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Writing Arguments
A Rhetoric with Readings
Tenth Edition

John D. Ramage
Arizona State University

John C. Bean
Seattle University

June Johnson
Seattle University

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Writing arguments: a rhetoric with readings / John D. Ramage, John C. Bean, June Johnson.
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Brief Contents
Part One Overview of Argument    1
1 Argument: An Introduction    2
2 Argument as Inquiry: Reading and Exploring     17

Part Two Writing an Argument    51

3 The Core of an Argument: A Claim with Reasons     52
4 The Logical Structure of Arguments     67
5 Using Evidence Effectively    88
6 Moving Your Audience: Ethos, Pathos, and Kairos    104
7 Responding to Objections and Alternative Views     121

Part Three Analyzing Arguments    153

8 Analyzing Arguments Rhetorically    154
9 Analyzing Visual Arguments    175

Part Four Arguments in Depth: Types of Claims    209

10 An Introduction to the Types of Claims     210
11 Definition and Resemblance Arguments    220
12 Causal Arguments    248
13 Evaluation and Ethical Arguments    278
14 Proposal Arguments    304

Part Five The Researched Argument    339

15 Finding and Evaluating Sources    340
16 Incorporating Sources into Your Own Argument     359
17 Citing and Documenting Sources    375
Appendix Informal Fallacies    397

Part Six An Anthology of Arguments    405

The Future of Food and Farming     406
Higher Education: How and Why We Learn Matters     432
Immigration in the Twenty-First Century    460
Millennials Entering Adulthood    477
Choices for a Sustainable World    499
Digital Literacies    519
Argument Classics    542
iii

Detailed Contents
Preface    xxii
Acknowledgments    xxviii

Part One Overview of Argument    1

1 Argument: An Introduction    2
What Do We Mean by Argument?     2
Argument Is Not a Fight or a Quarrel     2
Argument Is Not Pro-Con Debate     3
Arguments Can Be Explicit or Implicit     3
Juan Lucas (Student), “An Argument Against Banning Phthalates”     5
A student opposes a ban on a chemical that makes toys soft and flexible.
The Defining Features of Argument     7
Argument Requires Justification of Its Claims     8
Argument Is Both a Process and a Product     10
Argument Combines Truth Seeking and Persuasion     10
Argument and the Problem of Truth     12
Conclusion    16

2 Argument as Inquiry: Reading and Exploring     17

Finding Issues to Explore    18
Do Some Initial Brainstorming    18
Be Open to the Issues All around You     18
Explore Ideas by Freewriting    22
Explore Ideas by Idea Mapping     23
Explore Ideas by Playing the Believing and Doubting Game     24
Reading Texts Rhetorically    25
Genres of Argument    25
Authorial Purpose and Audience    29
Determining Degree of Advocacy    31
Reading to Believe an Argument’s Claims     32
James Surowiecki, “The Pay Is Too Damn Low”     33
An American journalist argues for an increased federally mandated minimum wage
combined with government policies to promote job growth and ensure a stable
safety net for the poor.

iv
 Detailed Contents v

Summary Writing as a Way of Reading to Believe     34

Practicing Believing: Willing Your Own Belief in the Writer’s Views     37
Reading to Doubt    37
Thinking Dialectically    38
Michael Saltsman, “To Help the Poor, Move Beyond ‘Minimum’ Gestures”     40
The chief economist for the Employment Policy Institute opposes an increased
­minimum wage, arguing that it does nothing for the jobless poor and will in fact lead
to increased joblessness.
Three Ways to Foster Dialectic Thinking     41
Conclusion    42

Writing Assignment: An Argument Summary or a Formal Exploratory Essay     42

Reading    44
Trudie Makens (Student), “Should Fast-Food Workers Be Paid $15 per Hour?”     44
Examining articles by Surowiecki, Saltsman, and others, a student narrates the
­evolution of her thinking as she researches the issue of minimum wage.

Part Two Writing an Argument    51

3 The Core of an Argument: A Claim with Reasons     52

The Classical Structure of Argument     52
Classical Appeals and the Rhetorical Triangle     54
Issue Questions as the Origins of Argument     56
Difference between an Issue Question and an Information Question     56
How to Identify an Issue Question     57
Difference between a Genuine Argument and a Pseudo-Argument     58
Pseudo-Arguments: Committed Believers and Fanatical Skeptics     58
A Closer Look at Pseudo-Arguments: The Lack of Shared Assumptions     59
Frame of an Argument: A Claim Supported by Reasons     60
What Is a Reason?    60
Expressing Reasons in Because Clauses    62
Conclusion    65

Writing Assignment: An Issue Question and Working Thesis Statements     65

4 The Logical Structure of Arguments     67

An Overview of Logos: What Do We Mean by the “Logical Structure” of an
Argument?    67
Formal Logic versus Real-World Logic     67
The Role of Assumptions    68
vi Detailed Contents

The Core of an Argument: The Enthymeme     68

The Power of Audience-Based Reasons     70
Adopting a Language for Describing Arguments: The Toulmin System     71
Using Toulmin’s Schema to Plan and Test Your Argument     76
Hypothetical Example: Cheerleaders as Athletes     76
Extended Student Example: Girls and Violent Video Games     80
Carmen Tieu (Student), “Why Violent Video Games Are Good for Girls”     82
A student argues that playing violent video games helps girls gain insight into male
culture.
The Thesis-Governed “Self-Announcing” Structure of Classical Argument     85
Conclusion    86
A Note on the Informal Fallacies     86

Writing Assignment: Plan of an Argument’s Details     87

5 Using Evidence Effectively    88

Kinds of Evidence    88
The Persuasive Use of Evidence     92
Apply the STAR Criteria to Evidence     92
Establish a Trustworthy Ethos    93
Be Mindful of a Source’s Distance from Original Data     94
Rhetorical Understanding of Evidence    95
Angle of Vision and the Selection and Framing of Evidence     95

Examining Visual Arguments: Angle of Vision     98

Rhetorical Strategies for Framing Evidence     99
Special Strategies for Framing Statistical Evidence     101
Creating a Plan for Gathering Evidence     102
Conclusion    103

Writing Assignment: A Supporting-Reasons Argument     103

6 Moving Your Audience: Ethos, Pathos, and Kairos    104

Logos, Ethos, and Pathos as Persuasive Appeals: An Overview     104
How to Create an Effective Ethos: The Appeal to Credibility     106
How to Create Pathos: The Appeal to Beliefs and Emotions     107
Use Concrete Language    108
Use Specific Examples and Illustrations     109
Use Narratives    110
Use Words, Metaphors, and Analogies with Appropriate Connotations     110
 Detailed Contents vii

Kairos: The Timeliness and Fitness of Arguments     111

Using Images to Appeal to Logos, Ethos, Pathos, and Kairos    113

Examining Visual Arguments: Logos, Ethos, Pathos, and Kairos    115

How Audience-Based Reasons Appeal to Logos, Ethos, Pathos, and Kairos    116
Conclusion    119

Writing Assignment: Revising a Draft for Ethos, Pathos, and Audience-Based Reasons    120

7 Responding to Objections and Alternative Views     121

One-Sided, Multisided, and Dialogic Arguments     121
Determining Your Audience’s Resistance to Your Views     122
Appealing to a Supportive Audience: One-Sided Argument     124
Appealing to a Neutral or Undecided Audience: Classical Argument     125
Summarizing Opposing Views    125
Refuting Opposing Views    126
Strategies for Rebutting Evidence    127
Conceding to Opposing Views    128
Example of a Student Essay Using Refutation Strategy     129
Trudie Makens (Student), “Bringing Dignity To Workers: Make the Minimum Wage
a Living Wage”    129
A student writer refutes three arguments against increasing the minimum wage.
Appealing to a Resistant Audience: Dialogic Argument     131
Creating a Dialogic Argument with a Delayed Thesis     132
Ross Douthat, “Islam in Two Americas”    133
A conservative columnist asks readers to explore aspects of American identity
that suggest that Muslims should not build a community center near
Ground Zero.
Writing a Delayed-Thesis Argument    135
A More Open-Ended Approach: Rogerian Communication     136
Rogerian Communication as Growth for the Writer     137
Rogerian Communication as Collaborative Negotiation     138
Writing Rogerian Communication    138
Colleen Fontana (Student), “An Open Letter to Robert Levy in Response to His Article ‘They
Never Learn’ ”    140
Using the strategies of Rogerian argument, a student writes an open letter about the
problem of gun violence on college campuses to an advocate of minimal gun control
laws and more guns.
Conclusion    144

Writing Assignment: A Classical Argument or a Rogerian Letter     145

viii Detailed Contents

Readings    145
Lauren Shinozuka (Student), “The Dangers of Digital Distractedness” (A Classical Argument)     145
Using the classical argument form, a student writer argues that being a skilled
digital native also “harms us by promoting an unproductive habit of multitasking,
by ­dehumanizing our relationships, and by encouraging a distorted self-image.”

Monica Allen (Student), “An Open Letter to Christopher Eide in Response to His Article
‘High-Performing Charter Schools Can Close the Opportunity Gap’ ” (Rogerian
Communication)    149
Using the strategies of Rogerian communication, a student writer skeptical about
charter schools initiates dialogue with a charter school advocate on ways to improve
education for low-income and minority students.

Part Three Analyzing Arguments    153

8 Analyzing Arguments Rhetorically    154

Thinking Rhetorically about a Text     154
Questions for Rhetorical Analysis    155
Conducting a Rhetorical Analysis    159
Kathryn Jean Lopez, “Egg Heads”    159
Writing in 1998 for the conservative magazine National Review, Kathryn Jean
Lopez argues against the emerging practice of egg donation enabled by new
­reproductive technology.
Our Own Rhetorical Analysis of “Egg Heads”     162
Conclusion    166

Writing Assignment: A Rhetorical Analysis     166

Generating Ideas for Your Rhetorical Analysis     167
Organizing Your Rhetorical Analysis    168
Readings    169
Ellen Goodman, “Womb for Rent”    169
Columnist Ellen Goodman explores the ethical dilemmas created when first-world
couples “outsource” motherhood to third-world women.

Zachary Stumps (Student), “A Rhetorical Analysis of Ellen Goodman’s ‘Womb for Rent’ ”     171
A student analyzes Ellen Goodman’s rhetorical strategies in “Womb for Rent,”
­emphasizing her delayed-thesis structure and her use of language with double
meanings.

9 Analyzing Visual Arguments    175

Understanding Design Elements in Visual Argument     176
Use of Type    176
Use of Space or Layout     177
 Detailed Contents ix

An Analysis of a Visual Argument Using Type and Spatial Elements     178

Use of Color    180
Use of Images and Graphics     180
An Analysis of a Visual Argument Using All the Design Components     180
The Compositional Features of Photographs and Drawings     184
An Analysis of a Visual Argument Using Images     188
The Genres of Visual Argument     191
Posters and Fliers    192
Public Affairs Advocacy Advertisements    194
Cartoons    197
Web Pages    198
Constructing Your Own Visual Argument     198
Guidelines for Creating Visual Arguments     199
Using Information Graphics in Arguments     200
How Tables Contain a Variety of Stories     200
Using a Graph to Tell a Story     202
Incorporating Graphics into Your Argument     205
Conclusion    206

Writing Assignment: A Visual Argument Rhetorical Analysis, a Visual Argument, or a Microtheme Using
Quantitative Data    207

Part Four Arguments in Depth: Types of Claims     209

10 An Introduction to the Types of Claims     210

The Types of Claims and Their Typical Patterns of Development     210
Using Claim Types to Focus an Argument and Generate Ideas:
An Example    213
Writer 1: Ban E-Cigarettes    213
Writer 2: Promote E-Cigarettes as a Preferred Alternative to
Real Cigarettes    214
Writer 3: Place No Restrictions on E-Cigarettes     215
Hybrid Arguments: How Claim Types Work Together in Arguments     215
Some Examples of Hybrid Arguments     216
An Extended Example of a Hybrid Argument     217
Alex Hutchinson, “Your Daily Multivitamin May Be Hurting You”     217
Writing for an outdoor sports magazine targeting health and fitness enthusiasts,
a journalist reviews the scientific literature against daily multivitamins and other
supplements.
x Detailed Contents

11 Definition and Resemblance Arguments    220

What Is at Stake in a Categorical Argument?     221
Consequences Resulting from Categorical Claims     222
The Rule of Justice: Things in the Same Category Should Be Treated the
Same Way    222
Types of Categorical Arguments    224
Simple Categorical Arguments    224
Definition Arguments    225
Resemblance Argument Using Analogy    225
Resemblance Arguments Using Precedent    227

Examining Visual Arguments: Claim about Category (Definition)     228

The Criteria-Match Structure of Definition
Arguments    229
Overview of Criteria-Match Structure    229
Toulmin Framework for a Definition Argument     230
Creating Criteria Using Aristotelian Definition     231
Creating Criteria Using an Operational Definition     233
Conducting the Match Part of a Definition Argument     233
Idea-Generating Strategies for Creating Your Own Criteria-Match
Argument    234
Strategy 1: Research How Others Have Defined the Term     234
Strategy 2: Create Your Own Extended Definition     235

Writing Assignment: A Definition Argument     238

Exploring Ideas    238
Identifying Your Audience and Determining What’s at Stake     239
Organizing a Definition Argument    240
Questioning and Critiquing a Definition Argument     240
Readings    242
Arthur Knopf (Student), “Is Milk a Health Food?”     242
A student argues that milk, despite its reputation for promoting calcium-rich bones,
may not be a health food.

Alex Mullen (Student), “A Pirate But Not a Thief: What Does ‘Stealing’ Mean in a Digital
Environment?”    244
A student argues that his act of piracy—downloading a film from a file-
sharing ­torrent site—is not stealing because it deprives no one of property
or profit.

Los Angeles Times Editorial Board, “College Football—Yes, It’s a Job”     247
The Editorial Board of the Los Angeles Times supports a court decision that
­scholarship football players at Northwestern University are “paid employees” of the
university and therefore have the right to unionize.
 Detailed Contents xi

12 Causal Arguments    248
An Overview of Causal Arguments     249
Kinds of Causal Arguments    250
Toulmin Framework for a Causal Argument     252
Two Methods for Arguing That One Event Causes Another     254
First Method: Explain the Causal Mechanism Directly     255
Second Method: Infer Causal Links Using Inductive Reasoning     256

Examining Visual Arguments: A Causal Claim     257

Key Terms and Inductive Fallacies in Causal Arguments     258

Writing Assignment: A Causal Argument     260

Exploring Ideas    260
Identifying Your Audience and Determining What’s at Stake     261
Organizing a Causal Argument    262
Questioning and Critiquing a Causal Argument     262
Readings    265
Julee Christianson (Student), “Why Lawrence Summers Was Wrong: Culture Rather Than Biology
Explains the Underrepresentation of Women in Science and Mathematics” (APA-format
research paper)    266
A student writer disagrees with Harvard president Lawrence Summers’s claim that
genetic factors may account for fewer women than men holding professorships in
math and science at prestige universities.

