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argumentation theory Argumentation theory, or argumentation, is the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be supported or undermined by premises through logical reasoning. With historical origins in logic, dialectic, and rhetoric, argumentation theory, incl ...
, an argumentation scheme or argument scheme is a template that represents a common type of
argument An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialecti ...
used in ordinary
conversation Conversation is interactive communication between two or more people. The development of conversational skills and etiquette is an important part of socialization. The development of conversational skills in a new language is a frequent focus ...
. Many different argumentation schemes have been identified. Each one has a name (for example, ''argument from effect to cause'') and presents a type of connection between ''
premise A premise or premiss is a true or false statement that helps form the body of an argument, which logically leads to a true or false conclusion. A premise makes a declarative statement about its subject matter which enables a reader to either agre ...
s'' and a '' conclusion'' in an argument, and this connection is expressed as a
rule of inference In the philosophy of logic, a rule of inference, inference rule or transformation rule is a logical form consisting of a function which takes premises, analyzes their syntax, and returns a conclusion (or conclusions). For example, the rule of ...
. Argumentation schemes can include
inference Inferences are steps in reasoning, moving from premises to logical consequences; etymologically, the word ''wikt:infer, infer'' means to "carry forward". Inference is theoretically traditionally divided into deductive reasoning, deduction and in ...
s based on different types of
reasoning Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, langu ...
deductive Deductive reasoning is the mental process of drawing deductive inferences. An inference is deductively valid if its conclusion follows logically from its premises, i.e. if it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be fals ...
, inductive,
abductive Abductive reasoning (also called abduction,For example: abductive inference, or retroduction) is a form of logical inference formulated and advanced by American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce beginning in the last third of the 19th centur ...
,
probabilistic Probability is the branch of mathematics concerning numerical descriptions of how likely an event is to occur, or how likely it is that a proposition is true. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1, where, roughly speaking, ...
, etc. The study of argumentation schemes (under various names) dates back to the time of
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
, and today argumentation schemes are used for argument identification, argument analysis, argument evaluation, and argument invention. Some basic features of argumentation schemes can be seen by examining the scheme called ''argument from effect to cause'', which has the form: "If ''A'' occurs, then ''B'' will (or might) occur, and in this case ''B'' occurred, so in this case ''A'' presumably occurred." This scheme may apply, for example, when someone argues: "Presumably there was a fire, since there was smoke and if there is a fire then there will be smoke." This example looks like the formal fallacy of
affirming the consequent Affirming the consequent, sometimes called converse error, fallacy of the converse, or confusion of necessity and sufficiency, is a formal fallacy of taking a true conditional statement (e.g., "If the lamp were broken, then the room would be dar ...
("If ''A'' is true then ''B'' is also true, and ''B'' is true, so ''A'' must be true"), but in this example the
material conditional The material conditional (also known as material implication) is an operation commonly used in logic. When the conditional symbol \rightarrow is interpreted as material implication, a formula P \rightarrow Q is true unless P is true and Q i ...
logical connective In logic, a logical connective (also called a logical operator, sentential connective, or sentential operator) is a logical constant. They can be used to connect logical formulas. For instance in the syntax of propositional logic, the binary ...
("''A'' implies ''B''") in the formal fallacy does not account for exactly why the
semantic relation Contemporary ontologies share many structural similarities, regardless of the ontology language in which they are expressed. Most ontologies describe individuals (instances), classes (concepts), attributes, and relations. Overview Common comp ...
between premises and conclusion in the example, namely
causality Causality (also referred to as causation, or cause and effect) is influence by which one event, process, state, or object (''a'' ''cause'') contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object (an ''effect'') where the cau ...
, may be reasonable ("fire causes smoke"), while not all formally valid
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
premises are reasonable (such as in the valid ''
modus ponens In propositional logic, ''modus ponens'' (; MP), also known as ''modus ponendo ponens'' (Latin for "method of putting by placing") or implication elimination or affirming the antecedent, is a deductive argument form and rule of inference ...
'' argument "If there is a cat then there is smoke, and there is a cat, so there must be smoke"). As in this example, argumentation schemes typically recognize a variety of
semantic Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...
(or substantive) relations that inference rules in
classical logic Classical logic (or standard logic or Frege-Russell logic) is the intensively studied and most widely used class of deductive logic. Classical logic has had much influence on analytic philosophy. Characteristics Each logical system in this class ...
ignore. More than one argumentation scheme may apply to the same argument; in this example, the more complex ''
abductive Abductive reasoning (also called abduction,For example: abductive inference, or retroduction) is a form of logical inference formulated and advanced by American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce beginning in the last third of the 19th centur ...
argumentation scheme'' may also apply.


