Incorporating opposing viewpoints | Reading | Khan Academy — Transcript

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1. 0:01Hello readers. Let's argue.
2. 0:05In writing, argument is a kind of fight,
3. 0:07but I think it is unwise to think of it
4. 0:09as a one-way conversation.
5. 0:13The best arguments do not plunge forward
6. 0:15heedlessly. They do not steamroll
7. 0:17opposition. Rather, they seek out
8. 0:19opposing arguments and incorporate them.
9. 0:22Good readers pay attention to how
10. 0:24authors acknowledge opposing viewpoints
11. 0:26in an argument. Doing this makes it
12. 0:28easier to decide how well-thought-out
13. 0:31argument is and determine whether the
14. 0:32author is knowledgeable and thoughtful
15. 0:35in their position.
16. 0:36Now, I do not practice the martial art
17. 0:38of Wing Chun, but that style of
18. 0:40self-defense is famous for techniques
19. 0:43that block and strike at the same time.
20. 0:46Your opponent's fist comes in, you
21. 0:48redirect it away from your body, and in
22. 0:49that same motion continue your momentum
23. 0:52into its own immediate counter-strike.
24. 0:55Acknowledging the existence of opposing
25. 0:57viewpoints has two main applications,
26. 0:59which are pretty different. First, maybe
27. 1:02you're not on any side of the argument
28. 1:04and you wish to straightforwardly
29. 1:06describe the conflict, like a journalist
30. 1:08reporting on a lawsuit. It's a
31. 1:10journalist's responsibility to
32. 1:11truthfully portray the full scope of
33. 1:13information on a topic, bringing every
34. 1:16piece of relevant and plausible
35. 1:18information to bear.
36. 1:19The author provides equal time to the
37. 1:21disputants and tries not to provide
38. 1:23their own opinion here.
39. 1:25That could look like this. Ms. Adeyemi
40. 1:27contended that Mr. Dupont stole the
41. 1:29cookies from her cookie jar, and that
42. 1:31furthermore, she had baked those cookies
43. 1:33in the first place, thus strengthening
44. 1:35her claim to the said cookies. Of the 24
45. 1:38cookies baked by Ms. Adeyemi, she
46. 1:39alleges that 10 of them were taken by
47. 1:41Mr. Dupont.
48. 1:43Mr. Dupont, however, contended that as
49. 1:45he was the person who made the cookie
50. 1:46jar for Ms. Adeyemi in the ceramics
51. 1:48class he took, he is entitled to the
52. 1:51occasional cookie. He does not dispute
53. 1:53the 10 cookie figure, adding only that
54. 1:55they were delicious. Judge Wong, upon
55. 1:58reviewing testimony from both parties,
56. 2:00sided with Ms. Ariyemi saying that you
57. 2:02are not entitled to a cookie just for
58. 2:04being a good friend one time, and that
59. 2:06next time Mr. Dupont should ask for
60. 2:08permission.
61. 2:09Now, looking at that situation, my
62. 2:11personal opinion is that it is
63. 2:12inappropriate to steal your friend's
64. 2:14cookies, an opinion that any
65. 2:15right-thinking person should share. But,
66. 2:18injecting opinion may not be appropriate
67. 2:20in all cases. So, okay, that's the first
68. 2:23case, reporting on multiple sides of a
69. 2:25dispute without getting involved
70. 2:27yourself.
71. 2:28Now, the second reason, the second
72. 2:29application for including opposing
73. 2:32viewpoints in an argumentative piece of
74. 2:33writing, is that Wing Chun thing, the
75. 2:36block as you strike technique. It makes
76. 2:38your argument stronger if you anticipate
77. 2:40possible objections to it, address them,
78. 2:42and strike them down all the while still
79. 2:45making your argument in the first place.
80. 2:47Let's take this example from the
81. 2:49website. This piece is about the lost
82. 2:51colony at Roanoke. A bunch of English
83. 2:54settlers disappeared under uncertain
84. 2:56circumstances for reasons still unknown.
85. 2:59And the author's trying to make the case
86. 3:00that although theories for the
87. 3:01disappearance exist, the truth is still
88. 3:04beyond our grasp. So, in order to make
89. 3:06that case, they address several
90. 3:07different theories that attempt to
91. 3:09explain the disappearance.
92. 3:12Many people have tried to solve the
93. 3:14mystery of the lost colony. Historians
94. 3:16and archaeologists have searched for
95. 3:18answers for hundreds of years. Some
96. 3:20possible solutions are: A, native people
97. 3:23killed the colonists on Roanoke Island.
98. 3:25B, the colonists were all killed on
99. 3:27Roanoke Island by disease. C, their town
100. 3:29was washed away by a hurricane and the
101. 3:31people drowned. Or D, they all left
102. 3:33Roanoke Island and went to live in some
103. 3:35other place.
104. 3:37Now, watch what the author does as they
105. 3:38systematically go through each theory
106. 3:41and address it. I've I've only excerpted
107. 3:43the first two, so let's look at those
108. 3:44first two.
109. 3:46A, when John White got back to Roanoke
110. 3:48Island in 1590, he did not find any
111. 3:51bones or bodies, or any signs of
112. 3:53fighting.
113. 3:54Bones last a long time. If native people
114. 3:56had killed the colonists, there would
115. 3:58probably have been some remains or other
116. 4:00signs of violence. We can guess that the
117. 4:02colonists were not killed on Roanoke
118. 4:04Island.
119. 4:05B. When the English first came to
120. 4:08Virginia, they're using a 16th century
121. 4:10spelling, they brought diseases with
122. 4:11them, such as flu and smallpox, that
123. 4:14were new to the native communities. They
124. 4:16had no immunity against them, and many
125. 4:18died very quickly. Letters written by
126. 4:20the colonists tell us that the English
127. 4:22remained healthy. And remember, no
128. 4:24bones, or bodies, or graves were found.
129. 4:26We can guess that the colonists did not
130. 4:28all die of disease. So, the author's
131. 4:30saying that these events are unlikely,
132. 4:33taking the theory seriously, and then
133. 4:34thinking them through to their
134. 4:36conclusions, but demonstrating why they
135. 4:38don't seem very likely explanations. Why
136. 4:40do they think it's unlikely that native
137. 4:42people killed those colonists? There
138. 4:44aren't any remains or signs of combat.
139. 4:47Why does it seem unlikely that they died
140. 4:49of diseases? There are no graves or
141. 4:51remains. The thesis is, nobody knows
142. 4:53why. Here are two counters to it,
143. 4:55basically saying, here's why, and the
144. 4:57author says, here's why these are
145. 4:58unlikely to be true, which weakens those
146. 5:00counter arguments and strengthens the
147. 5:02original.
148. 5:03Block.
149. 5:04Strike. My overall point is this. Don't
150. 5:08ignore the potential counters to your
151. 5:10argument. Incorporate them, analyze
152. 5:12them, and redirect their energy into
153. 5:14your own position.
154. 5:16And when you read, notice if the author
155. 5:18is acknowledging counters or ignoring
156. 5:20them.
157. 5:21If they ignore them, you should be
158. 5:23suspicious.
159. 5:25Why are they ignoring them?
160. 5:27If you can answer that, then you can
161. 5:30learn anything.
162. 5:31David out.