INTRODUCTION The Three Hypotheses. Huxley's object in the series of lectures in- outline of the introduction in Brief form. 232. Pascal, Blaise (1623-1662), French mathematician and philosopher. Lyell, Sir Charles (1797-1875), British geologist. 236. the English Divina Commedia. See note on Dante, p. 622. 238. undifferentiated protoplasmic matter. See "On the Physical Basis Letter to General McClellan. Notice that this brief series of The Case against the Single Tax. What elements of an introduction does Tax see p. 13. For an introduction with full definitions and elaborate historical material Topics: The encouragement of a United States merchant marine, The EVIDENCE Council Government. This is a section of an argument which should ing the necessity of being on one's guard against hasty conclusions. It is the fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc which the writer uncovers. Because certain improvements have followed on certain changes it does not follow necessarily that the improvements are due to the changes. The writer refutes the assumption in a general way and then proceeds to adduce detailed evidence to confirm the doubts which he has raised in the first part of the article. Observe the method of substantiating statements of fact by reference to sources and authorities. Professor Huxley's Lectures. See “The Three Hypotheses," p. 232. This article is important for its lesson in the use of the argument from authority. Young writers are especially prone to attribute weight to opinions without regard to a particular person's qualification for holding an opinion. Mr. Godkin advances his principle in the fourth paragraph, but it is his thorough and unflinching application of the test to an educated and highly respected class of persons that affords the happiest possible illustration of the necessity for examining the credentials of a witness before he is admitted into court. Study the use of authorities in the "Defence of the House of Lords" (p. 271), "The Intellectual Powers of Woman " (p. 276), “The Nation's Pledge" (p. 223), and in the student Brief in Appendix I. 249. Moody, D. L. (1837-1899), a popular Evangelical preacher. 250. Professor Tyndall, John (1820-1893), the eminent naturalist who ranks close to Darwin and Huxley among the propagators of evolutionary doctrine. 257. Principal Dawson, Sir John William (1820-1899), Principal at McGill University in Montreal, was by profession a geologist but occasionally wrote on the relation of geology to theology. St. George Mivart (1827-1900), a distinguished biologist who attempted to reconcile the theory of evolution with his Catholic faith. BODY Speech on Old-Age Pensions. This is a speech delivered in the course of a Parliamentary debate. The introduction here is not of the usual kind, being intended only to link on to the preceding speech. The speaker, however, takes care to state what seem to him to be the important questions involved. - Are the objections to the various features of the measure sufficiently substantiated? Find out something about the speaker by which you may test his fitness for expressing such opinions as he advances. Examine the speech as an example of oral English. Notice its graceful fluency, its tone of easy but dignified conversation, its refined moderation unalloyed with any rhetorical flourishes. Look up some of the speeches in the Congressional Record for comparison. Examine the structure of the speech in connection with the outline of the editors. Notice the ease of the logical transitions. Defence of the House of Lords. This, like the preceding speech, is addressed to an audience requiring no preliminary explanation of the question. The argument is based on example, on authority, and on direct experience. Analyze the structure and make a Brief of the argument. Compare the tone and style with Mr. Balfour's speech. 272. Mr. Bryce, James, statesman and scholar, and one-time British Ambassador to the United States. Selections from a number of his writings appear in this volume. His chief work is "The American Commonwealth." REFUTATION Refutation consists in pointing out the errors of statement or fallacies of reasoning in the arguments of an opponent. Sometimes the process is purely destructive, as in the beginning of “Council Government versus Mayor Government or in "Professor Huxley's Lectures" or in "The Intellectual Powers of Woman." Sometimes it is hard to distinguish from direct argument, as the disproof of an opponent's statement may involve the introduction of evidence in support of one's own contention. The latter is true of "The Mathematician and the Engineer " in which the writer, while he is denying the contention that the engineer is dependent on the mathematician, supplies evidence to show that the engineer is independent of the mathematician. The same can be said of ex-President Taft's argument on the Monroe Doctrine which, in the course of overthrowing a series of objections, establishes the positive value of the Doctrine. The Intellectual Powers of Woman. The writer of this article undertakes no more than to establish that the common assumption of woman's natural and necessary intellectual inferiority is founded on prejudice and fallacy. He does not attempt to assert the intellectual equality of woman with man because his purpose is strictly refutation. After an introductory explanation of the view which he wishes to combat, he examines the argument that women are incapable of the highest intellectual attainments because they have never yet displayed them. He tries to reduce this argument to an absurdity by a series of analogies from history and by emphasizing some neglected factors in the situation. He then points out how, by a perversion of reason, the idea has gained currency of woman's inability to attain even the middle heights, and this prejudice he opposes by an appeal to facts. Note the means by which the threads of the argument are held together. How is the conclusion of the first part of the discussion marked? Observe the frequent reiteration of the central idea and the use of summary in the final stages of the argument. What is gained by the repetition? Is it ever excessive? What are the chief stylistic virtues of the essay? 