people from the period preceding and including the Civil War, for instance, spoke of the national tension over slavery, and scholars in subsequent decades have seen a connection between slavery and the war. Such evidence is certainly compelling, but we can strengthen a causal argument by using other strategies. When we use an analogy, for example, we argue that A caused B in this instance because a similar A caused a similar B in another instance. The philosopher John Stuart Mill identified several other strategies, including concomitant variation—that is, if A and B have tended to occur or vary together in the past, it is logical to assume that they have a causal relationship—and process of elimination. In the latter case, we would show why C, D, E, and F did not cause B, thus leaving A as the probable cause. While none of these strategies can prove a cause-effect relationship beyond a shadow of a doubt, together they can make a strong case. In particular, they can help a writer or speaker avoid a logical fallacy likely to emerge in causal argument—that is, the post hoc argument. As suggested by its Latin name, which literally means “after the fact,” a post hoc argument claims that A caused B simply because A preceded B. Because precedence is necessary but not sufficient for a factor to cause an effect, post hoc arguments are at best fallacious and at worst ridiculous. You will want to avoid them and support your causal claim with solid evidence. ConclusionIn this lesson, we have examined the basic structure of causal argument. In our next lesson, we will continue working on causal argument while also taking up the important subject of reading critically. |