Overview

Since the beginning of the discipline called
rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate par ...
, See also: the study of the types of
argument An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialecti ...
has been a central issue. Knowledge of types of argument allows a speaker to find the argument form that is most suitable to a specific subject matter and situation. For example, arguments based on authority may be common in courts of law but not as frequent in a classroom discussion; arguments based on analogy are often effective in political discourse, but may be problematic in a scientific discussion. The two interrelated goals of argument identification and analysis were the core of ancient
dialectics Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing t ...
(similar to
debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred in public meetings, a ...
), and specifically the branch called '' topics''. In the 20th century, the ancient interest in types of arguments was revived in several
academic discipline An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
s, including
education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
,
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech ...
,
legal philosophy Philosophy of law is a branch of philosophy that examines the nature of law and law's relationship to other systems of norms, especially ethics and political philosophy. It asks questions like "What is law?", "What are the criteria for legal val ...
, and
discourse analysis Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is an approach to the analysis of written, vocal, or sign language use, or any significant semiotic event. The objects of discourse Analysis (discourse, writing, conversation, communicative event) ...
. The study of this ancient subject is mostly carried out today in the field of study called
argumentation theory Argumentation theory, or argumentation, is the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be supported or undermined by premises through logical reasoning. With historical origins in logic, dialectic, and rhetoric, argumentation theory, incl ...
under the name of ''argumentation schemes''. An example of an argumentation scheme is the scheme for ''argument from position to know'' given below. Following the usual convention in argumentation theory, arguments are given as a list of ''
premise A premise or premiss is a true or false statement that helps form the body of an argument, which logically leads to a true or false conclusion. A premise makes a declarative statement about its subject matter which enables a reader to either agre ...
s'' followed by a single '' conclusion''. The premises are the grounds given by the speaker or writer for the hearer or reader to accept the conclusion as true or as provisionally true (regarded as true for now). An argumentation scheme's definition is not itself an argument, but represents the structure of an argument of a certain type. The letters in the scheme, lower case ''a'' and upper case ''A'', need to be filled in if an argument is to be created from the scheme. Lower case ''a'' would be replaced by the name of a person and upper case ''A'' by a
proposition In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, " meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...
, which might be true or false. Argumentation theorist
Douglas N. Walton Douglas Neil Walton (2 June 1942 – 3 January 2020) was a Canadian academic and author, known for his books and papers on argumentation, logical fallacies and informal logic. He was a Distinguished Research Fellow of the Centre for Research in ...
gives the following example of an argument that fits the ''argument from position to know'' scheme: "It looks as if this passer-by knows the streets, and she says that City Hall is over that way; therefore, let's go ahead and accept the conclusion that City Hall is that way."


History

Among 20th-century authors,
Chaïm Perelman Chaïm Perelman (born Henio (or Henri) Perelman; sometimes referred to mistakenly as Charles Perelman) (20 May 1912, Warsaw – 22 January 1984, Brussels) was a Polish-born philosopher of law, who studied, taught, and lived most of his life in ...
and
Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca (1899–1987) was a Belgian academic and longtime co-worker of the philosopher Chaïm Perelman. She volunteered in 1948 to support his work and developed several aspects of the ''New Rhetoric'' independently in later years. ...
may have been the first to write at length about argumentation schemes, which they called argumentative schemes. They present a long list of schemes together with explanation and examples in part three of ''The New Rhetoric'' (1958). The argumentation schemes in ''The New Rhetoric'' are not described in terms of their logical structure, as in more recent scholarship on argumentation schemes; instead they are given prose descriptions. The structure of the arguments is, nevertheless, considered important by the authors. Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca also suggest a link between argumentation schemes and the ''loci'' (Latin) or ''
topoi In mathematics, a topos (, ; plural topoi or , or toposes) is a category that behaves like the category of sheaves of sets on a topological space (or more generally: on a site). Topoi behave much like the category of sets and possess a noti ...
'' (Greek) of classical writers. Both words, literally translated, mean "places" in their respective languages. ''Loci'' is a Latin translation of the Greek, ''topoi'', used by
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
in his work, '' Topics'', about logical argument and reasoning. Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca explain ''loci'' as: "headings under which arguments can be classified". And they write, "They are associated with a concern to help a speaker's inventive efforts and involve the grouping of relevant material, so that it can be easily found again when required." While Aristotle's treatment of ''topoi'' is not the same as the modern treatment of argumentation schemes, it is reasonable to consider Aristotle as the first writer in the genre. The first contemporary writer to treat argumentation schemes in the way they are treated by current scholars and the way they are described in this article may have been Arthur Hastings in his 1962 Ph.D. dissertation.