278. Disquisitiones Arithmetica (1801), a work which first attracted attention to Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) who later became eminent as a mathematician. 283. Fénelon, François (1651-1715), French bishop, author of a famous educational novel, "Télémaque." Mrs. Somerville, Mary (1780-1872), held a dignified position among British mathematicians. Mme. Kovalewski, Sonia (1850-1891), a Russian woman, was professor of mathematics at the University of Stockholm and attained the highest honors of her profession. 284. Leibnitz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646-1716), the great German philosopher and mathematician. 285. ex vi termini, from the very meaning of the expression. 289. Kant, Immanuel (1724-1804), probably the greatest philosopher of modern times. 290. Mr. Gosse, Edmund, a distinguished living English critic. Mary Cassatt, a painter of American birth residing in Paris. She exhibited in New York in 1898. Mme. Demont-Breton, Virginie, whose paintings have won high prizes and are to be found in many European galleries. 291. Hermann Grimm (1828-1901), a well-known German critic. The Mathematician and the Engineer. In both this and the next selection a certain view is combated by an attempt to establish the opposite view, so that it is not easy to distinguish these from direct argument. - Criticise the argument that the services of the mathematician are becoming of less importance to the engineer because the engineer is acquiring mastery of mathematical methods. Are any of the points too hastily dismissed? Is the chief contention satisfactorily supported? 294. Lord Kelvin, William Thomson (1824-1907), the great physicist. Popular Control of National Wealth. This illustrates a method of summarizing the points of an argument and then refuting objections. Do you approve of the style of this article in respect both to diction and sentenceform? PERSUASION Persuasion is not to be regarded as a special section in an argument, but as a quality which pervades its entire fabric. It is nothing but the art of so handling the material, so adapting it to the audience as most readily to secure the desired effect. Persuasive skill is not, as is sometimes imagined, merely a matter of emotional appeal. It is dependent on all the factors which are termed psychological, on a knowledge of the prejudices and interests of the audience, of the motives by which they can be influenced, and of the ideals to which they will respond. A knowledge of these factors determines the entire conduct of an argument - the arrangement of its parts, the throwing of the emphasis, and even the kind of evidence that shall be used. The test of persuasiveness should be applicable to practically any argument. See the notes on The Organization of Farmers" and on "The Social Value of the College-Bred." The two addresses given under Persuasion represent the appeal to an audience in the simplest form. Notice the manner in which the speaker gets into touch with his hearers and how, once their attention is gained, he carries them up to the higher moral levels. Both these addresses are excellent examples of how elevation of tone may be attained by a careful selection of common words. ELEMENTS IN COMBINATION The Monroe Doctrine. This is the first of a series of lectures delivered by ex-President Taft on the subject, "The United States and Peace." How does the argument presented in this article relate itself to the general subject? To what extent is the structure of the article reducible to the conventional form of an argument? Does the historical review with which the Introduction opens have a direct bearing on the argument? Reduce the four questions involved in the discussion to a single dominant issue. Observe that Mr. Tait defines the limits of the Monroe Doctrine after stating the objections of its opponents. What is the advantage of this arrangement? Examine the argument against our coöperating with the A. B. C. powers in the light of events of 1914. 308. The Holy Alliance was formed by the countries mentioned, in 1815, immediately after the downfall of Napoleon, for the purpose of counteracting the movement against the established or so-called Legitimate monarchs to which the career of Napoleon had given a strong impetus. 309. the policy was insisted on, etc. This dispute arose in 1895, during Cleveland's second term, and was settled in November, 1896. Mr. Olney was then Secretary of State. 310. Canning, George (1770-1827), an influential statesman, at various times Foreign Secretary in the British Cabinet. His interest in establishing the Monroe Doctrine is clearly and forcibly expressed by a sentence in one of his speeches (December 12, 1826) in which he explains his reason for recognizing the independence of the Spanish-American republics: "I resolved that if France had Spain, it should not be Spain with the Indies. I called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old." INFORMAL ARGUMENT The distinction between formal and informal argument is somewhat arbitrary and no sharp line between the two can be drawn. But an analysis of the selections under each head will reveal a considerable difference in spirit and method. Formal argument is commonly concerned with questions capable of direct proof or refutation and requires that its contentions shall be supported by material evidence, while informal argument, being usually the expression of an opinion or a conviction, needs to be justified only by a process of general or theoretical reasoning. The latter is the form |