7The ENTHYMEME 

Arguments from SiGNS, PROBABiLiTiES, & CiRCUMSTANCE

By: Melanie Grande& Puja Adhikari

& Alina Mena

Essential Question:

What is an enthymeme? What are the differences between

deductive arguments from signs, circumstances, and probabilities and what are the main components making up these arguments?

BENCHMARK LA.910.1.6.1 : The student will use new vocabulary that is introduced and

taught directly;

LA.910.1.6.4 : The student will categorize key vocabulary and identify salient features;

LA.910.1.6.5 : The student will relate new vocabulary to familiar words;

LA.910.1.6.8 : The student will identify advanced word/phrase relationships and their meanings;

LA.910.1.7.4 : The student will identify cause-and-effect relationships in text;

LA.910.1.7.5 : The student will analyze a variety of text structures (e.g., comparison/contrast, cause/effect, chronological order, argument/support, l ists) and text features (main headings with subheadings) and explain their impact on meaning in text;

LA.910.2.1.9 : The student will identify, analyze, and compare the differences in English language patterns and vocabulary choices of contemporary and historical texts;

LA.910.4.1.1 : The student will write in a variety of expressive and reflective forms that use a range of appropriate strategies and specific narrative techniques, employ literary devices, and sensory description

LA.910.4.3.2: The student will include persuasive techniques.

CAN YOU GUESS? Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson were going camping. They

pitched their tent under the stars and went to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes woke Watson up and said: “Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you see.”

Watson replied: “I see millions and millions of stars.”

Holmes said: “And what do you deduce from that?”

Watson replied: “Well, if there are millions of stars, and if even a few of those have planets, it’s quite likely there are some planets like earth out there. And if there are a few planets like earth out there, there might also be life.”

And Holmes said: “Watson, you idiot, it means that somebody stole our tent.”

-From “Sherlock Holmes”

DEDUCTION: A process of reasoning in which a conclus ionfo l lows necessar i ly f rom the premises presented,so that the conclus ion cannot be fa lse i f the premises are t rue.  

*Logic (“Common sense”)

-Greek, Aristotle-inference based on probable premise-later: syllogism where premise not necessarily explicitly stated

*Syllogism: deductive reasoning

ENTHYMEME*A syllogism, one leg if which is implicit (the ASSUMPTION).

implicit: implied, rather than expressly stated: implicit agreement

assumption: common ground from which you and the opposition begin the debate

*“in mind, in thought”

Ex: The man was red-haired, so he was Irish.

*Implicit assumption: Irish men are red-haired.  

*TWO basic components:

1. assertion: point of the paper; thesis.

2. reason: why the audience should accept this assertion.

-“because clause”

ENTHYMEME (con.)

*Reason & Assertion MUST…-have shared logical terms & shared subjectsA + B = A + C “A” is the shared term. (ex: the man)“B” & “C” are the elements of the assertion & reason that are different from one another (ex: red hair & Irish)-be DIFFERENT*if the reason is simply a restatement of the assertion, the thesis is called “circular reasoning”

CIRCULAR REASONING

-can be in the positive and negative form

Ex 1: Bike laws are too strict because they are rigid and prohibitive.

**Where A + B = A + C, C = B Positive form

 

Ex 2: Bike laws are too strict because they are not flexible.

**C = -B Negative form

The argument goes nowhere.

 

BUT…

Ex 3: If the visitor was a stranger, the dog would’ve barked. Therefore, the visitor wasn’t a stranger.

*Implicit assumption : The dog didn’t bark.

**GOOD circular reasoning!

…More on THE ASSUMPTION*must be accepted by everyone, even those holding the opposing

viewpoint.

*without this common ground, it’s impossible to persuade your opponent to accept your assertion

 Ex: She couldn’t have committed this horrible crime, [because] I have

known her since she was a child.*Implicit assumption: No one I know could commit a

horrible crime.  THE POINT IS, even though most of us DISAGREE, we still UNDERSTAND

where they are coming from, making it an assumption both sides share.

