TOULMIN’S SCHEMA

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TOULMINS SCHEMA

• The form of an argument

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Who is Toulmin?

• Stephen Toulmin, a British philosopher, developed
  a concrete system for argumentation based on
  sound reasoning and consideration of the opposing
  point of view.

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The Courtroom

• Imagine you are a lawyer. You are defending Ms.
  Cheap against her landlord, Mr. Megabucks, who is
  suing her because she has been delinquent on her
  rent for 5 months.
• What arguments can you construct for Ms. Cheap?
• After you construct your arguments, what
  arguments do you think Mr. Megabucks lawyer will
  have?
• The Toulmin Model insists that we consider the
  argument of our opposition in constructing our
  own argument.

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What are Toulmins Assumptions?

• All arguments are contestable (as in court)
• Verdicts will come from a neutral (3rd) party
  (the judge, the jury, or in your case your
  reader)
• Assume that your audience (reader) disagrees with
  you!

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Term 1Enthymeme

• An enthymeme is an incomplete logical structure.
  It depends on unstated assumptions (values,
  beliefs, principles) that serve as the starting
  point of the argument (Ramage 97).
• Example We need laws to control the sale of guns
  because so many innocent people are getting
  killed.
• What is the unstated assumption?

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Breaking down the structure

• Claim We need laws to control the sale of guns
• Stated Reason because so many innocent people
  are getting killed.
• Unstated Assumption Killing is bad.
• The enthymeme We need laws to control the sale of
  guns relies on our moral judgment that killing
  innocent people is bad.

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Lets try another

• Identify the claim, the stated reason, and the
  unstated assumption in the enthymemes below
• Abortion must be legalized because a woman has
  the right to control her body.
• Elderly drivers must be retested each year
  because of the high number of accidents they
  cause.
• Bilingual education fails because it makes
  students rely on their native language.

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Term 2 Warrant

• What is a warranty? If you buy a new washing
  machine, you may get a 5-year warranty that
  ensures the machine will not fail in that time
  period.
• A warrant, according to Toulmin, is like a
  guarantee that your argument will stand up to
  critics that is, it relies on the assumption
  that the underlying values, beliefs, or
  principles are so strong that your audience will
  agree with you. In other words, your claim is
  warranted.

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Term 3 Grounds

• What grounds do you have to support your claim?
  Grounds are the evidence you will use to prove
  your argument data, statistics, the research of
  credible authorities in the field, etc.
• Your grounds should answer the question, How do
  you know that . . .?
• Think about the grounds for divorce, to help
  you.

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Term 4 Backing

• Usually, the arguments we make have generally
  supported warrants. That is, most people agree
  that there has historically been gender bias, or
  that killing is evil, or that physiological
  changes as we age can affect the ability to
  drive. Nevertheless, sometimes we need to back up
  our warrant by proving it to the audience
  (reader).

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Backing Up your Warrant

• If your warrant is not shared with your audience,
  then you will have to prove it (back it up).
• Example Affirmative Action is a necessary
  initiative to help minorities achieve equality in
  education and employment.
• What argument is warranted?
• If you believe that minorities have achieved
  equality in education and employment, how can we
  convince you otherwise?
• The question a backing answers is, Why do you
  believe that . . .?

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Term 5 Rebuttal

• So now you have backed up your warrant, provided
  grounds for your claim, and you have a person who
  totally disagrees with you (imagine a debate
  between political candidates). How can your
  argument stand up to this very articulate and
  informed opponent?
• Your opponent can rebut your argument on two
  fronts on its reasons and grounds and/or on its
  warrant and backing. So you need to be prepared
  by . . .

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Acknowledging

• In your argument, acknowledge that there are
  limitations on your claim, that you are aware of
  the opposing point of view, and that despite that
  point of view, yours is still the better
  position.

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Term 6 Qualify

• Most rational people acknowledge that all
  arguments are not black or white we often must
  settle for a gray area. Although many people feel
  that abortion is wrong in most cases, there are
  rare cases where they accept its value.
• When you are stating claims that cannot be proven
  100, it is necessary to qualify them by terms
  such as
• In most cases, very likely, with few exceptions,
  etc.

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Remember the terms!

• Learn the terms that Toulmin developed for
  argumentation enthymeme, claim, reason, warrant,
  grounds, backing, rebuttal, and qualifier.
• Here is a helpful website for you to review
  Toulmins Schema
• http//ocw.usu.edu/English/english-2010/-2010/toul
  mins-schema

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Works Cited

• Ramage, John D. and John C. Bean. Writing
  Arguments A Rhetoric with Readings. Boston Allyn
  and Bacon, 1998.