Forms of inference

The study of argument in the field of argumentation theory since Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's ''The New Rhetoric'' and
Stephen Toulmin Stephen Edelston Toulmin (; 25 March 1922 – 4 December 2009) was a British philosopher, author, and educator. Influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Toulmin devoted his works to the analysis of moral reasoning. Throughout his writings, he sought ...
's ''The Uses of Argument'', both first published in 1958, has been characterized by a recognition of the defeasible, non-monotonic nature of most ordinary everyday arguments and reasoning. A defeasible argument is one that can be defeated, and that defeat is achieved when new information is discovered that shows that there was a relevant exception to an argument in the presence of which the conclusion can no longer be accepted. A common example used in textbooks concerns Tweety, a bird that may or may not fly: :(All) birds can fly; :Tweety is a bird; :Therefore, Tweety can fly. The argument above (with the addition of "All", which is shown in parentheses) has the form of a logical syllogism and is, therefore, valid. If the first two statements, the premises, are true, then the third statement, the conclusion, must also be true. However, if we subsequently learn that Tweety is a penguin or has a broken wing, we can no longer conclude that Tweety can fly. In the context of
deductive inference Deductive reasoning is the mental process of drawing deductive inferences. An inference is deductively valid if its conclusion follows logically from its premises, i.e. if it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be fal ...
, we would have to conclude that our first premise was simply false. Deductive
inference rule In the philosophy of logic, a rule of inference, inference rule or transformation rule is a logical form consisting of a function which takes premises, analyzes their syntax, and returns a conclusion (or conclusions). For example, the rule of ...
s are not subject to exceptions. But there can be defeasible generalizations (defeasible inference rules). When we say that birds can fly, we mean that it is generally the case, subject to exceptions. We are justified in making the inference and accepting the conclusion that this particular bird can fly until we find out that an exception applies in this particular case. In addition to deductive inference and defeasible inference, there is also
probabilistic Probability is the branch of mathematics concerning numerical descriptions of how likely an event is to occur, or how likely it is that a proposition is true. The probability of an event is a number between 0 and 1, where, roughly speaking, ...
inference. A probabilistic version of the generalization, "birds can fly", might be: "There is a 75% chance that a bird will be found to be able to fly" or "if something is a bird it probably can fly". The probabilistic version is also capable of being defeated (it is defeasible), but it includes the idea that the uncertainty might be quantifiable according to axioms of probability. (An exact number need not be attached as in the first example.) In some theories, argumentation schemes are mostly schemes for argumentation with defeasible inference although there could be schemes for specialized areas of discourse using other forms of inference, such as probability in the sciences. For most or all everyday arguments, the schemes are defeasible. In other theories, the argumentation schemes are deductive or there is an attempt to interpret the schemes in a probabilistic way.


Examples


Argument from expert opinion

''Argument from expert opinion'' can be considered a sub-type of the ''argument from position to know'' presented at the beginning of the article. In this case, the person who is in a position to know is an expert who knows about some field.Tables from .


Critical questions

The schemes of and come with ''critical questions''. Critical questions are questions that could be asked to throw doubt on the argument's support for its conclusion. They are targeted toward key assumptions that, if true, make the argument acceptable. The reason these assumptions are presented in the form of questions is that these schemes are a part of a
dialectical Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing t ...
theory of argumentation. An argument is dialectical when it is a back and forth of argument and
rebuttal In law, rebuttal is a form of evidence that is presented to contradict or nullify other evidence that has been presented by an adverse party. By analogy the same term is used in politics and public affairs to refer to the informal process by ...
or questioning. This can be the case even when there is only one reasoner, presenting arguments, then seeking out new information or sources of doubt, or critically probing their own initial assumptions. Since everyday arguments are typically defeasible, this is an approach to strengthening a case over time, testing each element of the case and discarding those parts that do not stand up to scrutiny. The critical questions for ''argument from expert opinion'', given in , are shown below. Another version of the scheme ''argument from expert opinion'', given in a textbook by , does not include critical questions. Instead more of the key assumptions are included as additional premises of the argument.