Deborah Fallows, “Papa, Don’t Text: The Perils of Distracted Parenting”     272
Linguist Deborah Fallows argues in The Atlantic that by texting and talking on
cell phones instead of interacting with their young children adults are jeopardizing
their children’s language learning.

Carlos Macias (Student), “ ‘The Credit Card Company Made Me Do It!’—The Credit Card Industry’s Role
in Causing Student Debt”    274
A student writer examines the causes of college students’ credit card debt and puts
the blame on the exploitive practices of the credit card industry.

13 Evaluation and Ethical Arguments    278

An Overview of Categorical Ethical Evaluation Arguments     280
Constructing a Categorical Evaluation Argument     280
Criteria-Match Structure of Categorical Evaluations     280
Developing Your Criteria    281
Making Your Match Argument    283

Examining Visual Arguments: An Evaluation Claim     284

Constructing an Ethical Evaluation Argument     286
Consequences as the Base of Ethics     286
xii Detailed Contents

Principles as the Base of Ethics     287

Example Ethical Arguments Examining Capital Punishment     287
Common Problems in Making Evaluation Arguments     289

Writing Assignment: An Evaluation or Ethical Argument     290

Exploring Ideas    290
Identifying Your Audience and Determining What’s at Stake     291
Organizing an Evaluation Argument    291
Questioning and Critiquing a Categorical Evaluation Argument     291
Critiquing an Ethical Argument    293
Readings    294
Lorena Mendoza-Flores (Student), “Silenced and Invisible: Problems of Hispanic Students at Valley
High School”    294
A physics major critiques her former high school for marginalizing its growing
­numbers of Hispanic students.

Christopher Moore (Student), “Information Plus Satire: Why The Daily Show and The Colbert Report
Are Good Sources of News for Young People”     297
A student favorably evaluates The Daily Show and The Colbert Report as news
sources by arguing that they keep us up to date on major world events and teach us
to read the news rhetorically.

Judith Daar And Erez Aloni, “Three Genetic Parents—For One Healthy Baby”     300
Lawyers specializing in medical research argue that mitochondrial replacement
(which enables a child to inherit DNA from three parents) “might be a way to ­prevent
hundreds of mitochondrial-linked diseases, which affect about one in 5,000 people.”

Samuel Aquila, “The ‘Therapeutic Cloning’ of Human Embryos”     302

A Catholic archbishop finds therapeutic cloning “heinous,” despite its potential health
benefits, “because the process is intended to create life, exploit it, and then destroy it.”

14 Proposal Arguments    304
The Special Features and Concerns of Proposal Arguments     306
Practical Proposals versus Policy Proposals     306
Toulmin Framework for a Proposal Argument     306
Special Concerns for Proposal Arguments     308

Examining Visual Arguments: A Proposal Claim     309

Developing a Proposal Argument    309
Convincing Your Readers that a Problem Exists     309
Showing the Specifics of Your Proposal     310
Convincing Your Readers that the Benefits of Your Proposal Outweigh the Costs     311
Using Heuristic Strategies to Develop Supporting Reasons for Your Proposal     311
The “Claim Types” Strategy    312
The “Stock Issues” Strategy    314
 Detailed Contents xiii

Proposal Arguments as Advocacy Posters or Advertisements     316

Writing Assignment: A Proposal Argument     316

Exploring Ideas    318
Identifying Your Audience and Determining What’s at Stake     319
Organizing a Proposal Argument    319
Designing a One-Page Advocacy Poster or Advertisement     319
Designing PowerPoint Slides or Other Visual Aids for a Speech     320
Questioning and Critiquing a Proposal Argument     321
Readings    322
Megan Johnson (Student), “A Proposal to Allow Off-Campus Purchases with a University
Meal Card”    322
A student writes a practical proposal urging her university’s administration to allow
off-campus use of meal cards as a way of increasing gender equity and achieving
other benefits.

Ivan Snook (Student), “Flirting with Disaster: An Argument Against Integrating Women into the
Combat Arms” (MLA-format research paper)     326
A student writer and Marine veteran returned from combat duty in Iraq argues that
women should not serve in combat units because the inevitable sexual friction un-
dermines morale and endangers soldiers’ lives.

Save-Bees.Org, “SAVE THE BEES ADVOCACY AD”    331

An organization devoted to saving bees calls for support for a moratorium on the
use of certain chemical pesticides that are deadly to bees.

Sandy Wainscott (Student), “Why McDonald’s Should Sell Meat and Veggie Pies: A Proposal to End
Subsidies for Cheap Meat” (speech with PowerPoint slides)     333
A student proposes the end of subsidies for cheap meat for the benefit of both people’s
health and the environment.

Marcel Dicke And Arnold Van Huis, “The Six-Legged Meat of the Future”     335
Two Dutch entomologists argue that insects are a nutritious and tasty form of
­protein and less environmentally harmful than cattle, pigs, or chickens.­

Part Five The Researched Argument    339

15 Finding and Evaluating Sources    340

Formulating a Research Question Instead of a “Topic”     341
Thinking Rhetorically about Kinds of Sources     341
Identifying Kinds of Sources Relevant to Your Question     341
Approaching Sources Rhetorically    342
Finding Sources    347
Conducting Interviews    347
Gathering Source Data from Surveys or Questionnaires     348
xiv Detailed Contents

Finding Books and Reference Sources     348

Using Licensed Databases to Find Articles in Scholarly Journals, Magazines,
and News Sources    349
Finding Cyberspace Sources: Searching the World Wide Web     350
Selecting and Evaluating Your Sources     350
Reading with Rhetorical Awareness    350
Evaluating Sources    352
Taking Purposeful Notes    356
Conclusion    358

16 Incorporating Sources into Your Own Argument     359

Using Sources for Your Own Purposes     359
Writer 1: A Causal Argument Showing Alternative Approaches to
Reducing Risk of Alcoholism    360
Writer 2: A Proposal Argument Advocating Vegetarianism     360
Writer 3: An Evaluation Argument Looking Skeptically at Vegetarianism     361
Using Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation     362
Summarizing    362
Paraphrasing    363
Quoting    364
Punctuating Quotations Correctly    365
Quoting a Complete Sentence    365
Quoting Words and Phrases    365
Modifying a Quotation    366
Omitting Something from a Quoted Passage     367
Quoting Something That Contains a Quotation     367
Using a Block Quotation for a Long Passage     368
Creating Rhetorically Effective Attributive Tags     368
Attributive Tags versus Parenthetical Citations     369
Creating Attributive Tags to Shape Reader Response     369
Avoiding Plagiarism    370
Why Some Kinds of Plagiarism May Occur Unwittingly     371
Strategies for Avoiding Plagiarism    372
Conclusion    374

17 Citing and Documenting Sources    375

The Correspondence between In-Text Citations and the End-of-Paper List of Cited
Works    375
MLA Style    377
In-Text Citations in MLA Style     377
Works Cited List in MLA Style     379
 Detailed Contents xv

Works Cited Citation Models    379

MLA-Style Research Paper    389
APA Style    389
In-Text Citations in APA Style     390
References List in APA Style     391
References Citation Models    391
APA-Style Research Paper    396
Conclusion    396

Appendix Informal Fallacies    397

The Problem of Conclusiveness in an Argument     397
An Overview of Informal Fallacies     398
Fallacies of Pathos    399
Fallacies of Ethos    400
Fallacies of Logos    401

Part Six An Anthology of Arguments     405

The Future of Food and Farming     406

Arthur L. Caplan, “Genetically Modified Food: Good, Bad, Ugly”     407
A professor of bioethics defends genetic engineering but takes the biotech companies
to task for their mismanagement of the technology.

Robin Mather, “The Threats from Genetically Modified Foods”     410

A food columnist outlines the concerns about and consequences of using GMOs.

Michael Le Page, “Wrong-Headed Victory”    415

A writer argues that when biotech companies fight labelling efforts they only fuel
consumer suspicion and delay promising research.

John Hambrock, “Harley, I’m Worried About Gene Transfer” (editorial cartoon)     417
A cartoonist imagines how GMO plants might cross-pollinate with unmodified strains.

Joe Mohr, “Monsanto’s Reasons for Fighting GMO Labeling? It Loves You”     417
A cartoonist satirizes the biotech companies’ arguments against labelling of GM foods.

Caitlin Flanagan, “Cultivating Failure”    418

A journalist questions the value of school gardens as an educational tool, focusing
particularly on the effects for Hispanic and low-income students.

Bonnie Hulkower, “A Defense of School Gardens and Response to Caitlin Flanagan’s ‘Cultivating
Failure’ in The Atlantic”    424
A marine scientist and environmental planner performs a rhetorical analysis of
Flanagan and refutes her claims.

Tom Philpott, “Thoughts on The Atlantic’s Attack on School Gardens”    426

A food and agriculture columnist reflects on school gardens as a teaching tool,
and disagrees with Flanagan’s conclusions.
xvi Detailed Contents

Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl, “Atlantic Gets It Wrong!: School Gardens Cultivate Minds Not Failure”    428
A former high school teacher with a Master’s in Public Health disputes Flanagan’s
claims about access to healthy food and the need for food education.

Higher Education: How and Why We Learn Matters     432

Rebecca Mead, “Learning by Degrees”    433
A New Yorker staff writer acknowledges the appeal of skipping college to pursue
financial success, but also questions economic advancement as the sole reason for
attending college.

Ken Saxon, “What Do You Do with a B.A. in History?”     435

An entrepreneur and leader in the nonprofit sector speaks to freshmen at UC Santa
Barbara about the value of a liberal arts education.

Aaron Bady, “The MOOC Moment and the End of Reform”     442
A postdoctoral fellow interrogates the hype surrounding MOOCs and the wisdom of
integrating them into a university education.

Scott Newstok, “A Plea for ‘Close Learning’ ”    451

An English professor argues for the value of face-to-face interactive learning.

Dave Blazek, “Melissa Misunderstands Massive Open Online Courses” (editorial cartoon)     454
A cartoonist humorously illustrates one of the drawbacks of MOOCs.

Chrissie Long, “The Changing Face of Higher Education: The Future of the Traditional University
Experience”    455
Recognizing that the traditional classroom won’t disappear, a writer argues for the
benefits and transformative potential of MOOCs, particularly, the opportunities
they offer learners in developing countries.

Immigration in the Twenty-First Century    460

Fatemeh Fakhraie, “Scarfing It Down”    461
A media critic argues that coverage of countries’ attempts to ban the wearing of
hijab distorts the issue by labeling it a religious freedom issue and by leaving out the
voices of the women themselves.

Stephanie Paulsell, “Veiled Voices”    462

A professor at Harvard Divinity School addresses Muslim women’s varying reasons
for wearing hijab.

MADELINE zAVODNY, “Unauthorized Immigrant Arrivals Are on the Rise, and That’s Good News”     463
An economics professor reads the number of illegal immigrants as an economic
­index and argues for reforms for immigrant workers’ visas over governmental
­spending on increased border security.

Chip Bok, “Processing Undocumented Children” (editorial cartoon)     465

An editorial cartoonist comments on the difference in the handling of ­undocumented
children in 2000 and in 2014.
 Detailed Contents xvii

Mark Krikorian, “DREAM On”    466

The executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies details the flaws he sees
in the DREAM Act and other amnesty legislation.

Lee Habeeb And Mike Leven, “Immigration, America’s Advantage”    469

A columnist and a businessman team up to advocate for the benefits of maintaining
an immigrant workforce.

John K. Kavanaugh, “Amnesty?: Let Us Be Vigilant and Charitable”     471

A Roman Catholic priest and philosophy professor asks anti-immigration groups
to see the human face of undocumented immigrants and to support a path to
amnesty.

Los Angeles Times, “Young, Alone, and in Court”     473

The editors of the Los Angeles Times argue for a multinational, humanitarian
response to the issue of child migrants and a better process for handling
­unaccompanied children in the U.S. immigration system.

National Review, “Border Crisis in Texas”    474

The editors of the National Review blame the Obama administration’s amnesty
­policies for the surge in illegal-immigrant children.

Millennials Entering Adulthood    477

Kathryn Tyler, “The Tethered Generation”    478
A writer analyzes how technology has affected the way Millennials work and
­communicate, and proposes management strategies for employers.

Erin Burns, “Millennials and Mentoring: Why I’m Calling Out ‘Bullpucky!’ on Generational Differences
and Professional Development”    482
A young professional refutes the assumption that her generation requires “special
handling” in the workplace.

America, “Generation S”    488

The editors of a Catholic weekly magazine argue that the spirit of service instilled in
the current generation of students should be modeled by all Americans.

Raffi Wineburg, “Lip Service Useless for Millennials”     490

A recent graduate reflects on the challenges facing Millennials as they enter the
workforce and calls for a more constructive treatment of them.

Kay S. Hymowitz, “Where Have the Good Men Gone?”     491

The author of Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men into
Boys claims that too many men in their twenties have succumbed to a new kind of
­extended adolescence.

Eve Tushnet, “You Can Go Home Again”    495

A writer challenges the stigma faced by young adults who move back in with their
parents.
xviii Detailed Contents

Choices for a Sustainable World    499

Mark Z. Jacobson And Mark A. Delucchi, “A Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030”     500
A research scientist and an engineering professor propose a combination of wind,
water, and solar power as the best alternative to fossil fuels, and explain how the
transition can be made quickly and cost effectively.

Ashutosh Jogalekar, “Vaclav Smil: ‘The Great Hope for a Quick and Sweeping Transition to Renewable
Energy Is Wishful Thinking’ ”    506
A science blogger uses Vaclav Smil’s research to argue that substantial obstacles still
stand in the way of the widespread conversion to renewable energy.

U.S. Energy Information Administration, “The U.S. Energy Story in Numbers: Energy Supply and
Disposition by Type of Fuel, 1975–2010”     508
Statistics gathered by a U.S. agency tell a wealth of stories about U.S. energy
p­ roduction and consumption.

Robert Bryce, “The Real Energy Revolution Shrinking Carbon Dioxide Emissions? It’s
Fracking”    510
A writer from a conservative think tank maintains that fracking has enabled the
United States to make greater strides than other nations in reducing its emissions,
and at a lower cost.

Abrahm Lustgarten, “Fracking: A Key to Energy Independence?”     511

An investigative journalist questions the speed with which the U.S. and other
­ ations have embraced fracking.
n

Jason Powers, “The Problem Is the Solution: Cultivating New Traditions Through
Permaculture”    513
An activist argues that developing a sustainable approach to using resources is
­critical to the survival of a culture.

Vandana Shiva, “The Soil vs. the Sensex”     516

An environmental activist sets the interests of the small farmer against those of the
Sensex, India’s stock exchange.

Digital Literacies    519
An Interview With Sherry Turkle, Digital Demands: The Challenges of Constant
Connectivity    520
In an interview on PBS’s Frontline, scholar and researcher Sherry Turkle suggests
that constant connectivity may make us more lonely and less inclined to find stillness
or think deeply about “complicated things.”

