Emotive Significance and Varieties of Disagreements

The exercises in this section of our logic course include understanding the uses of emotive significance: the emotional effects that accompany a word, a phrase, or subject area. The use of words with emotional impact or “ slanted language” often occurs in persuasive speech and rhetorical oration.

An important part of interpreting emotively laden discourse is developing the capacity to look beyond the emotional effects to the evident specific circumstances being described: the actual events, states of affairs, or facts at issue. This skill often involves interpretation by means of the principle of charity: the ability to grasp a reasonable and fair interpretation of a speaker's or writer's assertions or reasoning.

When people disagree, usually the differing points of view can be distinguished by (1) a factual disagreement, termed a “disagreement in belief,” or by (2) a opinionated disagreement often involving emotive language, termed a “disagreement in attitude,” or (3) the use of ambiguous words or phrases, termed a “verbal dispute.”

Consequently, resolving disagreements are usually most effectively resolved in the order of (1) addressing ambiguity or vagueness, (2) resolving any facts at issue, and finally confronting the differences in attitude. Sometimes the resolution of ambiguity and facts can change attitudes. Sometimes rhetoric and persuasion can be effective, but often the only way to handle differences in attitude is for the disputing parties to “agree to disagree.”

• Emotive Significance Practice:

  Bring to mind both emotively positive and emotively negative synonyms for neutral terms in this exercise.

  Emotive Significance — Answers

  
  

• Discovering the Facts at Issue:

  Suggest a resolution for differing accounts of states of affairs in these differing accounts.

  Facts at Issue

  
  

• Disagreements in Belief and Attitude:

  Find the fact at issue, analyze the disagreement, and suggest a means of resolution in the following disagreements.

  Disagreements 1 — Answers

  Disagreements 2

  Disagreements 3 (with answers)

  
  

• Disagreements and the Dispute Resolution:

  Analyze and suggest feasible ways to resolve the following sets of disparate statements.

  Disagreements