Argument from ignorance

''Argument from ignorance'' can be stated in a very informal way as, "if it were true, I would know it". Walton gives the following example of an argument from ignorance: "The posted train schedule says that train 12 to Amsterdam stops at Haarlem and Amsterdam Central Station. We want to determine whether the train stops at Schipol. We can reason as follows: Since the schedule did not indicate that the train stops at Schipol, we can infer that it does not stop at Schipol." Examples very much like this are well known in computer science discussions about the
closed-world assumption The closed-world assumption (CWA), in a formal system of logic used for knowledge representation, is the presumption that a statement that is true is also known to be true. Therefore, conversely, what is not currently known to be true, is false. Th ...
for databases. One can assume that the train operating authority has a policy of maintaining a complete database of all of the stops and of publishing accurate schedules. In such cases it is fairly well assured that the information on the published schedule is correct even though it is possible for information to be missing from the database or not included in some particular schedule posting. The scheme and its accompanying critical questions are shown below. These critical questions, CQ2 and CQ3 especially, show the dialectical nature of the theory from which this scheme derives (that is, the scheme is based on a back and forth exchange between different parties). Two dialectical concerns are considered. It might be the case, as in some legal systems, that there is a presumption favoring a certain position—e.g., a
presumption of innocence The presumption of innocence is a legal principle that every person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty. Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the prosecution, which must presen ...
favoring the accused. In that case, the burden of proof is on the accuser, and it would not be proper to argue in the opposite direction: "If the accused were innocent I would have known about it; I don't know about it; therefore, the accused is not innocent." Even if it were a proper argument, the
standard of proof In a legal dispute, one party has the burden of proof to show that they are correct, while the other party had no such burden and is presumed to be correct. The burden of proof requires a party to produce evidence to establish the truth of facts ...
in such a case (as asked in CQ3) is very high,
beyond a reasonable doubt Beyond a reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the balance of probabilities standard commonly used in civil cases, becau ...
, but the ''argument from ignorance'' alone might be very weak. When challenged, additional arguments would be needed to build a sufficiently strong case.


Other schemes

The following list is a selection of names of argumentation schemes from ; other sources may give different names: * Argument from witness testimony * Argument from popular opinion * Argument from popular practice * Argument from example * Argument from composition * Argument from division * Argument from oppositions * Argument from alternatives * Argument from verbal classification * Argument from definition to verbal classification * Argument from vagueness of a verbal classification * Argument from arbitrariness of a verbal classification * Argument from interaction of act and person * Argument from values * Argument from the group and its members *
Practical reason In philosophy, practical reason is the use of reason to decide how to act. It contrasts with theoretical reason, often called speculative reason, the use of reason to decide what to follow. For example, agents use practical reason to decide whethe ...
ing argument * Argument from waste * Argument from sunk costs * Argument from correlation to cause * Argument from sign * Argument from evidence to a hypothesis * Argument from consequences * Argument from threat * Argument from fear appeal * Argument from danger appeal * Argument from need for help * Argument from distress * Argument from commitment * Ethotic argument * Generic ad hominem argument * Pragmatic inconsistency argument * Argument from inconsistent commitment * Circumstantial ad hominem argument * Argument from bias * Bias ad hominem argument * Argument from gradualism * Slippery slope argument See for a description of argumentation schemes for practical reasoning.


Relation to fallacies

Many of the names of argumentation schemes may be familiar because of their history as names of
fallacies A fallacy is the use of invalid or otherwise faulty reasoning, or "wrong moves," in the construction of an argument which may appear stronger than it really is if the fallacy is not spotted. The term in the Western intellectual tradition was intr ...
and because of the history of the teaching of fallacies in
critical thinking Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to form a judgement. The subject is complex; several different definitions exist, which generally include the rational, skeptical, and unbiased ana ...
and
informal logic Informal logic encompasses the principles of logic and logical thought outside of a formal setting (characterized by the usage of particular statements). However, the precise definition of "informal logic" is a matter of some dispute. Ralph H. ...
courses. In his groundbreaking work, ''Fallacies'', C. L. Hamblin challenged the idea that the traditional fallacies are always fallacious. Subsequently, Walton described the fallacies as kinds of arguments; they can be used properly and provide support for conclusions, support which is, however, provisional and the arguments defeasible. When used improperly they can be fallacious.


Uses

Argumentation schemes are used for argument ''identification'', argument ''analysis'', argument ''evaluation'', and argument ''invention''.


Argument identification

Argument identification is the identification of arguments in a text or spoken discourse. Many or most of the statements will not be arguments or parts of arguments. But some of those statements might look similar to arguments. Informal logicians have especially noted the similarity between words used to express arguments and those used to express explanations. Words like "because" or "since" can be used to introduce reasons that justify argumentative positions, but they can also be used to introduce explanations: e.g., "something is the way it is ''because'' of the following explanation". Schemes may aid in argument identification because they describe factors that distinguish the argument type from other text. For example, an ''argument from expert opinion'' refers to an expert and a field of expertise, both of which could be identified in a text. Some schemes contain more easily distinguished characteristics than others.