Alison Gopnik, “Diagnosing the Digital Revolution: Why It’s So Hard to Tell if It’s Really
Changing Us”    523
A professor and expert in child learning and development suggests that claims for
the negative impact of technology on young people may be overstated.
 Detailed Contents xix

Mary Ann Harlan, “Deconstructing Digital Natives”    527

In this scholarly article, a teacher and librarian makes the distinction between tech-
nological savvy and digital literacy.

Christian Science Monitor, “Help Teens Erase Their Web Indiscretions”    529

The editors of Christian Science Monitor advocate for legislation allowing teens to
erase their digital footprints, comparing it to existing laws allowing juvenile criminal
records to be expunged.

Susan Nielsen, “An Internet ‘Eraser’ Law Would Hurt, Not Help, Oregon Teens”     530
A journalist argues that allowing teens to erase past web indiscretions teaches them
that they can behave poorly without forethought or consequence.

Gary Varvel, “Meet Jack” (editorial cartoon)    532

A cartoonist humorously demonstrates the consequences of sharing too much on
social media.

Adrienne Sarasy, “The Age of the Selfie: Taking, Sharing Our Photos Shows Empowerment, Pride”     533
A high school journalist argues in her student newspaper that selfies can be
­empowering and help to redefine standards of beauty.

Robert Wilcox, “The Age of the Selfie: Endless Need to Share Tears Society’s Last Shred of Decency”     534
In the same student newspaper, a student editor argues that oversharing through
selfies goes beyond narcissism and may actually be dangerous.

Aashika Damodar, “The Rise of ‘Great Potential’: Youth Activism against Gender-Based Violence”     535
An anti-trafficking activist analyzes the potential of social media as a tool for
­activism, arguing that it is most effective when combined with offline action.

Argument Classics    542
Garrett Hardin, “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Aid That Does Harm”     542
An ecologist argues against foreign aid and open borders, promoting wider
­ nderstanding of the “tragedy of the commons” and stimulating new thinking about
u
the causes of poverty and ways to combat it.

Rachel Carson, “The Obligation to Endure”    549

A marine biologist and writer exposes the subtle, insidious dangers of the pesticide
DDT, and in so doing helps launch the environmental movement.

E. O. Wilson, “Apocalypse Now”/“Letter to a Southern Baptist Minister”     554

A biologist and secular humanist attempts to bridge the gap between science and
religion, asking Christians and environmentalists to come together to save the
­multitude of species threatened by climate change.

Margaret Sanger, “The Morality of Birth Control”     557

A pioneer of the birth control movement seeks to redefine what is “moral” when
considering access to birth control and assessment of the consequences.

Credits    562
Index    567
Preface
Through nine editions, Writing Arguments has established itself as a leading college textbook
in argumentation. By focusing on argument as dialogue in search of solutions to problems
instead of as pro-con debate with winners and losers, Writing Arguments treats argument
as a process of inquiry as well as a means of persuasion. Users and reviewers have consis-
tently praised the book for teaching the critical thinking skills needed for writing arguments:
how to analyze the occasion for an argument; how to ground an argument in the values
and beliefs of the targeted audience; how to develop and elaborate an argument; and how
to respond sensitively to objections and alternative views. We are pleased that in this tenth
edition, we have made many improvements while retaining the text’s signature strengths.

What’s New in the Tenth Edition?

Based on our continuing research into argumentation theory and pedagogy, as well
as on the advice of users, we have made significant improvements in the tenth edition
that increase the text’s flexibility for teachers and its appeal to students. We have made
the following major changes:

■ An updated, revised, and streamlined Chapter 2 on “Argument as Inquiry”

now focused on the “living wage” controversy. The previous edition’s inquiry
topic about immigration has been replaced by the issue of raising the minimum
wage for fast-food workers or retail store clerks. Chapter 2 now has all new stu-
dent examples, visual arguments, and professional readings focussed on mini-
mum wage, including a new annotated student exploratory essay that models the
process of rhetorical reading and dialogic thinking.
■ Expanded treatment of evidence. A revised and expanded Chapter 5 explains with
greater clarity the kinds of evidence that can be used in argument and shows students
how to analyze evidence rhetorically. A new section shows students how to evaluate
evidence encountered in secondary sources by tracing it back to its primary sources.
■ Expanded treatment of Rogerian communication and other means of engag-
ing alternative views. In Chapter 7, we expand our treatment of Rogerian argu-
ment by reframing it as Rogerian communication, which focuses more on mutual
listening, negotiation, and growth than on persuasion. Chapter 7 now contains
an additional student example of Rogerian communication addressing the issue
of charter schools. In addition, we have strengthened our explanation of how
classical argument treats opposing views. A new annotated student essay using a
rebuttal strategy shows how classical argument can appeal successfully to neutral,
undecided, or mildly resistant audiences.
■ Streamlined organization of each chapter now keyed to learning outcomes.
Each chapter now begins with newly formulated learning outcomes. Each main
heading in a rhetoric chapter is linked to a respective outcome, enhancing the
explanatory power of the outcomes and helping students learn the high-level take-
away points and concepts in each chapter
xx
 Preface xxi

■ New “For Writing and Discussion” activities. The class discussion activities in this
edition now include two types. The first—identified as “For Class Discussion”—
helps teachers incorporate small-group discussion tasks that enhance learning
of course concepts and skills. The second type—identified as “For Writing and
Discussion”—is new to this edition. Each of these activities begins with an “indi-
vidual task” that can be assigned as homework in advance of class. These tasks are
intended as informal, low-stakes write-to-learn activities that motivate reading of
the chapter and help students build their own argumentative skills. Each chapter
contains at least one of these “For Writing and Discussion” activities.
■ Seven new student model essays, many of which are annotated. New student
model arguments, including many newly annotated models, help demonstrate ar-
gument strategies in practice. Showing how other students have developed various
types of arguments makes argument concepts and strategies easier for students to
grasp and use themselves. New student essays address timely and relevant issues
such as raising the minimum wage, evaluating charter schools, analyzing the eth-
ics of downloading films from a person-to-person torrent site on the Web, critiqu-
ing a school culture that makes minorities “invisible,” opposing women in combat
roles, and evaluating the ­effect of social media on today’s college students.
■ Seven new professional readings throughout the rhetoric section in the text.
New readings about issues such as a living wage, the use of dietary supplements
among athletes, the “amateur” status of college athletes, the impact of adult cell-
phone use on children, and therapeutic cloning have been chosen for their illustra-
tive power and student interest.
■ New visual examples throughout the text. New images, editorial cartoons, and
graphics throughout the text highlight current issues such as living wage, climate
change, bullying, sexual trafficking, date rape, rainwater conservation, fracking,
and gender or racial stereotypes.
■ A thoroughly updated and revised anthology. The anthology in the tenth edi-
tion features newly updated units as well as one new unit.
• A new unit on food and farming explores controversies over labelling genetically
modified foods and the educational, nutritional, and social value of school gardens.
• An updated unit on digital literacies explores the effects of communications technol-
ogies and social media on the way we think, read, and write as well as on our values
and social relationships and online identities. The unit also explores the controversy
over selfies and shows how social media have been employed to fight gender violence.
• An updated unit on education continues its focus on the value of a college edu-
cation. A new sequence of arguments examines the benefits and drawbacks of
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), including their effect on teaching,
student learning, and society’s commitment to educate its citizens.
• The unit on immigration has been updated to reflect the latest controversies
over the social and economic benefits of immigrants and the humanitarian cri-
sis over undocumented children at the border.
• An updated unit on sustainability now presents a range of arguments on the
technological, economic, and political challenges of converting to renewable
energy sources and on the controversy over fracking.
xxii Preface

• An updated unit on the Millennial generation includes the difficulties of enter-

ing the workforce, the need to live with parents longer than planned, choosing
to delay marriage, and more.

What Hasn’t Changed? The Distinguishing Features of

Writing Arguments
Building on earlier success, we have preserved the signature features of earlier editions
praised by students, instructors, and reviewers:
■ Focus throughout on writing arguments. Grounded in composition theory,
this text combines explanations of argument with exploratory writing activities,
sequenced writing assignments, and class-tested discussion tasks with the aim of
helping students produce their own strong arguments. The text emphasizes the
critical thinking that underlies effective arguments, particularly the skills of criti-
cal reading, of active questioning and listening, of believing and doubting, and of
developing effective reasons and evidence to support claims.
■ Emphasis on argument as a rhetorical act. Analyzing audience, understanding
the real-world occasions for argument, and appreciating the context and genre of
arguments are all treated as equally important rhetorical considerations. Focusing
on both the reading and the writing of arguments, the text emphasizes the crit-
ical thinking that underlies effective arguments, particularly the skills of critical
reading, of rhetorical analysis, of believing and doubting, of empathic listening, of
active questioning, and of negotiating ambiguity and seeking synthesis.
■ Integration of four different approaches to argument. This text uses
• the Toulmin system as a means of inventing and analyzing arguments;
• the enthymeme as a logical structure rooted in the beliefs and values of the audience;
• the classical concepts of logos, pathos, and ethos as persuasive appeals; and
• stasis theory (called claim types) as an aid to inventing and structuring argu-
ments through the understanding of generic argumentative moves associated
with different categories of claims.
■ Generous treatment of the research process. Coverage includes guidance for
finding sources, reading and evaluating them rhetorically, taking notes, integrat-
ing source material, and citing sources using two academic citation systems: MLA
and APA.
■ Well-sequenced writing assignments. The text provides a variety of sequenced
writing assignments that include:
• an argument summary
• a researched, exploratory essay
• a “supporting-reasons” argument
• a classical argument
• a delayed-thesis argument or Rogerian letter
• a rhetorical analysis of a written argument
• a rhetorical analysis of a visual argument
• an advocacy ad
• a short argument incorporating quantitative data
 Preface xxiii

• an editorial cartoon
• a definition argument
• a causal argument
• an evaluation or ethical argument
• a proposal argument
• an advocacy poster
• a speech with PowerPoint slides
Part Six, the anthology, provides writing assignments focusing on problems related to
each topical unit. Instructors can also design anthology assignments requiring argu-
ment analysis.
■ “For Writing and Discussion,” “For Class Discussion,” and “Examining Visual
Arguments” exercises. These class-tested informal activities, which teach critical
thinking and build argumentative skills, are designed to produce active class discus-
sion and debate. All “For Class Discussion” exercises can be used either for whole-
class ­discussions or for collaborative group tasks.
■ Effective and engaging student and professional arguments. The tenth edition
contains 54 written arguments and 55 visual arguments drawn from public and
academic arenas as well as 16 student essays and 2 student visual arguments to il-
lustrate argumentative strategies and stimulate discussion, analysis, and debate.

Our Approaches to Argumentation

Our interest in argumentation grows out of our interest in the relationship between
writing and thinking. When writing arguments, writers are forced to lay bare their
thinking processes in an unparalleled way, grappling with the complex interplay be-
tween inquiry and persuasion, between issue and audience. In an effort to engage stu-
dents in the kinds of critical thinking that argument demands, we draw on four major
approaches to argumentation:
1. The enthymeme as a rhetorical and logical structure. This concept, especially
useful for beginning writers, helps students “nutshell” an argument as a claim with
one or more supporting because clauses. It also helps them see how real-world
arguments are rooted in assumptions granted by the audience rather than in uni-
versal and unchanging principles.
2. The three classical types of appeal—logos, ethos, and pathos. These concepts
help students place their arguments in a rhetorical context focusing on audience-
based appeals; they also help students create an effective voice and style.
3. Toulmin’s system of analyzing arguments. Toulmin’s system helps students see
the complete, implicit structure that underlies an enthymeme and develop appro-
priate grounds and backing to support an argument’s reasons and warrants. It also
highlights the rhetorical, social, and dialectical nature of argument.
4. Stasis theory concerning types of claims. This approach stresses the heuristic
value of learning different patterns of support for different types of claims and
often leads students to make surprisingly rich and full arguments.
Throughout the text these approaches are integrated and synthesized into generative
tools for both producing and analyzing arguments.
xxiv Preface

Structure of the Text

Writing Arguments provides a sound pedagogical framework for the teaching of argu-
ment while giving instructors the flexibility to use what they need. Part One begins with
an overview of argument and a chapter on reading arguments and exploring issues. Part
Two examines the elements of writing arguments: the enthymeme (a claim with rea-
sons); the rhetorical appeals of logos, ethos, and pathos; Toulmin’s system for analyzing
arguments; the use of evidence; acknowledging and responding to alternative views; and
using delayed-thesis and Rogerian approaches. In Part Three, the focus shifts to analyz-
ing written and visual arguments. Part Four provides a deeper understanding of defini-
tion, resemblance, causal, evaluation, and proposal arguments. Part Five shows students
how to use sources in support of an argument by evaluating, integrating, citing, and
documenting them properly. An appendix on logical fallacies is a handy section where
all the major informal fallacies are treated at once for easy reference.
Part Six, the anthology, provides a rich and varied selection of professional argu-
ments arranged into seven high-interest units including the value of higher educa-
tion, digital literacies, current food issues, Millennials in the workplace, immigration,
choices for a sustainable world, and a collection of classic arguments. The anthology
selections are grouped by topic rather than by issue question to encourage students to
see that any conversation of alternative views gives rise to numerous embedded and
intertwined issues. Many of the issues raised in the anthology are first raised in the
rhetoric (Parts One through Five) so that students’ interest in the anthology topics will
already be piqued.

Resources for Instructors and Students

Now Available for Composition MyWritingLab TM

Integrated solutions for writing. MyWritingLab is an online homework, tutorial,

and assessment program that provides engaging experiences for today’s instructors
and students. New features designed specifically for composition instructors and their
course needs include a new writing space for students, customizable rubrics for assess-
ing and grading student writing, multimedia instruction on all aspects of composition,
and advanced reporting to improve the ability to analyze class performance.
Adaptive learning. MyWritingLab offers pre-assessments and personalized remedia-
tion so students see improved results and instructors spend less time in class reviewing
the basics. Visit www.mywritinglab.com for more information.

eTextbooks
Pearson eText gives students access to Writing Arguments, Tenth Edition, when-
ever and wherever they can access the Internet. The eText pages look exactly like the
printed text, and include powerful interactive and customization functions. Users
 Preface xxv

can create notes, highlight text in different colors, create bookmarks, zoom, click
­hyperlinked words and phrases to view definitions, and view as a single page or as
two pages. Pearson eText also links students to associated media files, enabling them
to view videos as they read the text, and offers a full-text search and the ability to save
and export notes. The Pearson eText also includes embedded URLs in the chapter text
with active links to the Internet.
The Pearson eText app is a great companion to Pearson’s eText browser-based
book reader. It allows existing subscribers who view their Pearson eText titles on a
Mac or PC to additionally access their titles in a bookshelf on the iPad or an Android
tablet either online or via download.

