ISB ACADEMIC YEAR 2020-2021

PROBLEM SOLVING
AND DECISION MAKING
CLASS 5: BUILD AND TEST IDEAS
WELCOME: TODAY'S CLASS
1. Remember: (previous class)
2. Build and test ideas
3. In-class exercises
4. For next class: portfolio assignment
REMEMBER?
• Now-Wow-How
• Rubric
STEP 4 BUILD IDEAS

Techniques:
• Toulmin model
People have opinions about thoughts, feelings and actions
1 What is true / untrue / impossible to prove / the right category etc.

2 What is beautiful / ugly, tactful / blunt / respectful / impolite, ethical etc.

3 What should be done (e.g. to prevent or to solve a problem) / avoided / forbidden etc.
BUILD AND DEFEND (ARGUE) YOUR IDEA

WHY CAN’T
AMERICANS LOCATE
THE US ON A
WORLDMAP?
BUILD AND DEFEND (ARGUE) YOUR IDEA

Defending your idea through your ability to dissect argumentations:

also
• recognizing fake news,
• making political choices,
• convincing somebody that an idea is right or wrong,
• persuading other people to do something,
• writing a well-structured essay, graduation paper.

The Toulmin model can help you as a compass in the complex jungle of
argumentations.
Toulmin model: 6 components
Backing

Rebuttal

Qualifier
Central idea in Toulmin’s model:

THE CLAIM
“the conclusion I want you to draw”
 1) a fact (something is/was/will be) Here the focus is on what is empirically verifiable (e.g. that the Earth is a sphere and not flat);

There are different types of claims

A claim can be about:
A fact An appreciation / value judgment
‘The Earth is a sphere and not flat’ ‘This restaurant deserves a Michelin
‘This is a lie’ star’
‘This substance is highly explosive’ ‘Bach was a genius’
‘This item is not a genuine Roman coin, ‘The new king of Thailand is crazy’
but a falsification’ ‘Spanish people are enjoyable company’
 1) a fact (something is/was/will be) Here the focus is on what is empirically verifiable (e.g. that the Earth is a sphere and not flat);

There are different types of claims

A claim can be about:

A classification A policy
‘This person is not a political ‘A lockdown of theatres and
refugee’ restaurants is required to stop the virus
‘The behaviour of the riot police was spreading’
an act of pure racism’ ‘Facebook must be boycotted’
‘I would not label this a sustainable ‘One should avoid checking one’s
production process’ smartphone while driving’
‘Covid19 is a pandemic’ ‘My recipe for losing weight: eat less
carbohydrates + get more physical
exercise’
 Toulmin model: explained

Why is the data relevant to prove the claim,

What is the link?

Why is the conclusion true? The conclusion I want you to draw.

Example:

[Claim]
‘Cars over 20 years old shouldn’t be allowed on the road’
[Data]:
‘Older cars pollute more and are less safe than new cars’
[Warrant]:
‘Removing older cars from the road would result in a cleaner environment
and fewer accident-related injuries and deaths’
A claim can lead to another claim:

[factual claim]
‘He is not a political refugee’

[action claim, for which the factual claim serves as a ground]

‘He should be denied asylum in the Netherlands’
A claim can lead to another claim:
[Data/Ground] He comes from Armenia
[Warrant] Armenia does not persecute its citizens for political reasons
[Claim] He cannot be classified as a political refugee

[Data/Ground] He is not a political refugee

[Warrant] The Netherlands only accepts real refugees
[Claim] He should return to his country
In a debate it is clear that anything can be under attack

Imagine you have to defend this case:

[Data/Ground] He comes from Armenia (1 - who says that is true?)
[Warrant] Armenia does not persecute its citizens for political reasons (2 - is that really so?)
[Claim] He cannot be classified as a political refugee (?)

