Blog #3 Rebecca Jones

Rebecca Jones, author of Finding the Good Argument or Why Bother with Logic?, discusses argument and what it means to use argument in writing and in daily life. An interesting perspective she brought to the table was that "the word argument often means something negative" and that's why so many people misinterpret its place in writing. When you hear the word argument, or even the word arguing you are immediately sensing a couple of things. First of all: tension. I feel like tension is always involved in argument. You assume something is going down. Then you think of irritation or even anger. There are so many negative emotions associated with that word that it seems almost as if the word “argument” used in an academic sense is a completely different word. Sure, it has the same spelling and sound, but is it really the same? If argumentation is considered negative, then they are two very different words.

Argumentation has to do with persuasion. That sounded fancy, but really it’s about figuring out how to say what you’re going to say/ how to introduce and elaborate on your argument in a creative and effective way.

In the article, Jones discusses the way people relate argumentation with war. If you think about argument from Jones’ perspective and from the perspective of any English teacher on the planet, then it seems almost silly to associate those two things. She adds a quote that says “we see the person we are arguing with as an opponent,” which is interesting because when I read an essay I just see their argument as their stance. They have a stance and they deliberately try to persuade others into believing in that stance as well. But at no time is it a “negative argument.” I know that sometimes in my English classes we would have kids try to get into fights instead of argue their side using rhetoric. I think that is a prime example of the association between fighting and argument.

She does mention though in that paragraph that the idea of arguments in terms of war are that “we plan and use strategies.” Strategy is equivalent to rhetorical devices in English class.

I think that coming up with a solution for this problem is tricky, but I think it’s more about just thinking about it like I said in terms of two different words. If you’re going through your everyday life and someone is fighting and they say they are arguing, then I think that people need to associate that with a word like “bickering” and then if we are in English and the teacher tells us that we are learning about argumentation, then I think we should associate that with trying to convey our stance on a subject.