Instructor’s Manual
The Instructor’s Manual, Tenth Edition, includes the following features:

■ Discussion of planning decisions an instructor must make in designing an argu-

ment course: for example, how to use readings; how much to emphasize Toulmin
or claim type theory; how much time to build into the course for invention, peer
review of drafts, and other writing instruction; and how to select and sequence
assignments.
■ For new instructors, a helpful discussion of how to sequence writing assignments
and how to use a variety of collaborative tasks in the classroom to promote active
learning and critical thinking.
■ Four detailed syllabi that support a variety of course structures and emphases.
■ An independent, highly teachable introductory lesson on the Toulmin schema
and an additional exercise giving students practice using Toulmin to generate
argument frames.
■ Chapter-by-chapter teaching tips, responses to the For Class Discussion exercises,
and sample quizzes.
■ Suggestions for encouraging students to explore how visual arguments mold pub-
lic thinking about issues and controversies.
■ Helpful suggestions for using the exercises in Part Four on critiquing readings. By
focusing on rhetorical context as well as on the strengths and weaknesses of these
arguments, our suggestions will help students connect their reading of arguments
to their writing of arguments.
■ A list of anthology readings that employ each claim type, either as a major claim
or as a substantial portion of the argument.
■ An analysis of anthology readings that points out striking connections among
readings, suggesting how the readings participate in larger societal argumenta-
tive conversations, but that also connects the anthology to the rhetoric portion of
the text. Using a bulleted, quick-reference format, each analysis briefly discusses
(1) the core of the argument, (2) the major or dominant claims of the argument,
(3) the argument’s use of evidence and argumentative strategies, (4) the appeals
to ethos and pathos in the argument, and (5) the argument’s genre.
Acknowledgments
We are happy for this opportunity to give public thanks to the scholars, teachers, and stu-
dents who have influenced our approach to composition and argument. For this edition,
we owe special thanks to those who helped us revise the anthology of Writing Arguments.
Hilary Hawley, our colleague at Seattle University, researched and wrote the apparatus for
many of the Anthology units. Her experience teaching argument and the public controver-
sies over food appear in the new unit featuring controversies over GMO food and school
gardens. We also thank Sarah Bean for her research on the anthology, her keen awareness
of social justice issues, and her empathic perspective on Millennials.
We are particularly grateful to our talented students—Trudie Makens, Lauren
Shinozuka, Monica Allen, Alex Mullen, Lorena Mendoza-Flores, and Ivan Snook—who
contributed to this edition their timely arguments built from their intellectual curiosity,
ideas, personal experience, and research. We also thank Janie Bube for her environmental
advocacy poster and Trey Tice for his film criticism. Additionally, we are grateful to all our
students whom we have been privileged to teach in our writing classes and to our other
students who have enabled us to include their arguments in this text. Their insights and
growth as writers have inspired our ongoing study of rhetoric and argumentation.
We thank too the many users of our texts who have given us encouragement about
our successes and offered helpful suggestions for improvements. Particularly we thank the
following scholars and teachers who reviewed this revision of Writing Arguments in its
various stages:
Alicia Alexander, Cape Fear Community College; Elijah Coleman, Washington State
University; Shannon Collins, Owensboro Community and Technical College; Veronda
Hutchinson, Johnston Community College; A. Abby Knoblauch, Kansas State University;
Beth Lewis, Moberly Area Community College; Layne Neeper, Morehead State University;
Jessie Nixon, University of Alaska Anchorage; Thomas Riddle, Guilford Technical
Community College; Dixie A. Shaw-Tillmon, The University of Texas San Antonio; Janice
R. Showler, Holy Family University; Coreen Wees, Iowa Western Community College; and
Stephen H. Wells, Community College of Allegheny County.
We thank our editor, Brad Potthoff for his publishing knowledge and cordial leader-
ship. We also give special, heartfelt thanks to our two development editors, Kassi Radomski
and Marion Castellucci, who shepherded this project through every stage, giving us timely
insight, collaborative feedback, and professional support. We also thank Martha Beyerlein,
our production editor, who has worked with us for years and patiently ushered us into the
paperless stages of text preparation.
As always we thank our families who ultimately make this work possible. John Bean
thanks his wife, Kit, also a professional composition teacher, and his children Matthew,
Andrew, Stephen, and Sarah, all of whom have grown to adulthood since he first began
writing textbooks. Our lively conversations at family dinners, which now include spouses,
partners, and grandchildren, have kept him engaged in arguments that matter about
how to create a just, humane, and sustainable world. June Johnson thanks her husband,
Kenneth Bube, a mathematics professor and researcher, and her daughter, Janie Bube, now

xxvi
 Acknowledgments xxvii

a student contributor to this text. Ken and Janie have played major roles in the ongoing
family analysis of argumentation in the public sphere on wide-ranging subjects. Janie’s
knowledge of environmental issues and Kenneth’s of mathematical thinking, online educa-
tion, energy resources, and technology have broadened June’s understanding of argument
hotspots. They have also enabled her to meet the demands and challenges of continuing to
infuse new ideas and material into this text in each revision.
John C. Bean
June Johnson
This page intentionally left blank
Marcel Dicke and Arnold Van Huis,
“The Six-Legged Meat of the Future”
(Ch. 14)
Arthur L. Caplan, “Genetically Modified
Food”
Aaron Bady, “The MOOC Moment and
the End of Reform”
Scott L. Newstok, “A Plea for ‘Close
Learning’ ”
Stephanie Paulsell, “Veiled Voices”
Madeline Zavodny, “Unauthorized
Immigrant Arrivals Are on the Rise,
and That’s Good News”
John K. Kavanaugh, “Amnesty?: Let Us
Be Vigilant and Charitable”
Raffi Wineburg, “Lip Service Useless for
Millennials”
Eve Tushnet, “You Can Go Home
Again”
Robert Bryce, “The Real Energy
Revolution Shrinking Carbon Dioxide
Emissions? It’s Fracking”
Vandana Shiva, “The Soil vs. the Sensex”
Video Games
Tomb Raider (Part 2)
Quantitative Tables and Graphs
Employment Statistics (Ch. 2)
Marital Status (Ch. 9)
U.S. Energy Information
Administration, “The U.S. Energy
Story in Numbers”
Student Visual Arguments
Posters
Janie Bube, “Is Stormwater Turning
Your Street into a Lake?” (Ch. 14)
Speech with PowerPoint
Sandy Wainscott, “Why McDonald’s
Should Sell Meat and Veggie Pies”
(Ch. 14)
Alison Gopnik, “Diagnosing the Digital
Revolution: Why It’s So Hard to Tell if
It’s Really Changing Us”
Adrienne Sarasy, “The Age of the Selfie:
Taking, Sharing Our Photos Shows
Empowerment, Pride”
Robert Wilcox, “The Age of the Selfie:
Endless Need to Share Tears Society’s
Last Shred of Decency
Garrett Hardin, “Lifeboat Ethics: The
Case Against Aid that Does Harm”
Blogs
Bonnie Hulkower, “A Defense of School
Gardens and Response to Caitlin
Flanagan’s ‘Cultivating Failure’ in The
Atlantic”
Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl, “Atlantic Gets It
Wrong!”
Ashutosh Jogalekar, “Vaclav Smil: ‘The
Great Hope for a Quick and Sweeping
Transition to Renewable Energy Is
Wishful Thinking’ ”
Student Readings
Researched Arguments Formatted in
Academic Style
Julie Christianson, “Why Lawrence
Summers Was Wrong” (cause; APA
format; Ch. 12)
Ivan Snook, “Flirting with Disaster”
(proposal; MLA format; Ch. 14)
Classical Arguments
Carmen Tieu, “Why Violent Video
Games Are Good for Girls” (Ch. 4)
Trudie Makens, “Bringing Dignity to
Workers: Make the Minimum Wage a
Living Wage” Ch. 7)
Lauren Shinozuka, “The Dangers of
Digital Distractedness” (Ch. 7)
Alex Mullen, “A Pirate But Not a Thief ”
(definition; Ch. 11)
Arthur Knopf, “Is Milk a Health Food?”
(definition; Ch. 11)
Carlos Macias, “ ‘The Credit Card
Company Made Me Do It!’ ” (cause;
Ch 12)
Christopher Moore, “Information Plus
Satire” (evaluation; Ch. 13)
Lorena Mendoza-Flores, “Silenced and
Invisible” (evaluation; Ch. 13)
White Paper
Mark Z. Jacobson and Mark A.
Delucchi, “A Path to Sustainable
Energy by 2030”
Book Excerpts
Rachel Carson, “The Obligation to
Endure”
E. O. Wilson, “Apocalypse Now”/
“Letter to a Southern Baptist
Minister”
Speeches
Ken Saxon, “What Do You Do With a
B.A. in History?”
Margaret Sanger, “The Morality of Birth
Control”
Interview
An Interview with Sherry Turkle,
“Digital Demands: The Challenges of
Constant Connectivity”
Practical Proposal
Megan Johnson, “A Proposal to Allow
Off-Campus Purchases with a
University Meal Card” (Ch. 14)
Exploratory Essay
Trudie Makens, “Should Fast-Food
Workers Be Paid $15 per Hour?”
(MLA format; Ch. 2)
Letters (Rogerian Communication)
Colleen Fontana, “An Open Letter
to Robert Levy in Response to
His Article ‘They Never Learn’ ”
(Ch. 7)
Monica Allen, “An Open Letter to
Christopher Eide in Response to His
Article ‘High-Performing Charter
Schools Can Close the Opportunity
Gap’ ” (Ch. 7)
Rhetorical Analysis
Zachary Stumps, “A Rhetorical Analysis
of Ellen Goodman’s ‘Womb for Rent’ ”
(Ch. 8)
Blog
Juan Lucas, “An Argument Against
Banning Phthalates” (Ch. 1)
Part One
Overview of Argument
1 Argument: An Introduction
2 Argument as Inquiry: Reading and Exploring

Across the country, protests like this one in front of a Burger King in Boston are raising awareness of the
­poverty-level wages of fast-food workers, who are not represented by unions and who often depend on public
assistance such as food stamps to get by every month. While protestors argue for a minimum wage of $15 per
hour, opponents argue that raising the minimum wage would increase food prices and reduce the number
of jobs. If you were making a brochure or poster in favor of an increased minimum wage for fast-food workers,
how effective would this realistic, low-keyed photo be in raising sympathy for the cause? Chapters 2 and 7 explore
the issue of a living wage for unskilled workers.

1
 Argument: An Introduction
1
What you will learn in this chapter:
1.1 To explain common misconceptions about the meaning of argument
1.2 To describe defining features of argument
1.3 To understand the relationship of argument to the problem of truth

At the outset of a book on argument, you might expect us to provide a s­ imple

definition of argument. Instead, we’re going to explain why no universally
­accepted definition is possible. Over the centuries, philosophers and rhetori-
cians have disagreed about the meaning of the term and about the goals that
arguers should set for themselves. This opening chapter introduces you to
some of these controversies.
We begin by showing some common misconceptions about argument
while also explaining how arguments can be either implicit or explicit. We
then proceed to three defining features of argument: it requires writers or
speakers to justify their claims; it is both a product and a process; and it com-
bines elements of truth seeking and persuasion. Finally, we explore more fully
the relationship between truth seeking and persuasion by asking questions
about the nature of “truth” that arguments seek.

What Do We Mean by Argument?

1.1 To explain Let’s begin by examining the inadequacies of two popular images
common miscon- of argument—fight and debate.
ceptions about
the meaning of
Argument Is Not a Fight or a Quarrel
argument
To many, the word argument connotes anger and hostility, as
when we say, “I just got in a huge argument with my roommate,”
or “My mother and I argue all the time.” What we picture here is heated disa-
greement, rising pulse rates, and an urge to slam doors. Argument imagined
as fight conjures images of shouting talk-show guests, flaming bloggers, or
fist-banging speakers.
But to our way of thinking, argument doesn’t imply anger. In fact,
­arguing is often pleasurable. It is a creative and productive activity that
2
 Chapter 1  Argument: An Introduction 3

e­ ngages us at high levels of inquiry and critical thinking, often in conversation with
people we like and respect. For your primary image of argument, we invite you to
think not of a shouting match on cable news but of a small group of reasonable peo-
ple seeking the best solution to a problem. We will return to this image throughout
the chapter.

Argument Is Not Pro-Con Debate

Another popular image of argument is debate—a presidential debate, perhaps, or a
high school or college debate tournament. According to one popular dictionary, debate
is “a formal contest of argumentation in which two opposing teams defend and attack a
given proposition.” Although formal debate can develop critical thinking, its weakness
is that it can turn argument into a game of winners and losers rather than a process of
cooperative inquiry.
For an illustration of this weakness, consider one of our former students, a cham-
pion high school debater who spent his senior year debating the issue of prison reform.
Throughout the year he argued for and against propositions such as “The United States
should build more prisons” and “Innovative alternatives to prison should replace
prison sentences for most crimes.” We asked him, “What do you personally think is the
best way to reform prisons?” He replied, “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about what
I would actually choose.”
Here was a bright, articulate student who had studied prisons extensively for a year.
Yet nothing in the atmosphere of pro-con debate had engaged him in truth-seeking
inquiry. He could argue for and against a proposition, but he hadn’t experienced the
wrenching process of clarifying his own values and taking a personal stand. As we
explain throughout this text, argument entails a desire for truth; it aims to find the best
solutions to complex problems. We don’t mean that arguers don’t passionately sup-
port their own points of view or expose weaknesses in views they find faulty. Instead,
we mean that their goal isn’t to win a game but to find and promote the best belief or
course of action.