[Data/Ground] He is not a political refugee (3 - only true if 1-2 are true)

[Warrant] The Netherlands only accepts real refugees (4 – there may be humanitarian exceptions)
[Claim] He should return to his country (>??)
EXERCISE
Question the argumentation on the next slide
and determine 1. the claim, 2. data and 3. warrant
Veronica, that red-
haired girl with the
freckles and the fair
skin, has been at
the beach the whole
day; she will be
painfully sunburnt
tonight!
?
-Veronica has been at the beach
the whole day
-Veronica is a red-haired girl with
freckles and a fair skin

?
Red haired people get sun-burned
very quickly

?
Veronica will be painfully sunburnt
tonight
HOW VALID IS THE CLAIM?

Where we can find a possible flaw?

In the data: (fact check / missing data)

-Is it true that she has been at the beach the whole day? (Fact check)
-Is it her own hair colour? Maybe her looks are a chosen style (Fact check)
-She was in the sun, but she may have used a factor 100 sun-blocker cream (Missing
data?)
-It was a cloudy day at the beach (Missing data?)
-She was able to stay in the shade all day long (Missing data?)
HOW VALID IS THE CLAIM? continued

-Is it true that she has been at the beach the whole
day?
√Yes it is. (It is not a hear-say)
-Is it her own hair colour? Maybe her looks are a
chosen style
√Yes, she has her natural looks, and what counts
more is her fair freckled skin
HOW VALID IS THE CLAIM? continued

-She may have used a factor 100 sun-blocker cream

X Her friend says she didn’t use any cream

-It was a cloudy day at the beach

X No, the sun was shining the whole day

-She could have stayed in the shade all the time

√That is what she did
Claim UNJUSTIFIED
Only one point disabled is enough (in the data)

One can also attack the warrant

 When people talk, very often the warrant
is not mentioned explicitly (=implicit)

If you want to attack the claim via the

warrant, you should first formulate it

WARRANT (IMPLICIT= unspoken)

Red
R haired people get sun-burned very quickly

Is that true for all red-haired people? There seem to be exceptions

 Toulmin model: explained
Backing Why is the warrant true?

Why is the data relevant to prove the claim,

what is the link?

Rebuttal
If the data are true and the warrant is
sound are there other conditions
where the claim would still be false?

Why is the conclusion true? The conclusion I want you to draw.

Qualifier How true is the claim?

Toulmin model: explained

https://youtu.be/Ifc3FQ0WccU?t=718
Backing for warrant
Red-haired people have less melanin
in their skins, protecting them against
UV radiation.

WARRANT
Red haired people get sun-burned
easily.

CLAIM
Veronica will be painfully sunburnt
tonight
Backing for data
-It was Veronica herself who told me/
I was with her all the time.

WARRANT
Red haired people get sun-burned
very quickly

CLAIM
Veronica will be painfully sunburnt
tonight
Rebuttal
is anticipating opposing viewpoints
1. recognizing legitimate restrictions to the claim, making
reservations, treating possible refutations of your warrant or
data, showing their invalidity.

2. and/or rejecting counter claims that an opponent might

come up with.
Example:
[Claim]
‘Cars over 20 years old shouldn’t be allowed on the road’
[Data]:
‘Older cars pollute more and are less safe than new cars’
[Warrant]:
‘Removing older cars from the road would result in a cleaner environment and fewer
accident-related injuries and deaths’

[Backing]: ‘Automobile exhaust is a major contributor to greenhouse gasses in the

atmosphere and modern safety features, like airbags and anti-lock brakes, greatly
enhance vehicles safeness.’
[Rebuttal]: ‘Many older cars can be updated to meet new car standards and some
classic vehicles are only occassionally driven’.
Toulmin model: 6 components
Automobile exhaust is a major contributor to
Backing greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere and modern
safety features, like airbags and anti-lock brakes, greatly
enhance vehicles safeness

Removing older cars from the road

would result in a cleaner
environment and fewer accident-
related injuries and deaths

Rebuttal
Many older cars can be updated to meet new car
standards and some classic vehicles are only
occassionally driven

