B8005-3 Arguments: Clarification of Facts

THE CLARIFICATION OF FACTS: We could say that some arguments serve to clarify definitions, where ambiguity exists, by positing compelling, factual information, that effectively destroys the competing claim. To “win” this sort of an argument, thus, is to furnish decisive facts to another person. Illustration: a First Grade teacher had a particularly disruptive child in her classroom. She told the child to sit down - repeatedly. But the child refused. So the teacher flipped on the video recorder that had been installed in her classroom and she recorded the antics of the disruptive boy. Later, she called the parents of the boy and asked them to come to the school for a Parent/Teacher conference. The parents came, and when they were told about the disruptive behavior of their son, they vigorously denied that “their child would ever do anything like that.” Rather than listen to a series of anecdotal narratives about the relative saintliness of their child, the teacher asked the parents to watch a short video tape, as she turned on the video recording system. She told the parents she wanted to show them something before they made their counterarguments. When she played the tape of the child’s previous classroom behavior, the overwhelming evidence seen on the tape could not be refuted by the parents. The “facts” were just too compelling. The parents told the teacher that they would talk to the child and that they “would straighten everything out.” The next day the youngster showed up in the classroom with two black eyes and other marks on his face that indicated that the parents had, indeed, “talked” to the boy - by “hand.” The child sat in his chair, never said a single word, and never ventured out of his seat the entire day. He was a perfect angel.