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- Apr 14, 2022
- 4 min
Hyperbole
In a series of posts on persuasive language, commonly referred to as rhetoric, I mentioned some rhetorical devices that can make a...
- May 25, 2021
- 5 min
Inaugural Rhetoric
Try as I might to find a five-dumbbell example of recent political rhetoric, they seem to be in short supply these days. Liz Cheney gave...
- May 12, 2021
- 5 min
Is All Fair in Love and Rhetoric?
At the end of the last post in this series on rhetoric, I indicated that things often considered positive qualities, such as fairness and...
- May 5, 2021
- 4 min
Rhetoric - Turning the Tables
In the last piece in this series on rhetoric, I talked about how to defend yourself against someone trying to get the best of you in a...
- Apr 25, 2021
- 5 min
Rhetoric - Controlling an Argument
[Note: Some of today’s posting comes from a chapter on rhetoric in Critical Voter.] In the last posting in this series on rhetoric, I...
- Apr 13, 2021
- 3 min
Rhetoric - Schemes and Tropes
I hope you enjoyed the recent series about the role critical-thinking can play in ethical decision making through an analysis of cases in...
- Mar 3, 2021
- 3 min
More Than Mere Rhetoric
[Note: Some of today’s posting comes from a chapter on rhetoric in Critical Voter.] Before launching into a discussion of persuasive...
- Feb 18, 2021
- 7 min
"Regardless of Intent"
I wanted to use this week’s LogicChecker to introduce a set of techniques that can increase the power of an argument through strategic...
- Oct 16, 2020
- 3 min
Equivocation
When it comes to critical thinking, the ambiguity inherent in language can easily lead to the fallacy of equivocation.
- Jan 27, 2020
- 4 min
Economy
The Principle of Economy says you are better off trying to capture what you are trying to say in the fewest number of statements possible.
- Jan 23, 2020
- 3 min
Charity
The Principle of Charity asks you to engage with the strongest version of an opponent's argument.
- Jan 17, 2020
- 3 min
Accuracy
Accurate translation ensure that we are debating the argument someone actually made.
- Jan 7, 2020
- 3 min
Language
Translating everyday communication into unambiguous premises and conclusions of arguments is as much an art as a science.