Arguments Can Be Explicit or Implicit

Before proceeding to some defining features of argument, we should note also that
arguments can be either explicit or implicit. An explicit argument directly states its con-
troversial claim and supports it with reasons and evidence. An implicit argument, in
contrast, may not look like an argument at all. It may be a bumper sticker, a billboard,
a poster, a photograph, a cartoon, a vanity license plate, a slogan on a T-shirt, an adver-
tisement, a poem, or a song lyric. But like an explicit argument, it persuades its audience
toward a certain point of view.
Consider the striking photograph in Figure 1.1—a baby wearing a bib labeled
“POISON.” This photograph enters a conversation about the safety of toys and other
baby products sold in the United States. In recent years, fears about toy safety have
4 Part 1 Overview of Argument

come mostly from two sources: the discov-

ery that many toys imported from China
contained lead paint and the discovery that
a substance used to make plastics pliable and
soft—called phthalates (pronounced “tha-
lates”)—may be harmful. Phthalates have
been shown to interfere with hormone pro-
duction in rat fetuses and, based on other
rodent studies, may produce some kinds of
cancers and other ailments. Because many
baby products contain phthalates—bibs,
edges of cribs, rubber duckies, and any num-
ber of other soft, rubbery toys—parents
worry that babies can ingest phthalates by
chewing on these toys.
The photograph of the baby and bib
makes the argumentative claim that baby
products are poisonous; the photograph
implicitly urges viewers to take action
against phthalates. But this photograph is
just one voice in a surprisingly complex
conversation. Is the bib in fact poisonous?
Such questions were debated during a recent
campaign to ban the sale of toys containing
Figure 1.1 An implicit argument against
phthalates in California. A legislative ini-
phthalates tiative sparked intense lobbying from both
child-advocacy groups and representatives
of the toy industry. At issue were a number of scientific questions about the risk posed
by phthalates. To what extent do studies on rats apply to humans? How much expo-
sure to phthalates should be considered dangerous? (Experiments on rats used large
amounts of phthalates—amounts that, according to many scientists, far exceed any-
thing a baby could absorb by chewing on a toy.) Also at issue is the level of health risks
a free market society should be willing to tolerate. The European Union, operating on
the “precautionary principle,” and citing evidence that such toys might be dangerous,
has banned toys containing phthalates. The U.S. government sets less strict standards
than does the European Union. A federal agency generally doesn’t ban a substance
unless it has been proven harmful to humans, not merely suspected of being harm-
ful. In defense of free markets, the toy and chemical industries accused opponents of
phthalates of using “junk science” to produce scary but inaccurate data.
Our point in summarizing the toxic toy controversy is to demonstrate the persua-
sive roles of both implicit and explicit arguments.
In contrast to the implicit argument made in Figure 1.1, consider the following
explicit argument posted by student writer Juan Lucas on a blog site. As an explicit
argument, it states its claim directly and supports it with reasons and evidence.
 Chapter 1  Argument: An Introduction 5

An Argument Against Banning Phthalates

(Blog post by student Juan Lucas)

The campaign to ban phthalates from children’s toys uses scare tactics that aren’t
grounded in good science. The anti-phthalate campaign shocks us with photos of
baby bibs labeled “poison.” It arouses fear by linking phthalates to possible cancers
or abnormalities in hormone production. In contrast, the scientific literature about
phthalates is much more guarded and cautious. Political pressure has already led to
a 2009 federal ban on phthalates used in toys that can be put in a baby’s mouth, such
as bottle nipples and teething rings. But based on the scientific evidence, I argue that
further banning of phthalates from children’s toys is a mistake.
Despite the warnings from the anti-phthalates campaign, the federal Consumer
Product Safety Commission, after extensive tests and review of the scientific litera-
ture, says that the level of phthalates absorbed from toys is too low to be harmful. No
­scientific study has yet demonstrated harm to humans. Moreover, humans are exposed
to phthalates daily, especially from food packaging, plastic bottles, shower curtains,
personal care products, and elsewhere. Banning phthalates in children’s toys wouldn’t
significantly reduce human exposure to phthalates from other sources.
Banning substances on emotional rather than scientific grounds has its own nega-
tive consequences. If we try to ban all potentially harmful substances before they have
been proven harmful, we will be less watchful against scientifically proven dangers
such as lead, coal dust, sulfur dioxide, or mercury in fish. We should place phthalates
in the same category as other possible-but-not-proven threats that are part of living
in the industrial world: artificial sweeteners, electromagnetic waves, non-organic foods
(because of possible pesticide residue), GMO corn and soy beans, and radon in our
walls. We should demand rigorous testing of all these threats, but not try to ban them
until evidence-based science proves their harmfulness.
We should also keep in mind the impact of too much regulation on people’s jobs
and the economy in general. The toy industry, a vibrant and important one in our
economy (just ask Santa Claus), provides thousands of jobs, and is already highly
regulated with safety standards. The use of phthalates, in fact, might make many toys
safer by making them softer and less brittle. Ensuring toy safety through strong testing
and regulation is absolutely necessary. But let’s base our regulations on good science.

■ ■ ■ For Writing and Discussion Implicit and Explicit Arguments MyWritingLab TM

Any argument, whether implicit or explicit, tries to influence the audience’s stance on an
issue, moving the audience toward the arguer’s claim. Arguments work on us psycho-
logically as well as cognitively, triggering emotions as well as thoughts and ideas. Each
of the implicit arguments in Figures 1.2–1.4 makes a claim on its audience, trying to get
viewers to adopt its position, perspective, belief, or point of view on an issue.
6 Part 1 Overview of Argument

Figure 1.2 Poster related to the GMO controversy

Figure 1.3 Photograph of protestors at a New York State Occupy Wall Street Rally
 Chapter 1  Argument: An Introduction 7

Figure 1.4 Cartoon on social etiquette and digital media

Individual task: For each argument, answer the following questions:

1. What conversation does this argument join? What is the issue or controversy?
What is at stake? (Sometimes “insider knowledge” might be required to under-
stand the argument. In such cases, explain to an outsider the needed background
information or cultural context.)
2. What is the argument’s claim? That is, what value, perspective, belief, or position
does the argument ask its viewers to adopt?
3. What is an opposing or alternative view? What views is the argument pushing against?
4. Convert the implicit argument into an explicit argument by stating its claim and
supporting reasons in words. How do implicit and explicit arguments work dif-
ferently on the brains or hearts of the audience?
Group task: Working in pairs or as a whole class, share your answers with classmates. ■■■

The Defining Features of Argument

1.2 To describe We turn now to examine arguments in more detail. (Unless we say
defining features ­otherwise, by argument we mean explicit arguments that attempt to supply
of argument reasons and evidence to support their claims.) This section examines three
defining features of such arguments.
8 Part 1 Overview of Argument

Argument Requires Justification of Its Claims

To begin defining argument, let’s turn to a humble but universal site of disagreement:
the conflict between a parent and a teenager over rules. In what way and in what cir-
cumstances do such conflicts constitute arguments?
Consider the following dialogue:

YOUNG PERSON (racing for the front door while putting coat on):  Bye. See you later.
PARENT: Whoa! What time are you planning on coming home?
YOUNG PERSON (coolly, hand still on doorknob): I’m sure we discussed this earlier. I’ll
be home around 2 a.m. (The second sentence, spoken very rapidly, is barely audible.)
PARENT (mouth tightening): We did not discuss this earlier and you’re not staying out
till two in the morning. You’ll be home at twelve.

At this point in the exchange, we have a quarrel, not an argument. Quarrelers

e­ xchange antagonistic assertions without any attempt to support them rationally. If the
dialogue never gets past the “Yes-you-will/No-I-won’t” stage, it either remains a quarrel
or degenerates into a fight.
Let us say, however, that the dialogue takes the following turn:

YOUNG PERSON (tragically): But I’m sixteen years old!

Now we’re moving toward argument. Not, to be sure, a particularly well-developed

or cogent one, but an argument all the same. It’s now an argument because one of the
quarrelers has offered a reason for her assertion. Her choice of curfew is satisfactory, she
says, because she is sixteen years old, an argument that depends on the unstated assump-
tion that sixteen-year-olds are old enough to make decisions about such matters.
The parent can now respond in one of several ways that will either advance
the argument or turn it back into a quarrel. The parent can simply invoke parental
authority (“I don’t care—you’re still coming home at twelve”), in which case argument
ceases. Or the parent can provide a reason for his or her view (“You will be home at
twelve because your dad and I pay the bills around here!”), in which case the argument
takes a new turn.
So far we’ve established two necessary conditions that must be met before we’re
willing to call something an argument: (1) a set of two or more conflicting assertions
and (2) the attempt to resolve the conflict through an appeal to reason.
But good argument demands more than meeting these two formal requirements.
For the argument to be effective, an arguer is obligated to clarify and support the rea-
sons presented. For example, “But I’m sixteen years old!” is not yet a clear support for
the assertion “I should be allowed to set my own curfew.” On the surface, Young Per-
son’s argument seems absurd. Her parent, of all people, knows precisely how old she is.
What makes it an argument is that behind her claim lies an unstated assumption—all
sixteen-year-olds are old enough to set their own curfews. What Young Person needs
 Chapter 1  Argument: An Introduction 9

to do now is to support that assumption.* In doing so, she must anticipate the sorts of
questions the assumption will raise in the mind of her parent: What is the legal status of
sixteen-year-olds? How psychologically mature, as opposed to chronologically mature,
is Young Person? What is the actual track record of Young Person in being responsi-
ble? and so forth. Each of these questions will force Young Person to reexamine and
clarify her assumptions about the proper degree of autonomy for sixteen-year-olds.
And her responses to those questions should in turn force the parent to reexamine his
or her assumptions about the dependence of sixteen-year-olds on parental guidance
and ­wisdom. (Likewise, the parent will need to show why “paying the bills around here”
automatically gives the right to set Young Person’s curfew.)
As the argument continues, Young Person and Parent may shift to a different line
of reasoning. For example, Young Person might say: “I should be allowed to stay out
until 2 a.m. because all my friends get to stay out that late.” (Here the unstated assump-
tion is that the rules in this family ought to be based on the rules in other families.) The
­parent might in turn respond, “But I certainly never stayed out that late when I was
your age”—an argument assuming that the rules in this family should follow the rules
of an earlier generation.
As Young Person and Parent listen to each other’s points of view (and begin
realizing why their initial arguments have not persuaded their intended audience),
both parties find themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to examine
their own beliefs and to justify assumptions that they have taken for granted. Here
we encounter one of the earliest meanings of the term to argue, which is “to clarify.”
As an arguer begins to clarify her own position on an issue, she also begins to clarify
her audience’s position. Such clarification helps the arguer see how she might accom-
modate her audience’s views, perhaps by adjusting her own position or by developing
reasons that appeal to her audience’s values. Thus Young Person might suggest an
argument like this:

I should be allowed to stay out until two on a trial basis because I need enough freedom to
­demonstrate my maturity and show you I won’t get into trouble.

The assumption underlying this argument is that it is good to give teenagers

f­reedom to demonstrate their maturity. Because this reason is likely to appeal to her
parent’s own values (the parent wants to see his or her daughter grow in maturity) and
because it is tempered by the qualifier “on a trial basis” (which reduces some of the
threat of Young Person’s initial demands), it may prompt productive discussion.
Whether or not Young Person and Parent can work out a best solution, the pre-
ceding scenario illustrates how argument leads people to clarify their reasons and
provide justifications that can be examined rationally. The scenario also illustrates
two specific aspects of argument that we will explore in detail in the next sections:
(1) Argument is both a process and a product. (2) Argument combines truth seeking
and persuasion.

*Later in this text we will call the assumption underlying a line of reasoning its warrant (see Chapter 4).
10 Part 1 Overview of Argument

Argument Is Both a Process and a Product

As the preceding scenario revealed, argument can be viewed as a process in which two
or more parties seek the best solution to a question or problem. Argument can also be
viewed as a product, each product being any person’s contribution to the conversation
at a given moment. In an informal discussion, the products are usually short, whatever
time a person uses during his or her turns in the conversation. Under more formal set-
tings, an orally delivered product might be a short, impromptu speech (say, during an
open-mike discussion of a campus issue) or a longer, carefully prepared formal speech
(as in a PowerPoint presentation at a business meeting or an argument at a public hear-
ing for or against a proposed city project).
Similar conversations occur in writing. Roughly analogous to a small-group dis-
cussion is an exchange of the kind that occurs regularly online through informal chat
groups or more formal blog sites. In an online discussion, participants have more
thinking time to shape their messages than they do in a real-time oral discussion.
­Nevertheless, messages are usually short and informal, making it possible over the
course of several days to see participants’ ideas shift and evolve as conversants modify
their initial views in response to others’ views.
Roughly equivalent to a formal speech would be a formal written argument, which
may take the form of an academic argument for a college course; a grant proposal; an
online posting; a guest column for the op-ed* section of a newspaper; a legal brief; a
letter to a member of Congress; or an article for an organizational newsletter, popular
magazine, or professional journal. In each of these instances, the written argument
(a product) enters a conversation (a process)—in this case, a conversation of readers,
many of whom will carry on the conversation by writing their own responses or by
discussing the writer’s views with others. The goal of the community of writers and
readers is to find the best solution to the problem or issue under discussion.

Argument Combines Truth Seeking and Persuasion

In thinking about argument as a product, the writer will find herself continually mov-
ing back and forth between truth seeking and persuasion—that is, between questions
about the subject matter (What is the best solution to this problem?) and about audi-
ence (What do my readers already believe or value? What reasons and evidence will
most persuade them?). Back and forth she’ll weave, alternately absorbed in the subject
of her argument and in the audience for that argument.
Neither of the two focuses is ever completely out of mind, but their relative impor-
tance shifts during different phases of the development of a paper. Moreover, differ-
ent rhetorical situations place different emphases on truth seeking versus persuasion.

*Op-ed stands for “opposite-editorial.” It is the generic name in journalism for a signed argument that
voices the writer’s opinion on an issue, as opposed to a news story that is supposed to report events
objectively, uncolored by the writer’s personal views. Op-ed pieces appear in the editorial-opinion
section of newspapers, which generally features editorials by the resident staff, opinion pieces by
syndicated columnists, and letters to the editor from readers. The term op-ed is often extended to
syndicated columns appearing in newsmagazines, advocacy Web sites, and online news services.
 Chapter 1  Argument: An Introduction 11

Truth Seeking Persuasion

Exploratory Argument as Dialogic Classical One-sided Aggressive Outright

essay inquiry, asking argument argument argument one-sided propaganda
examining audience to seeking aimed at a aimed at a arguments
all sides of think out common neutral or friendly
an issue issue with ground with possibly audience (often
writer a resistant skeptical for fund-raising
audience audience or calls to action)

Figure 1.5 Continuum of arguments from truth seeking to persuasion

We could thus place arguments on a kind of continuum that measures the degree of
attention a writer gives to subject matter versus audience. (See Figure 1.5.) At the far
truth-seeking end of the continuum might be an exploratory piece that lays out several
alternative approaches to a problem and weighs the strengths and weaknesses of each
with no concern for persuasion. At the other end of the continuum would be outright
propaganda, such as a political campaign advertisement that reduces a complex issue to
sound bites and distorts an opponent’s position through out-of-context quotations or
misleading use of data. (At its most blatant, propaganda obliterates truth seeking; it will
do anything, including the knowing use of bogus evidence, distorted assertions, and
outright lies, to win over an audience.) In the middle ranges of the continuum, writers
shift their focuses back and forth between truth seeking and persuasion but with vary-
ing degrees of emphasis.
As an example of a writer focusing primarily on truth seeking, consider the case
of Kathleen, who, in her college argument course, addressed the definitional question
“Is American Sign Language (ASL) a ‘foreign language’ for purposes of meeting the
university’s foreign language requirement?” Kathleen had taken two years of ASL at a
community college. When she transferred to a four-year college, the chair of the foreign
languages department at her new college would not allow her ASL proficiency to count
for the foreign language requirement. ASL isn’t a “language,” the chair said summarily.
“It’s not equivalent to learning French, German, or Japanese.”
Kathleen disagreed, so she immersed herself in developing her argument. While
doing research, she focused almost entirely on subject matter, searching for what
­linguists, neurologists, cognitive psychologists, and sociologists had said about the lan-
guage of deaf people. Immersed in her subject matter, she was only tacitly concerned
with her audience, whom she thought of primarily as her classmates and the professor
of her argument class—people who were friendly to her views and interested in her
experiences with the deaf community. She wrote a well-documented paper, citing sev-
eral scholarly articles, that made a good case to her classmates (and the professor) that
ASL is indeed a distinct language.
Proud of the big red A the professor had placed on her paper, Kathleen decided
for a subsequent assignment to write a second paper on ASL—but this time aiming
it directly at the chair of foreign languages and petitioning him to accept her ASL
12 Part 1 Overview of Argument

