Practical Argumentation Part 5

2. Football benefits the player mentally.

3. Football benefits the player morally.

4. Football benefits the students who do not partic.i.p.ate in the game.

5. Intercollegiate football games advertise the college.

The part.i.tion is usually found in college debate because in a contest of this sort absolute clearness is a prerequisite for success. As but little interest customarily centers around the subject itself, each debater knows that if he is to make any impression on the audience he must so arrange his argument that it will, with a minimum amount of effort on the part of the listener, be clear to every one. To one reading an argument, a part.i.tion, unless of the simplest kind, will probably seem superfluous; to one listening to a speech in which he is truly interested, the part.i.tion may seem labored. But when the whole interest centers in the method of presentation, and in the processes of reasoning rather than in the subject matter, the part.i.tion does increase the clearness of the argument, and should, therefore, be used.

By way of summary, then, it may be said that the work of conviction in the introduction is to show the relation between the proposition and the proof. The arguer accomplishes this task, first, by defining all words the meaning of which is not generally comprehended; secondly, by explaining, in the light of these definitions, the meaning of the proposition taken as a whole; thirdly, by discovering the issues through a careful process of a.n.a.lysis; and fourthly, by making a part.i.tion when he is engaged in debate and has reason to think that the audience will not see the connection between the issues and the discussion.

HOW TO INVESTIGATE A SUBJECT.

A student will hardly have reached this point in the study of Argumentation before finding it necessary to search for information that will a.s.sist him in the construction of his argument. To one unfamiliar with a library, a search after facts bearing upon a given subject is likely to prove tedious. For this reason a few words of advice concerning the proper way in which to use a library may be of great help to a beginner. Nothing, however, can be given here that will even approximate the value of a few hours' instruction by the librarian of the college in which the student is enrolled. In the absence of such instruction, one can seldom do better at the outset than to become familiar with indexes to periodical and contemporary literature, encyclopaedias, government reports, and the library catalogue.

The best indexes are the _Reader's Guide, Poole's Index, The Annual Library Index,_ and the _Current Events Index_. These give references to all articles published in the princ.i.p.al magazines and newspapers for many years. In these articles one will find almost limitless material on nearly every popular topic of the day-- political, economic, scientific, social, educational. The writers, too, are often of national and even of international reputation, and the opinions and ideas given here are frequently as weighty and progressive as can be found. In searching through an index for articles upon a certain subject, one should invariably look under several headings. For example, if one is seeking material in regard to the abolishment of baseball from the list of college sports, he ought not to consult just the one heading _baseball_; he should in addition look under _athletics_, _college sports_, and similar topics.

Other valuable sources of information are encyclopaedias. They often give broad surveys and comprehensive digests that cannot readily be found elsewhere. Although they do not, as a rule, discuss subjects that are of mere local or present-day interest, yet the thorough searcher after evidence will usually do well to consult at least several. A fact worth bearing in mind is that in connection with these articles in encyclopaedias, references are often given to books and articles that treat the subject very thoroughly.

In the next place, official publications frequently furnish invaluable help in regard to public problems. Both state governments and the national government constantly publish reports containing statistics, the opinions of experts, and suggestions for economic and political changes. Some of the most valuable of these doc.u.ments for the purposes of the arguer are Census, Immigration, Education, and Interstate Commerce Commission reports, the messages of the Presidents, and the _Congressional Record_. There are indexes to all these, and one can easily find out how to use them.

Furthermore, one should not fail to consult the library catalogue. To be sure, if the books are catalogued only according to t.i.tles and authors, one will probably get little a.s.sistance from this source unless he knows beforehand what particular books or authors to search for. If, on the other hand, the books are also catalogued according to the subjects of which they treat, one can see almost at a glance what books the library has that bear upon the matter under investigation.

EXERCISES

A. Define the following terms:--monopoly, free trade, railway pooling, income tax, honorary degree, tutorial system of instruction, industrial education, cla.s.sical education, German university method of study, vivisection, temperance, Indian agency system, yellow peril, graft, sensational, ma.s.s play, monarch, civilization, autonomy.

B. Criticise the issues that are given for the following propositions:--

1. _Resolved,_ That in the United States naturalization laws should be more stringent.

a. Are the present laws satisfactory?

b. Have the results of the laws been satisfactory?

c. Would a change be wise?

2. _Resolved,_ That in the United States the reformatory system of imprisonment should be subst.i.tuted for the punitive.

a. Is the reformatory system practicable?

b. Does it reform the criminal?

c. What has been its success thus far?

d. Is it in accordance with modern civilization?

3. _Resolved_, That education in the United States should be compulsory to the age of sixteen.

a. Is compulsory education practicable?

b. Will compulsory education benefit the child?

c. Will compulsory education benefit the public?

4. _Resolved_, That American universities should admit women on equal terms with men.

a. Is woman's education as important as man's?

b. Is coeducation a benefit to both s.e.xes?

c. Is coeducation a benefit to the college?

d. Is the desirable system of separate education worth the extra money it costs?

5. _Resolved_, That in the United States there should be an educational test for voting.

a. Is voting a privilege or a natural right?

b. Ought illiterates to be excluded from the polls?

c. Would the test be unfair to any cla.s.s of citizens?

d. Could such a test be easily incorporated into our laws?

6. _Resolved_, That vivisection should be prohibited.

a. Is vivisection of great a.s.sistance to medicine?

b. Is vivisection humane?

c. Is it right for us as human beings to sanction the many forms of needless and excessive cruelty practised by vivisectors?

C. Make a brief introduction to each of the following propositions, defining all words that require definition, explaining the meaning of the proposition, stating the issues, and making the part.i.tion:--

1. All colleges should debar freshmen from partic.i.p.ation in intercollegiate athletic contests.

2. Playing baseball with organizations not under the national agreement should not render athletes ineligible for college teams.

3. ---- College should adopt the honor system of holding examinations.

4. All colleges should abolish hazing.

5. The climate of our country is changing.

6. Macbeth's wife was the cause of his ruin.

7. The Rhodes scholars.h.i.+ps for the United States will accomplish the objects of its founder.

8. National expositions are a benefit to the country.

CHAPTER V

THE INTRODUCTION--BRIEF-DRAWING

Preceding chapters have dwelt on the essential characteristics of the introduction and have shown what it should be like when completed. No one but an expert writer, however, can hope that his argument, in either introduction, discussion, or conclusion, will attain any considerable completeness and excellence without first pa.s.sing through a preliminary form known as the _brief_.