The Toulmin Argument

 

The Toulmin Argument is an argumentation style that breaks it down into different components: claim, grounds, warrant, qualifier, rebuttal, and backing. 

The claim is the main argument, something you are trying to prove to your audience. The grounds are evidence to help support your claim, while the warrant is an assumption that links the two. The qualifier is something you may add to give it some leeway since the claim may not always be correct. Backing provides extra support to the warrant, such as using specific examples, and the rebuttal essentially validates a different point of view. 

These can successfully be applied to online arguments or discussions to show a reasonable exchange of information and facilitate productive discourse. Many online arguments are fueled by emotions, especially around the current political state of our world. The Toulmin argument offers a better way of communication. For example, instead of just saying “Trump is awful” or “Israel sucks” we could use this method to display correct information and back it up with data to strengthen the argument. However, it is still very difficult to argue with people who are not willing to absorb challenging information, and the emotional component may prevail. In online arguments, it is also frequent for people to skip over paragraphs if it’s too much material to read, and it’s difficult to gander reliability of sources. To navigate these communication challenges, it is crucial to read thoroughly, find educational/scholarly materials, avoid emotional responses, and understand that a majority of online comments also consist of “rage bate” where people purposefully post racist/homophobic remarks in order to produce a negative response. Critical thinking skills are important in this instance, to distinguish which arguments may be a waste of time and energy. Re-education will not occur in one instagram comment, because people are shaped by generations of privilege and thought patterns. 

Even yesterday, my friends were having a debate over reverse-racism, and someone made the comment “black people benefited from slavery because otherwise they wouldn’t make it over here”, and it was very difficult to form a calm response. One of my friends actually spent 30 minutes debating and attempting to show how wrong this was, but facts can only get you so far. Opinions are shaped by years of environmental influences, so re-education takes time. 

Clink on this link for more: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/historical_perspectives_on_argumentation/toulmin_argument.html#:~:text=Developed%20by%20philosopher%20Stephen%20E,the%20grounds%2C%20and%20the%20warrant.