­ roficiency for the foreign language requirement. Now her writing task fell closer to the
p
persuasive end of our continuum. Kathleen once again immersed herself in research,
but this time focused not on subject matter (whether ASL is a distinct language) but on
audience. She researched the history of the foreign language requirement at her college
and discovered some of the politics behind it (an old foreign language requirement
had been dropped in the 1970s and reinstituted in the 1990s, partly—a math profes-
sor told her—to boost enrollments in foreign language courses). She also interviewed
foreign language teachers to find out what they knew and didn’t know about ASL. She
discovered that many teachers thought ASL was “easy to learn,” so that accepting ASL
would allow students a Mickey Mouse way to avoid the rigors of a “real” foreign lan-
guage class. Additionally, she learned that foreign language teachers valued immersing
students in a foreign culture; in fact, the foreign language requirement was part of her
college’s effort to create a multicultural curriculum.
This new understanding of her target audience helped Kathleen reconceptualize
her argument. Her claim that ASL is a real language (the subject of her first paper)
became only one section of her second paper, much condensed and abridged. She
added sections showing the difficulty of learning ASL (to counter her audience’s belief
that learning ASL is easy), showing how the deaf community forms a distinct culture
with its own customs and literature (to show how ASL would meet the goals of multi-
culturalism), and showing that the number of transfer students with ASL credits would
be negligibly small (to allay fears that accepting ASL would threaten enrollments in lan-
guage classes). She ended her argument with an appeal to her college’s public emphasis
(declared boldly in its mission statement) on eradicating social injustice and reaching
out to the oppressed. She described the isolation of deaf people in a world where almost
no hearing people learn ASL, and she argued that the deaf community on her campus
could be integrated more fully into campus life if more students could “talk” with them.
Thus the ideas included in her new argument—the reasons selected, the evidence used,
the arrangement and tone—all were determined by her primary focus on persuasion.
Our point, then, is that all along the continuum, writers attempt both to seek truth
and to persuade, but not necessarily with equal balance. Kathleen could not have writ-
ten her second paper, aimed specifically at persuading the chair of foreign languages, if
she hadn’t first immersed herself in truth-seeking research that convinced her that ASL
is indeed a distinct language. Nor are we saying that her second argument was better
than her first. Both fulfilled their purposes and met the needs of their intended audi-
ences. Both involved truth seeking and persuasion, but the first focused primarily on
subject matter whereas the second focused primarily on audience.

Argument and the Problem of Truth

1.3 To understand The tension that we have just examined between truth seeking and persua-
the relationship of sion raises an ancient issue in the field of argument: Is the arguer’s first
argument to the obligation to truth or to winning the argument? And just what is the nature
problem of truth of the truth to which arguers are supposed to be obligated?
In Plato’s famous dialogues from ancient Greek philosophy, these ques-
tions were at the heart of Socrates’ disagreement with the Sophists. The Sophists were
 Chapter 1  Argument: An Introduction 13

professional rhetoricians who specialized in training orators to win arguments. Socrates,

who valued truth seeking over persuasion and believed that truth could be discov-
ered through philosophic inquiry, opposed the Sophists. For Socrates, Truth resided
in the ideal world of forms, and through philosophic rigor humans could transcend
the changing, shadowlike world of everyday reality to perceive the world of universals
where Truth, Beauty, and Goodness resided. Through his method of questioning his
interlocutors, Socrates would gradually peel away layer after layer of false views until
Truth was revealed. The good person’s duty, Socrates believed, was not to win an argu-
ment but to pursue this higher Truth. Socrates distrusted rhetoricians because they
were interested only in the temporal power and wealth that came from persuading
audiences to the orator’s views.
Let’s apply Socrates’ disagreement with the Sophists to a modern instance. Suppose
your community is divided over the issue of raising environmental standards versus
keeping open a job-producing factory that doesn’t meet new guidelines for waste dis-
charge. The Sophists would train you to argue any side of this issue on behalf of any
lobbying group willing to pay for your services. If, however, you followed the spirit of
Socrates, you would be inspired to listen to all sides of the dispute, peel away false argu-
ments, discover the Truth through reasonable inquiry, and commit yourself to a Right
Course of Action.
But what is the nature of Truth or Right Action in a dispute between jobs and the
environment? The Sophists believed that truth was determined by those in power;
thus they could enter an argument unconstrained by any transcendent beliefs or
assumptions. When Socrates talked about justice and virtue, the Sophists could reply
contemptuously that these were fictitious concepts invented by the weak to protect
themselves from the strong. Over the years, the Sophists’ relativist beliefs became
so repugnant to people that the term sophistry became synonymous with trickery in
argument.
However, in recent years the Sophists’ critique of a transcendent Universal Truth
has been taken seriously by many philosophers, sociologists, and other thinkers who
doubt Socrates’ confident belief that arguments, properly conducted, necessarily arrive
at a single Truth. For these thinkers, as for the Sophists, there are often different degrees
of truth and different kinds of truths for different situations or cultures. From this
perspective, when we consider questions of interpretation or value, we can never dem-
onstrate that a belief or assumption is true—not through scientific observation, not
through reason, and not through religious revelation. We get our beliefs, according to
these contemporary thinkers, from the shared assumptions of our particular cultures.
We are condemned (or liberated) to live in a pluralistic, multicultural world with com-
peting visions of truth.
If we accept this pluralistic view of the world, do we then endorse the Sophists’
radical relativism, freeing us to argue any side of any issue? Or do we doggedly pursue
some modern equivalent of Socrates’ truth?
Our own sympathies are with Socrates, but we admit to a view of truth that is
more tentative, cautious, and conflicted than his. For us, truth seeking does not mean
finding the “Right Answer” to a disputed question, but neither does it mean a valueless
relativism in which all answers are equally good. For us, truth seeking means taking
14 Part 1 Overview of Argument

responsibility for determining the “best answer” or “best solution” to the question for
the good of the whole community when taking into consideration the interests of all
stakeholders. It means making hard decisions in the face of uncertainty. This more
tentative view of truth means that you cannot use argument to “prove” your claim, but
only to make a reasonable case for your claim. One contemporary philosopher says
that argument can hope only to “increase adherence” to ideas, not absolutely convince
an audience of the necessary truth of ideas. Even though you can’t be certain, in a
Socratic sense, that your solution to the problem is the best one available, you must
ethically take responsibility for the consequences of your claim and you must seek
justice for stakeholders beyond yourself. You must, in other words, forge a personal
stance based on your examination of all the evidence and your articulation of values
that you can make public and defend.
To seek truth, then, means to seek the best or most just solution to a problem while
observing all available evidence, listening with an open mind to the views of all stake-
holders, clarifying and attempting to justify your own values and assumptions, and tak-
ing responsibility for your argument. It follows that truth seeking often means delaying
closure on an issue, acknowledging the pressure of alternative views, and being willing
to change one’s mind. Seen in this way, learning to argue effectively has the deepest sort
of social value: It helps communities settle conflicts in a rational and humane way by
finding, through the dialectic exchange of ideas, the best solutions to problems without
resorting to violence or to other assertions of raw power.

■ ■ ■ For Class Discussion Role-Playing Arguments

On any given day, the media provides evidence of the complexity of living in a plural-
istic culture. Issues that could be readily decided in a completely homogeneous ­culture
raise questions in a society that has fewer shared assumptions. Choose one of the
­following cases as the subject for a “simulation game” in which class members present
the points of view of the people involved.

Case 1: Political Asylum for German Family Seeking Right to Homeschool

Their Children
In 2010 an Evangelical Christian family from Germany, Uwe and Hannelore Romeike and
their five children, moved to the United States seeking asylum from political persecution.
At the U.S. immigration hearings, the couple argued that if they remained in Germany
their decision to homeschool their children would result in fines, possible arrest, and even
forced separation from their children. German law forbids homeschooling on the grounds
that failure to attend recognized schools will create “parallel societies” whose members
will fail to integrate into Germany’s open and pluralistic culture. In early 2011, a U.S. fed-
eral immigration judge granted political asylum to the family, denouncing the German
government’s policy against homeschooling. He called it “utterly repellent to everything
we believe as Americans.” However, in 2013 the Sixth Circuit Court unanimously over-
turned the original decision and revoked the family’s status as political refugees. Stating
that the United States cannot give political asylum to every victim of perceived unfairness
in another country’s laws, the court declared that Germany’s ban on homeschooling did
 Chapter 1  Argument: An Introduction 15

not constitute political persecution. The decision led to international debate about the role
of homeschooling in a pluralistic society and about the definition of political persecution.
In the United States, the Homeschooling Legal Defense Association urged that the case be
heard by the United States Supreme Court and sponsored a petition drive supporting the
Romeike family.

Your task: Imagine a public hearing on this issue where all stakeholders are invited to
present their points of view. The U.S. Immigration Web site offers the following defini-
tion of refugee status:

Refugee status or asylum may be granted to people who have been persecuted or fear they
will be persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, and/or membership in a particu-
lar social group or political opinion

Your goal isn’t to make your own decision about this case but to bring to imaginative life all
the points of view in the controversy. Hold a mock public hearing in which ­classmates play
the following roles: (a) An American parent advocating homeschooling; (b) an American
teacher’s union representative opposing homeschooling; (c) an attorney arguing that the
Romeike family meets the criteria for “refugee status”; (d) an attorney arguing that the
Romeike family does not meet the criteria for refugee status; (e) a German citizen sup-
porting the German law against homeschooling; (f) a Romeike parent arguing that they
would be persecuted if they returned to Germany; (g) other roles that your class thinks are
relevant to this case.

Case 2: HPV Vaccines for Sixth Grade Girls (and Boys)

In 2007 the pharmaceutical company Merke developed a vaccine against the sexually trans-
mitted HPV virus (human papillomavirus), some strains of which can cause cervical cancer
as well as genital warts. They launched an extensive television campaign promoting the
vaccine (which would bring substantial profits to Merke) and advised that girls should get
the vaccine before they reached puberty. Following recommendations from doctors and
medical researchers, several states passed laws mandating that the HPV vaccine be included
for girls among the other vaccinations required of all children for entry into the sixth or
seventh grades (depending on the state). These laws sparked public debate about the ben-
efits versus potential adverse effects of vaccines, and about the state’s versus parents’ role in
determining what vaccines a child should get.

Your task: Imagine a public hearing addressing what your state’s laws should be con-
cerning HPV vaccinations for pre-pubescent children. Your goal isn’t to make your
own decision about this case but to bring to imaginative life all the points of view in
the controversy. Hold a mock hearing in which classmates play the following roles:
(a) a cancer specialist who supports mandatory HPV vaccination for girls; (b) a public
health specialist who also supports expanding the requirement to include boys; (c) a
skeptical person concerned about the potential adverse effects of vaccines in general;
(d) a religiously conservative parent who believes in abstinence and monogamy and
opposes the cultural message of the HPV vaccination. ■■■
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Fig. 35.—19 specimens of Purpura lapillus L., Great
Britain, illustrating variation.
(1) Felixstowe, sheltered coast; (2), (3) Newquay,
on veined and coloured rock; (4) Herm, rather
exposed; (5) Solent, very sheltered; (6) Land’s End,
exposed rocks, small food supply; (7) Scilly, exposed
rocks, fair food supply; (8) St. Leonards, flat mussel
beds at extreme low water; (9) Robin Hood’s Bay,
 sheltered under boulders, good food supply; (10)
Rhoscolyn, on oyster bed, 4–7 fath. (Macandrew);
(11) Guernsey, rather exposed rocks; (12) Estuary of
Conway, very sheltered, abundant food supply; (13),
(14) Robin Hood’s Bay, very exposed rocks, poor food
supply; (14) slightly monstrous; (15), (16), (17)
Morthoe, rather exposed rocks, but abundant food
supply; (18) St. Bride’s Bay; (19) L. Swilly, sheltered,
but small food supply. All from the author’s collection,
except (10).
The common dog-whelk (Purpura lapillus) of our own coasts is an
exceedingly variable species, and in many cases the variations may
be shown to bear a direct relation to the manner of life (Fig. 35).
Forms occurring in very exposed situations, e.g. Land’s End, outer
rocks of the Scilly Is., coasts of N. Devon and Yorkshire, are stunted,
with a short spire and relatively large mouth, the latter being
developed in order to increase the power of adherence to the rock
and consequently of resistance to wave force. On the other hand,
shells occurring in sheltered situations, estuaries, narrow straits, or
even on open coasts where there is plenty of shelter from the waves,
are comparatively of great size, with a well-developed, sometimes
produced spire, and a mouth small in proportion to the area of shell
surface. In the accompanying figure, the specimens from the
Conway estuary and the Solent (12, 5) well illustrate this latter form
of shell, while that from exposed rocks is illustrated by the
specimens from Robin Hood’s Bay (13, 14). Had these specimens
occurred alone, or had they been brought from some distant and
unexplored region, they must inevitably have been described as two
distinct species.
 Fig. 36.—Valves of Cardium edule from the four upper
terraces of Shumish Kul, a dry salt lake adjacent to the
Aral Sea. (After Bateson.)

