TRANSLATION OF ORDINARY LANGUAGE ARGUMENTS

Arguments are seldom stated in standard form. A fair and impartial restatement of ordinary language reasoning is essential for argument analysis and evaluation.

Translation of ordinary language should usually follow the the principle of charity: a methodological presumption made in seeking to understand what is stated in its strongest, most credible form before subjecting the statement to appraisal.

Many of these translation techniques are mastered by practice and careful study; others are challenging and require seasoned skill and insight.

Notes

• Reducing the Number of Terms

  Translation techniques, including immediate inferences, are discussed and used for syllogistic inference.

• Translation into Standard Form

  Some well-known techniques for translating ordinary language sentences into standard form categorical propositions are explained.

• Strategies for Uniform Translation

  An inductive strategy for mechanizing translation is illustrated.

• Enthymemes

  Strategies for completing and evaluating incomplete syllogisms are discussed.

• Sorites

  [under construction] A chain of several enthymematic syllogisms is explained.

• Disjunctive and Hypothetical Syllogisms

  [under construction] Two other syllogistic forms are introduced with examples.

• The Dilemma

  [under construction] One of the most influential forms of persuasion is analyzed.