Argument mining

Argument mining Argument mining, or argumentation mining, is a research area within the natural-language processing field. The goal of argument mining is the automatic extraction and identification of argumentative structures from natural language text with the aid ...
is the automatic identification of arguments in natural language using computing technology. It also includes some of the tasks of argument analysis. The same benefits from the use of argumentation schemes as described above for identification and analysis are relevant to argument mining. Linguistic features that distinguish specific schemes can be used by computer algorithms to identify instances of those schemes and therefore automatically identify the arguments that are of those kinds. Without the ability to notice such argumentative patterns, only features common to all arguments would be available. proposed using argumentation schemes to automatically help fill in missing (implicit) premises in arguments, and they experimented with detecting instances of such schemes. Similar work was done by Lawrence and Reed, and reported in 2016.


Argument analysis

Argument analysis is distinguishing the premises and conclusion of an argument and determining their relationships (such as whether they are ''linked'' or ''convergent''—see for diagrams of such relationships), determining the form of inference, and making explicit any implicit premises or conclusions. (These are the tasks of analysis from a
logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from prem ...
al perspective. When discourse and rhetorical analyses are considered, there would be additional tasks.) The logical analysis of arguments is especially made difficult by the presence of implicit elements. Their being implicit means that they are not present in the text (or spoken discourse) as statements; nevertheless, they are understood by the reader or hearer because of nonverbal elements or because of shared background knowledge from the social, cultural, or other shared, context. The implicit elements are also elements that are needed to make the argument
cogent The CoGeNT experiment has searched for dark matter. It uses a single germanium crystal (~100 grams) as a cryogenic detector for WIMP particles. CoGeNT has operated in the Soudan Underground Laboratory since 2009. Results Their first announc ...
. Arguments containing implicit elements are called ''
enthymeme An enthymeme ( el, ἐνθύμημα, ''enthýmēma'') is a form of rational appeal, or deductive argument. It is also known as a rhetorical syllogism and is used in oratorical practice. While the syllogism is used in dialectic, or the art of log ...
s'', which is a term that was used by Aristotle in his works about dialectical reasoning and argument. If an argument appears to match a scheme but is missing some elements, the scheme could be used as a guide to determining what is implicit in the argument. An additional challenge with regard to this task could be that some schemes are easy to confuse. In Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's concept of ''argumentative scheme'', different schemes could apply to the same argument depending on the interpretation of the argument or the argument could be described by multiple schemes. Hansen and Walton also write that arguments may fit multiple schemes.


Argument evaluation

Argument evaluation is the determination of the goodness of the argument: determining how good the argument is and whether, or with what reservations, it ought to be accepted. As mentioned above, in schemes accompanied by critical questions, a measure of the goodness of the argument is whether the critical questions can be appropriately answered. In other schemes, as in the example of the versions of ''argument from expert opinion'' in , only good arguments fit the scheme because the criteria for goodness are included as premises, so if any one of the premises is false, the conclusion should not be accepted.


Argument invention

Argument invention is making new arguments to suit the occasion. As mentioned above, Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca attribute that use to the ''loci'' and ''topoi'' of the classical argumentation theorists. They form a catalog of argument types from which arguers may draw in constructing their arguments. With argumentation schemes described by their structure with single letter variables as placeholders, constructing such arguments is just a matter of filling in the placeholders. The arguer could use other words that convey the same meaning and embellish the argument in other ways.


See also

*
Decisional balance A decisional balance sheet or decision balance sheet is a tabular method for representing the pros and cons of different choices and for helping someone decide what to do in a certain circumstance. It is often used in working with ambivalence in p ...
, or balance-of-considerations reasoning *
Design pattern A design pattern is the re-usable form of a solution to a design problem. The idea was introduced by the architect Christopher Alexander and has been adapted for various other disciplines, particularly software engineering. The "Gang of Four" boo ...
*
Heuristic A heuristic (; ), or heuristic technique, is any approach to problem solving or self-discovery that employs a practical method that is not guaranteed to be optimal, perfect, or rational, but is nevertheless sufficient for reaching an immediate ...
*
Pattern language A pattern language is an organized and coherent set of ''patterns'', each of which describes a problem and the core of a solution that can be used in many ways within a specific field of expertise. The term was coined by architect Christopher Alexa ...
* Pedagogical pattern *
Rule of thumb In English, the phrase ''rule of thumb'' refers to an approximate method for doing something, based on practical experience rather than theory. This usage of the phrase can be traced back to the 17th century and has been associated with various t ...


References


Further reading

* * * * * {{Logic Arguments