Mr. W. Bateson has made[195] some observations on the shells of

Cardium edule taken from a series of terraces on the border of
certain salt lakes which once formed a portion of the Sea of Aral. As
these lakes gradually became dry, the water they contained became
salter, and thus the successive layers of dead shells deposited on
their borders form an interesting record of the progressive variation
of this species under conditions which, in one respect at least, can
be clearly appreciated. At the same time the diminishing volume of
water, and the increasing average temperature, would not be without
their effect. It was found that the principal changes were as follows:
the thickness, and consequently the weight, of the shells became
diminished, the size of the beaks was reduced, the shell became
highly coloured, and diminished considerably in size, and the
breadth of the shells increased in proportion to their length (Fig. 36).
Shells of the same species of Cardium, occurring in Lake Mareotis,
were found to exhibit very similar variations as regards colour, size,
shape, and thickness.
Unio pictorum var. compressa occurs near Norwich at two similar
localities six or seven miles distant from one another, under
circumstances which tend to show that similar conditions have
produced similar results. The form occurs where the river, by
bending sharply in horse-shoe shape, causes the current to rush
across to the opposite side and form an eddy near the bank on the
outside of the bend. Just at the edge of the sharp current next the
eddy the shells are found, the peculiar form being probably due to
the current continually washing away the soft particles of mud and
compelling the shell to elongate itself in order to keep partly buried at
the bottom.[196]
The rivers Ouse and Foss, which unite just below York, are rivers
of strikingly different character, the Ouse being deep, rapid, with a
bare, stony bottom, and little vegetable growth, and receiving a good
deal of drainage, while the Foss is shallow, slow, muddy, full of
weeds and with very little drainage. In the Foss, fine specimens of
Anodonta anatina occur, lustrous, with beautifully rayed shells. A few
yards off, in the Ouse, the same species of Anodonta is dull brown in
colour, its interior clouded, the beaks and epidermis often deeply
eroded. Precisely the same contrast is shown in specimens of Unio
tumidus, taken from the same rivers, Ouse specimens being also
slightly curved in form. Just above Yearsley Lock in the Foss, Unio
tumidus occurs, but always dwarfed and malformed, a result
probably due to the effect of rapidly running water upon a species
accustomed to live in still water.[197] Simroth records the occurrence
of remarkably distorted varieties in two species of Aetheria which
lived in swift falls of the River Congo.[198]
A variety of Limnaea peregra with a short spire and rather strong,
stoutly built shell occurs in Lakes Windermere, Derwentwater, and
Llyn-y-van-fach. It lives adhering to stones in places where there are
very few weeds, its shape enabling it to withstand the surf of these
large lakes, to which the ordinary form would probably succumb.[199]
Scalariform specimens of Planorbis are said to occur most
commonly in waters which are choked by vegetation, and it has been
shown that this form of shell is able to make its way through masses
of dense weed much more readily than specimens of normal shape.
Continental authorities have long considered Limnaea peregra
and L. ovata as two distinct species. Hazay, however, has
succeeded in rearing specimens of so-called peregra from the ova of
ovata, and so-called ovata from the ova of peregra, simply by placing
one species in running water, and the other in still water.
According to Mr. J. S. Gibbons[200] certain species of Littorina, in
tropical and sub-tropical regions, are confined to water more or less
brackish, being incapable of living in pure salt water. “I have met,”
says Mr. Gibbons, “with three of these species, and in each case
they have been distinguished from the truly marine species by the
extreme (comparative) thinness of their shells, and by their colouring
being richer and more varied; they are also usually more elaborately
marked. They are to be met with under three different conditions—
(1) in harbours and bays where the water is salt with but a slight
admixture of fresh water; (2) in mangrove swamps where salt and
fresh water mix in pretty equal volume; (3) on dry land, but near a
marsh or the dry bed of one.
“L. intermedia Reeve, a widely diffused E. African shell, attaches
itself by a thin pellicle of dried mucus to grass growing by the margin
of slightly brackish marshes near the coast, resembling in its mode
of suspension the Old World Cyclostoma. I have found it in vast
numbers in situations where, during the greater part of the year, it is
exposed to the full glare of an almost vertical sun, its only source of
moisture being a slight dew at night-time. The W. Indian L. angulifera
Lam., and a beautifully coloured E. African species (? L. carinifera),
are found in mangrove swamps; they are, however, less independent
of salt water than the last.”
Mr. Gibbons goes on to note that brackish water species
(although not so solid as truly marine species) tend to become more
solid as the water they inhabit becomes less salt. This is a curious
fact, and the reverse of what one would expect. Specimens of L.
intermedia on stakes at the mouth of the Lorenço Marques River,
Delagoa Bay, are much smaller, darker, and more fragile, than those
living on grass a few hundred yards away. L. angulifera is unusually
solid and heavy at Puerto Plata (S. Domingo) among mangroves,
where the water is in a great measure fresh; at Havana and at
Colon, where it lives on stakes in water but slightly brackish, it is
thinner and smaller and also darker coloured.
(c) Changes in the Volume of Water.—It has long been known that
the largest specimens, e.g. of Limnaea stagnalis and Anodonta
anatina, only occurred in pieces of water of considerable size.
Recent observation, however, has shown conclusively that the
volume of water in which certain species live has a very close
relation to the actual size of their shells, besides producing other
effects. Lymnaea megasoma, when kept in an aquarium of limited
size, deposited eggs which hatched out; this process was continued
in the same aquarium for four generations in all, the form of the shell
of the last generation having become such that an experienced
conchologist gave it as his opinion that the first and last terms of the
series could have no possible specific relation to one another. The
size of the shell became greatly diminished, and in particular the
spire became very slender.[201]
The same species being again kept in an aquarium under similar
conditions, it was found that the third generation had a shell only
four-sevenths the length of their great grandparents. It was noticed
also that the sexual capacities of the animals changed as well. The
liver was greatly reduced, and the male organs were entirely lost.
[202]

K. Semper conducted some well-known experiments bearing on

this point. He separated[203] specimens of Limnaea stagnalis from
the same mass of eggs as soon as they were hatched, and placed
them simultaneously in bodies of water varying in volume from 100
to 2000 cubic centimetres. All the other conditions of life, and
especially the food supply, were kept at the known optimum. He
found, in the result, that the size of the shell varied directly in
proportion to the volume of the water in which it lived, and that this
was the case, whether an individual specimen was kept alone in a
given quantity of water, or shared it with several others. At the close
of 65 days the specimens raised in 100 cubic cm. of water were only
6 mm. long, those in 250 cubic cm. were 9 mm. long, those in 600
cubic cm. were 12 mm. long, while those kept in 2000 cubic cm.
attained a length of 18 mm. (Fig. 37).
An interesting effect of a sudden fall of temperature was noticed
by Semper in connection with the above experiments. Vessels of
unequal size, containing specimens of the Limnaea, happened to
stand before a window at a time when the temperature suddenly fell
to about 55° F. The sun, which shone through the window, warmed
the water in the smaller vessels, but had no effect upon the
temperature of the larger. The result was, that the Limnaea in 2000
cubic cm., which ought to have been 10 mm. long when 25 days old,
were scarcely longer, at the end of that period, than those which had
lived in the smaller vessels, but whose water had been sufficiently
warm.

Fig. 37.—Four equally old shells

of Limnaea stagnalis,
hatched from the same mass
of ova, but reared in different
volumes of water: A in 100, B
in 250, C in 600, and D in
2000 cubic centimetres.
(After K. Semper.)
 CHAPTER IV
USES OF SHELLS FOR MONEY, ORNAMENT, AND FOOD—CULTIVATION OF
THE OYSTER, MUSSEL, AND SNAIL—SNAILS AS MEDICINE—PRICES GIVEN
FOR SHELLS

The employment of shells as a medium of exchange was

exceedingly common amongst uncivilised tribes in all parts of the
world, and has by no means yet become obsolete. One of the
commonest species thus employed is the ‘money cowry’ (Cypraea
moneta, L.), which stands almost alone in being used entire, while
nearly all the other forms of shell money are made out of portions of
shells, thus requiring a certain amount of labour in the process of
formation.
One of the earliest mentions of the cowry as money occurs in an
ancient Hindoo treatise on mathematics, written in the seventh
century a.d. A question is propounded thus: ‘the ¼ of 1/16 of ⅕ of ¾
of ⅔ of ½ a dramma was given to a beggar by one from whom he
asked an alms; tell me how many cowry shells the miser gave.’ In
British India about 4000 are said to have passed for a shilling, but
the value appears to differ according to their condition, poor
specimens being comparatively worthless. According to Reeve[204] a
gentleman residing at Cuttack is said to have paid for the erection of
his bungalow entirely in cowries. The building cost him 4000 Rs.
sicca (about £400), and as 64 cowries = 1 pice, and 64 pice = 1
rupee sicca, he paid over 16,000,000 cowries in all.
Cowries are imported to England from India and other places for
the purposes of exportation to West Africa, to be exchanged for
native products. The trade, however, appears to be greatly on the
decrease. At the port of Lagos, in 1870, 50,000 cwts. of cowries
were imported.[205]
A banded form of Nerita polita was used as money in certain parts
of the South Pacific. The sandal-wood imported into the China
market is largely obtained from the New Hebrides, being purchased
of the natives in exchange for Ovulum angulosum, which they
especially esteem as an ornament. Sometimes, as in the Duke of
York group, the use of shell money is specially restricted to certain
kinds of purchase, being employed there only in the buying of swine.
Among the tribes of the North-West coasts of America the
common Dentalium indianorum used to form the standard of value,
until it was superseded, under the auspices of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, by blankets. A slave was valued at a fathom of from 25 to
40 of these shells, strung lengthwise. Inferior or broken specimens
were strung together in a similar way, but were less highly esteemed;
they corresponded more to our silver and copper coins, while the
strings of the best shells represented gold.
The wampum of the eastern coast of North America differed from
all these forms of shell money, in that it required a laborious process
for its manufacture. Wampum consisted of strings of cylindrical
beads, each about a quarter of an inch in length and half that
breadth. The beads were of two colours, white and purple, the latter
being the more valuable. Both were formed from the common clam,
Venus mercenaria, the valves of which are often stained with purple
at the lower margins, while the rest of the shell is white. Cut small,
ground down, and pierced, these shells were converted into money,
which appears to have been current along the whole sea-board of
North America from Maine to Florida, and on the Gulf Coast as far as
Central America, as well as among the inland tribes east of the
Mississippi. Another kind of wampum was made from the shells of
Busycon carica and B. perversum. By staining the wampum with
various colours, and disposing these colours in belts in various forms
of arrangement, the Indians were able to preserve records, send
messages, and keep account of any kind of event, treaty, or
transaction.
Another common form of money in California was Olivella
biplicata, strung together by rubbing down the apex. Button-shaped
disks cut from Saxidomus arata and Pachydesma crassatelloides, as
well as oblong pieces of Haliotis, were employed for the same
purpose, when strung together in lengths of several yards.
 “There is a curious old custom,” writes Mr. W. Anderson Smith,
[206] “that used formerly to be in use in this locality [the western coast
of Scotland], and no doubt was generally employed along the sea-
board, as the most simple and ready means of arrangement of
bargains by a non-writing population. That was, when a bargain was
made, each party to the transaction got one half of a bivalve shell—
such as mussel, cockle, or oyster—and when the bargain was
implemented, the half that fitted exactly was delivered up as a
receipt! Thus a man who had a box full of unfitted shells might be
either a creditor or a debtor; but the box filled with fitted shells
represented receipted accounts. Those who know the difficulty of
fitting the valves of some classes of bivalves will readily
acknowledge the value of this arrangement.”
Shells are employed for use and for ornament by savage—and
even by civilised—tribes in all parts of the world. The natives of Fiji
thread the large Turbo argyrostoma and crenulatus as weights at the
edge of their nets, and also employ them as sinkers. A Cypraea tigris
cut into two halves and placed round a stone, with two or three
showy Oliva at the sides, is used as a bait for cuttles. Avicula
margaritifera is cut into scrapers and knives by this and several other
tribes. Breast ornaments of Chama, grouped with Solarium
perspectivum and Terebra duplicata are common among the Fijians,
who also mount the Avicula on a backing of whales’ teeth sawn in
two, for the same purpose. The great Orange Cowry (Cypraea
aurantiaca) is used as a badge of high rank among the chieftains.
One of the most remarkable Fijian industries is the working of
whales’ teeth to represent this cowry, as well as the commoner C.
talpa, which is more easily imitated.
Among the Solomon islanders, cowries are used to ornament their
shields on great field days, and split cowries are worn as a necklace,
to represent human teeth. Small bunches of Terebellum subulatum
are worn as earrings, and a large valve of Avicula is employed as a
head ornament in the centre of a fillet. The same islanders ornament
the raised prows of their canoes, as well as the inside of the stern-
post, with a long row of single Natica.
 The native Papuans employ shells for an immense variety of
purposes. Circlets for the head are formed of rows of Nassa
gibbosula, rubbed down till little but the mouth remains. Necklaces
are worn which consist of strings of Oliva, young Avicula, Natica
melanostoma, opercula of Turbo, and valves of a rich brown species
of Cardium, pendent at the end of strings of the seeds known as
Job’s tears. Struthiolaria is rubbed down until nothing but the mouth
is left, and worn in strings round the neck. This is remarkable, since
Struthiolaria is not a native Papuan shell, and indeed occurs no
nearer than New Zealand. Sections of Melo are also worn as a
breast ornament, dependent from a necklace of cornelian stones.
Cypraea erosa is used to ornament drinking bowls, and Ovulum
ovum is attached to the native drums, at the base of a bunch of
cassowary feathers, as well as being fastened to the handle of a
sago-beater.
In the same island, the great Turbo and Conus millepunctatus are
ground down to form bracelets, which are worn on the biceps. The
crimson lip of Strombus luhuanus is cut into beads and perforated for
necklaces. Village elders are distinguished by a single Ovulum
verrucosum, worn in the centre of the forehead. The thick lip of
Cassis cornuta is ground down to form nose pieces, 4½ inches long.
Fragments of a shell called Kaïma (probably valves of a large
Spondylus) are worn suspended from the ears, with little wisps of
hair twisted up and thrust through a hole in the centre. For trumpets,
Cassis cornuta, Triton tritonis, and Ranella lampas are used, with a
hole drilled as a mouthpiece in one of the upper whorls. Valves of
Batissa, Unio, and Mytilus are used as knives for peeling yams.
Spoons for scooping the white from the cocoa-nut are made from
Avicula margaritifera. Melo diadema is used as a baler in the
canoes.[207]
In the Sandwich Islands Melampus luteus is worn as a necklace,
as well as in the Navigator Islands. A very striking necklace, in the
latter group, is formed of the apices of a Nautilus, rubbed down to
show the nacre. The New Zealanders use the green opercula of a
Turbo, a small species of Venus, and Cypraea asellus to form the
eyes of their idols. Fish-hooks are made throughout the Pacific of the
shells of Avicula and Haliotis, and are sometimes strengthened by a
backing made of the columella of Cypraea arabica. Small axe-heads
are made from Terebra crenulata ground down (Woodlark I.), and
larger forms are fashioned from the giant Tridacna (Fiji).
Shells are used to ornament the elaborate cloaks worn by the
women of rank in the Indian tribes of South America. Specimens of
Ampullaria, Orthalicus, Labyrinthus, and Bulimulus depend from the
bottom and back of these garments, while great Bulimi, 6 inches
long, are worn as a breast ornament, and at the end of a string of
beads and teeth.[208]
The chank-shell (Turbinella rapa) is of especial interest from its
connexion with the religion of the Hindoos. The god Vishnu is
represented as holding this shell in his hand, and the sinistral form of
it, which is excessively rare, is regarded with extraordinary
veneration. The chank appears as a symbol on the coins of some of
the ancient Indian Empires, and is still retained on the coinage of the
Rajah of Travancore.
The chief fishery of the chank-shell is at Tuticorin, on the Gulf of
Manaar, and is conducted during the N. E. monsoon, October-May.
In 1885–86 as many as 332,000 specimens were obtained, the net
amount realised being nearly Rs.24,000. In former days the trade
was much more lucrative, 4 or 5 millions of specimens being
frequently shipped. The government of Ceylon used to receive
£4000 a year for licenses to fish, but now the trade is free. The shells
are brought up by divers from 2 or 3 fathoms of water. In 1887 a
sinistral specimen was found at Jaffna, which sold for Rs.700.[209]
Nearly all the shells are sent to Dacca, where they are sliced into
bangles and anklets to be worn by the Hindoo women.
Perhaps the most important industry which deals only with the
shells of Mollusca is that connected with the ‘pearl-oyster.’ The
history of the trade forms a small literature in itself. It must be
sufficient here to note that the species in question is not an ‘oyster,’
properly so called, but an Avicula (margaritifera Lam.). The ‘mother-
of-pearl,’ which is extensively employed for the manufacture of
buttons, studs, knife-handles, fans, card-cases, brooches, boxes,
and every kind of inlaid work, is the internal nacreous laminae of the
shell of this species. The most important fisheries are those of the
Am Islands, the Soo-loo Archipelago, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea,
Queensland, and the Pearl Islands in the Bay of Panama. The shell
also occurs in several of the groups of the South Pacific—the
Paumotu, Gambier and Navigator Islands, Tahiti being the centre of
the trade—and also on the coasts of Lower California.[210]
Pearls are the result of a disease in the animal of this species of
Avicula and probably in all other species within which they occur.
When the Avicula is large, well formed, and with ample space for
individual development, pearls scarcely occur at all, but when the
shells are crowded together, and become humped and distorted, as
well as affording cover for all kinds of marine worms and parasitic
creatures, then pearls are sure to be found. Pearls of inferior value
and size are also produced by Placuna placenta, many species of
Pinna, the great Tridacna, the common Ostrea edulis, and several
other marine bivalves. They are not uncommon in Unio and
Anodonta, and the common Margaritana margaritifera of our rapid
streams is still said to be collected, in some parts of Wales, for the
purpose of extracting its small ‘seed-pearls.’ Pink pearls are obtained
from the giant conch-shell of the West Indies (Strombus gigas), as
well as from certain Turbinella.
In Canton, many houses are illuminated almost entirely by
skylights and windows made of shells, probably the semitransparent
valves of Placuna placenta. In China lime is commonly made of
ground cockle-shells, and, when mixed with oil, forms an excellent
putty, used for cementing coffins, and in forming a surface for the
frescoes with which the gables of temples and private houses are
adorned. Those who suffer from cutaneous diseases, and
convalescents from small-pox, are washed in Canton with the water
in which cockles have been boiled.[211]
A recent issue of the Peking Gazette contains a report from the
outgoing Viceroy of Fukhien, stating that he had handed over the
insignia of office to his successor, including inter alia the conch-shell
bestowed by the Throne. A conch-shell with a whorl turning to the
right, i.e. a sinistral specimen, is supposed when blown to have the
effect of stilling the waves, and hence is bestowed by the Emperor
upon high officers whose duties oblige them to take voyages by sea.
The Viceroy of Fukhien probably possesses one of these shells in
virtue of his jurisdiction over Formosa, to which island periodical
visits are supposed to be made.[212]
Shells appear to be used occasionally by other species besides
man. Oyster-catchers at breeding time prepare a number of imitation
nests in the gravel on the spit of land where they build, putting bits of
white shell in them to represent eggs.[213] This looks like a trick in
order to conceal the position of the true nest. According to
Nordenskjöld, when the eider duck of Spitzbergen has only one or
two eggs in its nest, it places a shell of Buccinum glaciale beside
them. The appropriation of old shells by hermit-crabs is a familiar
sight all over the world. Perhaps it is most striking in the tropics,
where it is really startling, at first experience, to meet—as I have
done—a large Cassis or Turbo, walking about in a wood or on a hill
side at considerable distances from the sea. A Gephyrean
(Phascolion strombi) habitually establishes itself in the discarded
shells of marine Mollusca. Certain Hymenoptera make use of dead
shells of Helix hortensis in which they build their cells.[214] Magnus
believes that in times when heavy rains prevail, and the usual
insects do not venture out, certain flowers are fertilised by snails and
slugs crawling over them, e.g. Leucanthemum vulgare by Limax
laevis.[215]
Mollusca as Food for Man.—Probably there are few countries in
the world in which less use is made of the Mollusca as a form of food
than in our own. There are scarcely ten native species which can be
said to be at all commonly employed for this purpose. Neighbouring
countries show us an example in this respect. The French, Italians,
and Spanish eat Natica, Turbo, Triton, and Murex, and, among
bivalves, Donax, Venus, Lithodomus, Pholas, Tapes, and Cardita, as
well as the smaller Cephalopoda. Under the general designation of
clam the Americans eat Venus mercenaria, Mya arenaria, and
Mactra solidissima. In the Suez markets are exposed for sale
Strombus and Melongena, Avicula and Cytherea. At Panama Donax
and Solen are delicacies, while the natives also eat the great Murex
and Pyrula, and even the huge Arca grandis, which lives embedded
in the liquid river mud.
The common littoral bivalves seem to be eaten in nearly all
countries except our own, and it is therefore needless to enumerate
them. The Gasteropoda, whose habits are scarcely so cleanly, seem
to require a bolder spirit and less delicate palate to venture on their
consumption.
The Malays of the East Indian islands eat Telescopium fuscum
and Pyrazus palustris, which abound in the mangrove swamps. They
throw them on their wood fires, and when they are sufficiently
cooked, break off the top of the spire and suck the animal out
through the opening. Haliotis they take out of the shell, string
together, and dry in the sun. The lower classes in the Philippines eat
Arca inaequivalvis, boiling them as we do mussels.[216] In the
Corean islands a species of Monodonta and another of Mytilus are
quite peppery, and bite the tongue; our own Helix revelata, as I can
vouch from personal experience, has a similar flavour. Fusus
colosseus, Rapana bezoar, and Purpura luteostoma are eaten on
the southern coasts of China; Strombus luhuanus, Turbo
chrysostomus, Trochus niloticus, and Patella testudinaria, by the
natives of New Caledonia; Strombus gigas and Livona pica in the
West Indies; Turbo niger and Concholepas peruvianus on the Chilian
coasts; four species of Strombus and Nerita, one each of Purpura
and Turbo, besides two Tridacna and one Hippopus, by the natives
of British New Guinea. West Indian negroes eat the large Chitons
which are abundant on their rocky coasts, cutting off and swallowing
raw the fleshy foot, which they call ‘beef,’ and rejecting the viscera.
Dried cephalopods are a favourite Chinese dish, and are regularly
exported to San Francisco, where the Chinamen make them into
soup. The ‘Challenger’ obtained two species of Sepia and two of
Loligo from the market at Yokohama.
The insipidity of fresh-water Mollusca renders them much less
desirable as a form of food. Some species of Unionidae, however,
are said to be eaten in France. Anodonta edulis is specially
cultivated for food in certain districts of China, and the African
Aetheriae are eaten by negroes. Navicella and Neritina are eaten in
Mauritius, Ampullaria and Neritina in Guadeloupe, and Paludina in
Cambodia.
The vast heaps of empty shells known as ‘kitchen-middens,’ occur
in almost every part of the world. They are found in Scotland,
Denmark, the east and west coasts of North America, Brazil, Tierra
del Fuego, Australia and New Zealand, and are sometimes several
hundred yards in length. They are invariably composed of the edible
shells of the adjacent coast, mixed with bones of Mammals, birds,
and fish. From their great size, it is believed that many of them must
have taken centuries to form.
Pre-eminent among existing shell-fish industries stands the
cultivation of the oyster and the mussel, a more detailed account of
which may prove interesting.
The cultivation of the oyster[217] as a luxury of food dates at least
from the gastronomic age of Rome. Every one has heard of the
epicure whose taste was so educated that