“QUESTION AT ISSUE”= Question about which there is disagreement in the community.

-must be about a topic that your community truly cares about (one that directly effects your lives)

-should be answered by the Enthymeme Ex 1: (In a community of crazy cat people) Dogs should be

kept on leashes because dogs can do more damage.*This is NOT a true “question at issue”! Everyone has cats, so nobody cares to argue about any dog laws.

 Ex 2: All students at this school must wear a uniform so

they don’t have to buy all different normal clothes.*This is an important “question at issue” because the students care about what they have to wear everyday.

Types of ENTHYMEMES…1. Arguments from signs=taking evidence of something visible as symptomatic

of something not visual Ex 1: A boy scout sees smoke in the forest. Therefore, the whole

forest is burning down. Ex 2: Gabe got a 5 on the FCAT, so he’s going to Harvard. *For a sign to be reliable, there must be a significant number of

typical, accurate, and relevant instances!

2. Arguments from Probabilities=an informal logical fallacy where a participant infers that

an unlikely event cannot occur, or that a likely event will always occur.

 Probability: strong likelihood or chance of something; relative

possibility that an event will occur*ratio of actual occurrences to total number of possible occurrences

Fallacy: a deceptive, misleading, or false notion/belief  *General structure:

The probability of x happening is <some small number>.Therefore, not-x. ORThe probability of x not happening is <some small number>.Therefore, x.

These are fallacies because unlikely events can and do happen! 

Arguments from Probabilities (con)

Equivocation: a fallacy based on the use of the same term in different senses (double meanings), esp. as the middle term of a syllogismEx: The badger lives in the bank, and the bank is on Main Street, so the badger lives on Main Street.

3. Arguments from Circumstance 

Circumstance: 1. A condition, detail, part, or attribute with respect to time, place, manner, etc., that accompanies, determines, or modifies a fact or event. 2. An incident or occurrence.

Works Cited “Argument from Probability.” Skeptic Wiki . N.p., 14 July

2008. Web. 10 Sept. 2010. <http://skepticwiki.org/ index.php/ Argument_from_Probability>. Explores what probabilty is and gives examples.

Bunnin, Nicholas, and Jiyuan Yu. “Enthymene.” Blackwell Reference Online . Blackwell Publishing Inc., 2004. Web. 12 Sept. 2010. <http://www.blackwellreference.com/ public/ tocnode?id=g9781405106795_chunk_g97814051067956_ss1-70>. Gives a brief definition of enthymeme.

“Criteria for Analyzing Arguments.” Rohan. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2010. <http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/ ~digger/ 305/ criteria.htm>. The website thouroughly explains rules and criterias for analyzing arguments and claims

Dicionary.com. LLC, 2010. Web. 10 Sept. 2010. <http://dictionary.reference.com/>. A website that gives the definition of words.

Work Cited (con.) Eighner, Lars. “A Selected Glossary of Publishing &

Literary Terms.” Holy Smokes. N.p., 1994. Web. 12 Sept. 2010. <http://www.holysmoke.org/ sdhok/ writerms.htm>. Gives terms and definitions for various literary terms.

Levitt, Steven D., and Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonomics. New York: HarperCollins, 2009. Print. A rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything.

Mr. Hagin. “Circular Reasoning.” KSU. N.p., 27 Nov. 2002. Web. 15 Sept. 2010. <http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/ ~shagin/ logfal-pbc-circular.htm>. Gives definition and examples of circular reasoning.

“What is a Enthymeme?” Csuchico. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2010. <http://www.csuchico.edu/ ~pkittle/ 110/ enthymeme.html>. Explain’s what an enthymeme is and lists examples.

THE END!!!!!

(Hope you enjoyed!!! Though, let ’s be honest… I real ly doubt that!)