Argument Communities

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Argument Communities

• Kyle Bingham
• Shannon Bulger
• Aaron Hasenkamp

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What is a Community?

• A collective group of people interacting in a
  space-time continum.
• According to van Eemeren (1988)
• a community shares a set of rules for verbal
  or non-verbal behavior which are authorized and
  guided by the uniting rationale for their common
  aspirations, and which are observed in the
  display of their communal interactions.

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Communities Model
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What are Lifeworlds?

• Space/Time Communities exist in time, which may
  exist only in a certain timeframe and disband
  when goals are achieved.
• Real/Imaginary Communities are real when they
  have specific geographic boundaries to them, and
  imaginary when they are creations of our own
  making.
• Free/Conditioned/Forced Communities are
  composed of rules willingly, under circumstance,
  or against their will.

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What is Judgement?

• Legitimacy Rightfulness with which an argument
  is put forward (promoted by authority)
• Justifiability Rationale put forward
• Authority Attention on the force the argument
  has in compelling response or compliance.
• Teleology Purpose or reason for being.

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Personal Community

• This is the setting where an argument takes place
  in private or is not intended to be overheard.
• In its purest form, you see just two people and
  no outsiders

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Nature of Personal Communities

• Occurs between those spending time together
• Takes time to resolve but may infringe on the
  right to keep talking
• There can be repercussions for the relationship
• The mode changes with the evolution of the
  relationship (progressionmore private,
  decayidiosyncrasy)

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Nature of Personal Communities

• Only those involved in the argument themselves
  can understand its real meaning.
• The motive for the argument may be more important
  than the argument itself

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Within this community

• Individuals are free to select their own
  standards for what is appropriate
• There will be mutual agreement on criteria,
  authoritative standards by which discourse will
  take place
• There is no community nor other standards
  beyond the participants

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Within this community

• The principle motive for argument is to manage
  disagreements, it functions to solve problems
• The Goal is to expand from simple
  stimulus/response to a series of interchanges and
  a solution

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To locally manage

• Rules must be made that apply to conduct, such as
  when and how long
• These decisions are socially defined

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Preconditions for conduct

• The arguers agree to hear each other
• The arguers agree on the standards of judgment by
  which their claims will be evaluated
• The arguers agree to accept the others position
  if theirs proves to be indefensible

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When to continue the argument

• The relation is serious
• The blame for wrongdoing is accepted or shared
• Desire to reinstate understanding and trust
  exists with corresponding lack of desire to
  practice animosity
• Offense is perceived as serious
• Offence is percieved as trivial and easily solved

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When to stop the argument

• The issue is not important to exert the energy
• The other is perceived to be at fault
• Avoidance is easier
• Offense is perceived as serious enough to end the
  relationship
• The relationship is not perceived as serious

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These are Felicity conditions

• They serve to determine actions and issues that
  that are relevant to the argument
• And to provide a focus for the argument on the
  claim, evidence or any number or other topics
• In any case, the sense of how rules are
  determined and involvement are very important to
  resolving an argument in the personal community

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Social Community

• A community represented by multiple people
  addressing a common priority.
• McKerrows example Letters to the editors of
  local newspapers about town officials actions,
  arguments raised at meetings of local school
  boards, etc.

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General Uses

• A social community can be used to maintain the
  authority of those in power, create/constitute a
  new community.
• Functions to solve problems, promote social
  cohesion, or alter relations of power between
  advocates.

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Maintenance and Protest

• Maintenance uses social community as force the
  accepted modes of thinking within a community.
• Protest alters the accepted modes of thinking to
  redirect them toward problems or new powers.

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Misuses of Social Community

• Nixon has been accused of irresponsible social
  argument. He attempted to create a new public
  with different values toward the Vietnam
  conflict.

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Space/Time Affect

• Argument can affect sense of urgency in which
  issues will be taken up by the community.
• A timely concern that can be addressed within a
  set time frame

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Community Barriers

• Different communities with different boundaries
  can uphold opposed values, concerning certain
  arguments less than others.
• Arguments ad hominem (against the person) and
  ad populum (against popular support) can affect
  the ideas support when community barriers are
  apparent.

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Technical Community

• Specialized vocabulary provides the substance for
  argument within the technical community.
• Requires a language that precisely names the
  objects under discussion.
• Fields such as the hard sciences, and the
  secondary communities of law and medicine.

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Relating to Other Communities

• Members of the social communities often rely on
  experts, or members from the technical
  community.
• This restricts the role of personal and social
  communities.
• The technical community members act as
  arbitrators.
• Those in the know.

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Philosophical Community

• Argument within this community functions as the
  moral conscience of the people.
• The philosopher does not pretend to have absolute
  knowledge of what should be done, but as
  compelling as is possible in the circumstances.

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Philosophical Communities Continued

• Express the convictions and aspirations of a free
  but reasonable person engaged in a creative,
  personal, and historically situated effort.
• Reasoning and argumentation are the lifeblood of
  philosophy.
• Focus on ideas rather than persons.