Something that corresponds with counterarguments is the act of refuting an argument. In order to refute, or argue against, an argument, there are different steps which must be taken into consideration. You must show that the argument is not valid or strong, that at least one of the premises is debatable, and that the conclusion is false.
An argument that can be refuted is: It is pointless to buy a brand new car. They all look cool on the freeway and make you feel good. However, over time the value drops tremendously. So it is pointless to buy a brand new car. You can object to the premise that they all look cool, and attack the conclusion by stating that some do not lose value and that it is a smart buy to get a new car.
Another aspect of a counterargument is refuting indirectly. Even though there is something wrong with the premises, sometimes you just cannot pan out which premise is actually debatable. Some arguments like this are refuted by reducing to the absurd, which is when you show that several of the claims are actually false and lead to an inaccurate conclusion.
I don't know if this falls into the same category as refuting the argument. But for your counter-counterargument you could say that buying a new car and fixing it up could actually add to the overall value of the car such as tinting the windows, adding rims, changing the interior, adding a new deck, and adding a new sound system. There are many other things you can do to raise the value of your car, disproving the counterargument.
ReplyDeleteI think refuting indirectly is a little more intricate than refuting directly. Refuting directly is pretty obvious and more thought needs to go into refuting indirectly.
Hey, first off great post! I also posted on the subject of how to respond/refute an argument (using counter-arguments). Refuting directly interesting concept that is pretty easy to understand. All you need to do is create your own mini-argument against another argument using the guidelines the book stated and wait for a response. Refuting indirectly is a bit more complicated as the above poster stated. Overall, you demonstrated your understanding of the concept very well.
ReplyDeleteAlso a little side-note from when you posted on my post about the Giants. Did you watch last night's game? We were six outs away from being up 2-0 going into Atlanta...we had a three run lead. I was seriously beyond pissed last night. Posey grounding into that double play in the bottom of the tenth with the bases loaded and 1 out was complete bull. We really need to win behind Sanchez tomorrow.