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RHETORIC

Name: ________________

LOGIC: “Arguments and Explanations ”


Chapter 1 Lesson 6

Argument:

Explanation:

An argument is not an explanation, and an


explanation is not an argument. You must
discern the author’s intention to recognize the
difference.

NOTE: BE CAREFUL. PREMISE-


INDICATORS AND CONCLUSION-
INDICATORS CAN BE USED IN BOTH
EXPLANATIONS AND ARGUMENTS.

Examples
•Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust consumes and
where thieves do not break in and steal. For
where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also.
RHETORIC

-Matthew 7:19

•Therefore is the name of it [the tower] called


Babel; because the Lord did there confound the
language of all the earth.
-Genesis 11:19

Premise-Indicators

Conclusion-Indicators

Identify which of the following statements is


explanation and which is argument.
1.Underline or highlight any premise-indicators
and/or conclusion-indicators.
2.Diagram the arguments.
RHETORIC

3. Write ‘EXPLANATION’ next to the


statements that are explanations.

3. Animals born without traits that led to


reproduction died out, whereas the ones that
reproduced the most succeeded in conveying their
genes to posterity. Crudely speaking, sex feels
good because over evolutionary time the animals
that like having sex created more offspring than
the animals that didn’t.
—R. Thornhill and C.T Palmer, “Why Men
Rape,”
The Sciences, February 2000

5. A black hole is an object with so much gravity


that nothing can escape it-not even light, the
fastest thing in the universe. Anything
approaching a black hole gets pulled into the
object and disappears as if it fell into a hole.
Because even light cannot escape, the hole
appears black.
—Ken Croswell, “The Best Black Hole in the
Galaxy”
March 1992
RHETORIC

10. Love looks not with the eyes but with the
mind; And therefore is wing’d Cupid painted
blind.
—William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s
Dream,
act 1, scene 1

11. Members of the primate order have especially


long periods of infant dependency compared with
other mammals, because, it is believed, juveniles
need the time to learn the ropes of their uniquely
intricate social world.
—Meredith F. Small, “Political Animal,”
The Sciences, March 1990

12. That appellate advocacy is largely a written


art has two consequences: First, making heads or
tails of Supreme Court arguments without having
read the briefs is often difficult. Second, the
decision in any Court case may bear no relation to
the questions asked at oral argument; the decision
reflects the arguments made in the briefs. Rather
than demystify the process, televising Supreme
Court arguments may only contribute to
misunderstandings about how the Court operates.
RHETORIC

—Andrew C. Mergen, “Where Words Are Worth


1,000 Pictures,”
New York Times, 8 May 1996

15. How do girls become afraid to ask questions


in science class? How do they come to think of
science as less useful or interesting than boys do?
Such attitudes are learned, and parents and
teachers teach them.
—“Why Art There Fewer Women?”
Michigan Alumnus, October 1995

16. Increasing incarceration rates do not result in


decreasing crime rates because few crimes result
in imprisonment or arrest. This is not because
judges are soft on criminals but because 90
percent of crimes are either not reported or go
unsolved.
—Elizabeth Alexander, “Look to More Cost-
effective Antidotes than Prison,”
New York Times, 25 January 1996

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