Older cars pollute Cars over 20 years

more and are less safe old shouldn’t be
than new cars allowed on the road

’Most cars over 20 years old shouldn’t be allowed

unlimited access to the road

Qualifier
Exercise
What do you recognize: data and / or / both / none
warrant?:
1 ‘The news should get more attention in our lectures’,
2 ‘The news should get more attention in our lectures,,because students don't read newspapers and
barely know what is happening in the world’
3 ‘Students should know what is happening in the world, so the news should get more attention in our
lectures’
4 ‘As students don't read newspapers and barely know what is happening in the world,, the news should
get more attention in our lectures, for students should know what is happening in the world’
Answers:
1 ‘The news should get more attention in our lectures’,
NO DATA, NO WARRANT
2 ‘The news should get more attention in our lectures,,because students don't read newspapers and
barely know what is happening in the world’
DATA, NO WARRANT
3 ‘Students should know what is happening in the world, so the news should get more attention in our
lectures’
NO DATA, WARRANT MENTIONED
4 ‘As students don't read newspapers and barely know what is happening in the world,, the news should
get more attention in our lectures, for students should know what is happening in the world’
DATA AND WARRANT BOTH MENTIONED
‘As students don't read newspapers and barely know what is happening in the
world,, the news should get more attention in our lectures, for students should
know what is happening in the world’

Possible Refutations?
Possible Refutations Examples:
1.‘Students may not read newspapers, but they are online all day using many
possibilities on the web to get informed, they know very well what is going on.’ (DATA
ATTACKED)

2.‘It is the question whether what is presented in the newspapers really reflects what
is happening in the world: often the news is irrelevant, negative or just sensational’
(DATA ATTACKED)

3. ‘Students better focus on their study first, they will get to know the world fast
enough after their graduation’ (WARRANT ATTACKED)
CLAIM:
‘‘As students don't read newspapers and barely know what is happening
in the world,, the news should get more attention in our lectures, for
students should know what is happening in the world’

COUNTER CLAIM (no attacking of previous data/warrant)

new aspect!
‘Paying attention to the news would be time consuming and harm the
planning of the program’
After the rebuttal, how true still is your claim now?
Qualifier:
‘degree of reality’ words or expressions
+ Reservations
‘possibly’, ‘probably’, ‘in most cases’, ‘as far as the evidence goes’, ‘in normal
circumstances’, ‘for the majority’, ‘at least for this year’, ‘if we may believe the experts’
etc.
100% convinced of the claim:
’beyond any doubt’, ‘impossibly’ , ‘absolutely certain’ ‘with full evidence’ etc.
Example:
[Claim]
‘Cars over 20 years old shouldn’t be allowed on the road’
[Data]:
‘Older cars pollute more and are less safe than new cars’
[Warrant]:
‘Removing older cars from the road would result in a cleaner environment and fewer
accident-related injuries and deaths’

[Backing]: ‘Automobile exhaust is a major contributor to greenhouse gasses in the

atmosphere and modern safety features, like airbags and anti-lock brakes, greatly
enhance vehicles safeness.’
[Rebuttal]: ‘Many older cars can be updated to meet new car standards and some
classic vehicles are only occassionally driven’.
[Qualifier]:’Most cars over 20 years old shouldn’t be allowed unlimited access to the
road’.
EXAMPLE: CONTROVERSIAL COMMERCIAL

Kendell Jenner handing

over the infamous Pepsi
can, Daily Mail 2017.
IN-CLASS GROUP EXERCISE
1. Together with your group: find a controversial commercial.
2. Describe all 6 components of the Toulmin model.
3. Create a diagram to showcase all 6 Toulmin categories.
4. Prepare one or two PowerPoint slides and show it + explain.

Time: 30 minutes
PORTFOLIO: INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT 1

1. Choose a topic to write about concerning ethical electronics.

For instance: ‘mainstreaming ethical electronics’, ‘supply chain transparency’, ‘e-waste’,
‘recyclable materials’, ‘conscious consumers’ etc. etc.

2. Develop your idea on this topic: your CLAIM. Use the internet to look up
information and add this to your bibliography/list of references.

3. Include all 6 components of the Toulmin model to support your claim.

4. Create a diagram to show all 6 Toulmin categories.

Use approximately 750-1000 words to write your essay.

PORTFOLIO: INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT 2

1. Ask one of your group members for feedback on your essay and add this
to your portfolio (including the name of the person who gave you
feedback).

2. Write 1 to 3 things in which you can improve based on the received

feedback. You do not have to implement the feedback.