Looking forward to some confrontation in what was otherwise predicted to be a dull exchange in the most recent Democratic debate, viewers watched to see how Clinton and Sanders would handle what some in the punditocracy have begun calling “datagate.” Those hoping for heated moments were disappointed as Sanders quickly explained and apologized for what [...]
CNN has been promoting the 5th Republican primary debate as if we’re about to watch The Hunger Games [watch the CNN trailer]. While we won’t hear a cannon shot and see pictures of the candidates afterwards because they’ve been figuratively killed during the debate, we might see certain elephants make a big splat after falling [...]
I begin with a caveat: If you ever read a book on argumentation or take a course in argument, you’ll likely see more distinctions among the different types of evidence than what I’m about to present. I’ve condensed the many different types into three general categories: 1) examples 2) statistics and 3) expertise. I chose [...]