“he could tell

At the first mouthful, if his oysters fed
On the Rutupian or the Lucrine bed
Or at Circeii.”[218]

The first artificial oyster-cultivator on a large scale appears to

have been a certain Roman named Sergius Orata, who lived about a
century b.c. His object, according to Pliny the elder,[219] was not to
please his own appetite so much as to make money by ministering to
the appetites of others. His vivaria were situated on the Lucrine
Lake, near Baiae, and the Lucrine oysters obtained under his
cultivation a notoriety which they never entirely lost, although British
oysters eventually came to be more highly esteemed. He must have
been a great enthusiast in his trade, for on one occasion when he
became involved in a law-suit with one of the riparian proprietors, his
counsel declared that Orata’s opponent made a great mistake if he
expected to damp his ardour by expelling him from the lake, for,
sooner than not grow oysters at all, he would grow them upon the
roof of his house.[220] Orata’s successors in the business seem to
have understood the secret of planting young oysters in new beds,
for we are told that specimens brought from Brundisium and even
from Britain were placed for a while in the Lucrine Lake, to fatten
after their long journey, and also to acquire the esteemed “Lucrine
flavour.”
Oysters are ‘in season’ whenever there is an ‘r’ in the month, in
other words, from September to April. ‘Mensibus erratis,’ as the poet
has it, ‘vos ostrea manducatis!’ It has been computed that the
quantity annually produced in Great Britain amounts to no less than
sixteen hundred million, while in America the number is estimated at
five thousand five hundred million, the value being over thirteen
million dollars, and the number of persons employed fifty thousand.
Arcachon, one of the principal French oyster-parks, has nearly
10,000 acres of oyster beds, the annual value being from eight to ten
million francs; in 1884–85, 178,359,000 oysters were exported from
this place alone. In the season 1889–90, 50,000 tons of oysters were
consumed in London.
Few will now be found to echo the poet Gay’s opinion:

“That man had sure a palate covered o’er

With brass or steel, that on the rocky shore
First broke the oozy oyster’s pearly coat,
And risq’d the living morsel down his throat.”

There were halcyon days in England once, when oysters were to

be procured at 8d. the bushel. Now it costs exactly that amount
before a bushel, brought up the Thames, can even be exposed for
sale at Billingsgate (4d. porterage, 4d. market toll), and prime
Whitstable natives average from 3½d. to 4d. each. The principal
causes of this rise in prices, apart from the increased demand, are
(1) over-dredging; (2) ignorant cultivation, and to these may be
added (3) the effect of bad seasons in destroying young oysters, or
preventing the spat from maturing. Our own principal beds are those
at Whitstable, Rochester, Colchester, Milton (famous for its ‘melting’
natives), Faversham, Queenborough, Burnham, Poole, and
Carlingford in Co. Down, and Newhaven, near Edinburgh.
The oyster-farms at Whitstable, public and private, extend over an
area of more than 27 square miles. The principal of these is a kind of
joint-stock company, with no other privilege of entrance except birth
as a free dredgeman of the town. When a holder dies, his interest
dies with him. Twelve directors, known as “the Jury,” manage the
affairs of the company, which finds employment for several thousand
people, and sometimes turns over as much as £200,000 a year. The
term ‘Natives,’ as applied to these Whitstable or to other English
oysters, requires a word of explanation. A ‘Native’ oyster is simply an
oyster which has been bred on or near the Thames estuary, but very
probably it may be developed from a brood which came from
Scotland or some other place at a distance. For some unexplained
reason, oysters bred on the London clay acquire a greater delicacy
of flavour than elsewhere. The company pay large sums for brood to
stock their own grounds, since there can be no certainty that the spat
from their own oysters will fall favourably, or even within their own
domains at all. Besides purchases from other beds, the parks are
largely stocked with small oysters picked up along the coast or
dredged from grounds public to all, sometimes as much as 50s. a
bushel being paid for the best brood. It is probably this system of
transplanting, combined with systematic working of the beds, which
has made the Whitstable oyster so excellent both as to quality and
quantity of flesh. The whole surface of the ‘layings’ is explored every
year by the dredge, successive portions of the ground being gone
over in regular rotation, and every provision being made for the well-
being of the crop, and the destruction of their enemies. For three
days of every week the men dredge for ‘planting,’ i.e. for the
transference of suitable specimens from one place to another, the
separation of adhering shells, the removal of odd valves and of every
kind of refuse, and the killing off of dangerous foes. On the other
three days they dredge for the market, taking care only to lift such a
number as will match the demand.
 The Colne beds are natural beds, as opposed to the majority of
the great working beds, which are artificial. They are the property of
the town of Colchester, which appoints a water-bailiff to manage the
concern. Under his direction is a jury of twelve, who regulate the
times of dredging, the price at which sales are to be made, and are
generally responsible for the practical working of the trade. Here,
and at Faversham, Queenborough, Rochester, and other places,
‘natives’ are grown which rival those of Whitstable.
There can be no question, however, that the cultivation of oysters
by the French is far more complete and efficient than our own, and
has reached a higher degree of scientific perfection combined with
economy and solid profits. And yet, between 40 and 50 years ago,
the French beds were utterly exhausted and unproductive, and
showed every sign of failure and decay. It was in 1858 that the
celebrated beds on the Ile de Ré, near Rochelle, were first started.
Their originator was a certain shrewd stone-mason, by name Boeuf.
He determined to try, entirely on his own account, whether oysters
could not be made to grow on the long muddy fore-shore which is
left by the ebb of the tide. Accordingly, he constructed with his own
hands a small basin enclosed by a low wall, and placed at the
bottom a number of stones picked out of the surrounding mud,
stocking his ‘parc’ with a few bushels of healthy young brood. The
experiment was entirely successful, in spite of the jeers of his
neighbours, and Boeuf’s profits, which soon began to mount up at an
astonishing rate, induced others to start similar or more extensive
farms for themselves. The movement spread rapidly, and in a few
years a stretch of miles of unproductive mud banks was converted
into the seat of a most prosperous industry. The general interests of
the trade appear to be regulated in a similar manner to that at
Whitstable; delegates are appointed by the various communities to
watch over the business as a whole, while questions affecting the
well-being of oyster-culture are discussed in a sort of representative
assembly.
At the same time as Boeuf was planting his first oysters on the
shores of the Ile de Ré, M. Coste had been reporting to the French
government in favour of such a system of ostreiculture as was then
practised by the Italians in the old classic Lakes Avernus and
Lucrinus. The principle there adopted was to prevent, as far as
possible, the escape of the spat from the ground at the time when it
is first emitted by the breeding oyster. Stakes and fascines of wood
were placed in such a position as to catch the spat and give it a
chance of obtaining a hold before it perished or was carried away
into the open sea. The old oyster beds in the Bay of St. Brieuc were
renewed on this principle, banks being constructed and overlaid with
bundles of wood to prevent the escape of the new spat. The attempt
was entirely successful, and led to the establishment or re-
establishment of those numerous parcs, with which the French coast
is studded from Brest to the Gironde. The principal centres of the
industry are Arcachon, Auray, Cancale, and la Teste.
It is at Marennes, in Normandy, that the production of the
celebrated ‘green oyster’ is carried out, that especial luxury of the
French epicure. Green oysters are a peculiarly French taste, and,
though they sometimes occur on the Essex marshes, there is no
market for them in England. The preference for them, on the
continent, may be traced back as early as 1713, when we find a
record of their having been served up at a supper given by an
ambassador at the Hague. Green oysters are not always green, it is
only after they are placed in the ‘claires,’ or fattening ponds, that they
acquire the hue; they never occur in the open sea. The green colour
does not extend over the whole animal, but is found only in the
branchiae and labial tentacles, which are of a deep blue-green.
Various theories have been started to explain the ‘greening’ of the
mollusc; the presence of copper in the tanks, the chlorophyll of
marine algae, an overgrowth of some parasite, a disease akin to liver
complaint, have all found their advocates. Prof. Lankester seems to
have established[221] the fact,—which indeed had been observed 70
years before by a M. Gaillon,—that the greening is due to the growth
of a certain diatom (Navicula ostrearia) in the water of the tanks. This
diatom, which is of a deep blue-green colour, appears from April to
June, and in September. The oyster swallows quantities of the
Navicula; the pigment enters the blood in a condition of chemical
modification, which makes it colourless in all the other parts of the