In an argument, you need to convince the readers/listeners about your argument's correctness and present the evidence along with supporting ideas. Besides, you can also give your own opinion on the topic. Your argument should encourage and promote opposing views but also undermine them and disprove them.
What is Toulmin Argument?
To craft a strong and successful argument, there should be a valid justification. Toulmin Argument is a structure of argument analysis proposed by a British Philosopher Stephen Toulmin based on six components such as:
Claim (Conclusion)
A claim is a conclusion or the statement of the argument used to convince readers or listeners. In the argumentative essay, it is also referred to as a thesis statement.
Example: Sara is a brilliant student
Ground (Proof, data, fact)
An argument's claim is based on strong evidence, fact, or data that form a logical argument.
Example: Sara is a brilliant student because her mom is a teacher.
Sara is a brilliant student (Claim) because her mom is a teacher (Ground)
Warrant (Reasoning, explanation, logic)
It is a logical assumption that acts as a bridge between the evidence and claim. It is a statement of how your evidence supports your argument.
Example: Sara is a brilliant student because her mom is a teacher and helps in her studies.
Sara is a brilliant student (Claim) because her mom is a teacher (Ground) Sara’s mom helps her in her studies (warrant)
A warrant is often left unstated and is often expressed in one of the following six forms such as :
- Generalization
It forms the logical assumption based on the fact that what is true of the chosen sample is likely to be true of the larger population.
Example: Sara is a brilliant student because most of the students whose parents are teachers excel in their studies.
- Analogy
It draws conclusions of one situation or event, comparing it to an unknown situation or event based on the similarities of its nature and consequences. An analogical warrant is usually used in legal cases and precedents of legal reasoning. What is important here is how much the two situations or contexts are alike. Whether or not there are significant, verifiable, relevant similarities?
Example: Sara is a brilliant student because she studies in a reputed institution where many other students also get 98% grade.
- Causation
It is the most difficult type of warrant, and it is often confused between correlation and causation. The logical assumption is formed on the fact that one situation is the outcome of the cause or effect of another factor.
Example: Sara is a brilliant student because she takes a nutritious diet.
- Sign/Clue
It draws a conclusion depending on the signs or clues that are responsible for the outcome of the situation
Example: Sara is a brilliant student because she is regular at her school.
- Authority
It forms a hypothesis based on what a group of people believes to be true or agree with, especially the people with considerable knowledge, experience, status, or profession.
Example: Sara is a brilliant student because its principal and teaching staff consider her a favourite student.
- Principle
It draws a conclusion based on a principle or rule widely accepted and describes a situation in which that principle probably applied.
Example: Sara is a brilliant student because she is punctual and attentive in all the lectures and dedicated to studies.
The logical explanation is based on the following questions:
- Whether or not the chosen principle is widely recognised?
- Does this conclusion apply correctly to the situation in question?
- Are there commonly acknowledged exceptions?
- Is there any critique whose principle holds a contradictory claim?
- Is the purpose of following the principle reasonably decent?
Backing
When a warrant is insufficient to respond to other people's counterclaims and arguments, you need to have strong evidence to support and defend your argument.
Example: Sara is a brilliant student because she is punctual and attentive in all the lectures, dedicated to studies. Besides, she also takes a balanced diet and follows a disciplined lifestyle.
To strengthen your argument and your position, you need to:
- Show that you are aware of your surroundings, and your conscious nature makes you look honest.
- Demonstrates your knack for conveying how you think regarding the opposing views.
Rebuttal
It includes counterclaims to your argument and how you respond to those counterarguments.
You can respond to the counterarguments by:
- Agreeing with the opponent's claim depending on his/her proposed arguments, evidence, and merits or demerits of your argument if it is worth it.
- Disagreeing with the opponent's claim depending on the weakness of his proposed argument logically.
- Proving that the opponent's claim or perspective is irrelevant to your argument.
Qualifier
It includes the words and phrases you use to prove the validity of your reasoning. The phrases show:
- To which extent your argument is 100 percent true?
- Is it true in all cases, or is it true in some exceptional cases or situations?
The argument in which you use phrases such as probably, possibly, likely, sometimes, impossibly, and certainly doesn’t give the impression that you are 100%true. Instead, it shows that you are unsure about the fact or situation you are referring to, and you still need some evidence to prove it true. Whereas, when you use phrases like necessarily or surely, it shows that you are 100 percent sure about your argument
Let’s apply Toulmin’s model to the following example argument:
Video games should be banned to protect their harmful impact on youngster's health and studies.
Claim (Conclusion)
Video games are negatively affecting youngster's health, and studies
Ground (Proof, data, fact)
Restricting video games may protect children from video game addiction
Warrant 1: Spending a lot of time on video games negatively affects teenagers' health and studies.
Backing: According to studies, excess exposure to video games negatively affects youngster's cognitive development.
Warrant 2: Parents are responsible for providing children access to mobile phones and tabs at their early ages.
Backing: Parents can limit their youngster's exposure to video games to protect their physical and mental health.
Rebuttal: Restricting video games at home is not the solution to avoid video games as youngsters may get access to video games outside their home. On the other hand, many studies also show that video games positively affect children’s cognitive development. There is no strong evidence that video games affect youngster’s health as there could be other reasons as well influencing the health of children such as nutrition, environment, and mental stress, etc.
Qualifier: Restricting video games at home may not be the solution to minimize video game addiction. Instead, banning the production of violent or sexual video games may protect children from the harmful influence of video games. Also, switching to video games that promote educational content and improving children’s concentration, memory, and study skills would be a great option.
