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Why Do Argument Theorists Quarrel with Their Mates?*
Gilbert, Michael A. 1995. Emotional Argumentation, or, Why Do Argumentation
Theorists Argue with their Mates? Analysis and Evaluation: Proceedings of the Third
ISSA Conference on Argumentation Vol II, F.H. van Eemeren, R. Grootendorst, J.A. Blair,
and C.A. Willard, eds. Amsterdam 1994. Amsterdam: Sic Sat.
Michael A. Gilbert
York University, Toronto, Canada
Introduction
Arguments, as they occur in everyday life, are extremely complex social
interactions. Only rarely do they initially exhibit a form that lends them susceptible to
easy analysis by logical or Argumentation Theory means. A great deal of manipulation or
transformation is required to shape the naturally occurring argumentation into something
that can be identified as having premisses and claims, let alone differentiating between
such items as data, warrants, and so on. Still, this can be done, and different systems for so
doing have been offered and studied for some time. The difficulty with most if not all of
these methods is that they invariably assume that the logical structure of the underlying
argument is what forms its essential nature. As a result most systems involve stripping
away, eliminating or transforming those components of the argument that are not deemed
essential.
I have argued elsewhere that arguments invariably include components essential to
their proper understanding that are non-logical (Gilbert, 1994). In particular, the non-
logical modes include the emotional, the visceral, and what I have called the kisceral or
intuitive modes. To analyze an argument without considering these modes is to risk
completely misunderstanding its import, and, ergo, missing the essential nature of the
communication. This is so, I have claimed, because often the logical mode is not the sole
bearer of the intended import or crucial elements of the message. That is to say, one might
model the argument along logical lines and completely miss the point as it is being
understood by the participants to the interaction. Indeed, in at least some, if not many,
instances the argument may best be considered as being dominated by another mode in the
sense that it can really only be understood by appealing to that particular mode.
One major impediment to the exploration of emotional argumentation is found in
the standard definitions of argument offered in the literature. These almost always require
that the argument have a certain structure, intention, or what have you, which means that
there must be some concrete connection between the claim that has been identified and the
process of the argument. In some instances it is located in the intention of the participants
* Read at ISSA Conf, amst June 1994; read at OPS, York Univ, Nov 1994
M.A. GILBERT WHAT IS AN EMOTIONAL ARGUMENT? YEM2 2
while in other cases it is the way in which the argument unfolds.1 Rather than quarrel with
these definitions I will instead introduce two paired distinctions that will permit us to
discuss the issue more easily.
The two pair of distinctions run along two axes. The first axis concerns the degree
to which the argumentation is structured. To the extent that the interaction has identifiable
premisses, claims, and to the degree that the participants proceed in a fashion that honours
the presentation of such argumentative items, we shall say the argumentation is more or
less linear (a term I choose rather than the more theory-laden logical.) The opposite end
of this axis is exemplified by arguments where little heed is paid to what has just been said,
where the participants would have difficulty answering the query, what is the argument
about?, and would have great difficulty in describing the position of their dispute partner
in a way acceptable to that partner.2 Arguments exemplifying this characteristic will be
said to be chaotic. It must be remembered that this is an axis, and the range of
argumentation from the highly linear to the completely chaotic covers great deal of
territory.
The second axis is anchored at one end by highly abstract argumentation where
there is little evidence that the participants are attached to the positions they defend. Such
an argument shall be called clinical. At the other extreme are arguments where there is a
great deal of personal involvement, and where the psychological stake appears to be more
crucial to the outcome than the actual claims being uttered. Such arguments will be
described as emotional, and this axis will run from the purely clinical to the highly
emotional. It is important to realize that an argument may sound clinical when, in fact, it is
quite emotional. The clinical/emotional axis is not necessarily characterized by sound and
fury, though, of course, an emotional argument may be. In fact, shouting and overt
displays of anger and/or aggression are not necessary concomitants of either axial extreme.
One can have an emotional/chaotic argument that is reasonably quiet and exhibits no overt
rudeness or what have you.
The following diagram illustrates the two axes.
1 I will not spend time here discussing the various ways in which argument may be
defined and the implications of such definitions. See Gilbert, 1990, for a full discussion of
this topic.
2 As a test of good rapport in an argumentation, this is a good one. It will, however,
also be the case that in fairly linear argumentation misunderstanding also occurs, though in
a chaotic argument it may almost be counted on.
M.A. GILBERT WHAT IS AN EMOTIONAL ARGUMENT? YEM2 3
Emotional
Linear Chaotic
Clinical
deal of confusion. With regard to emotional arguments the point I want to make here is as
follows. Clearly, emotional arguments occur more obviously when viewing argument2
than argument1, since it is in the exchange of opinions that emotion is most likely to be
visible. Okeefe, after all, indicated no requirement that an argument2 be clinical or linear
in order to qualify as an argument per se. To the contrary, one of the purposes of the
distinction is to allow us to use the term argument in those contexts where the
identifications traditionally made might not be so clear. Argumentation Theorists might,
after all, value a certain kind of argument, but that does not mean it is the only kind that
occursnot even among Argumentation Theorists themselves. The more difficult question
is whether it makes sense to talk about an emotional argument1 on Okeefes model.
Consider the following excerpt from an argument2.
[1.] Paul: You never listen to a word I say.
Mary: Right, and you hang on my every syllable.
Example [1.] can be analyzed by viewing Marys claim as the denial of Pauls
assertion. Her premiss then becomes the assertion that Paul is also not a good listener.
The argument is a classic tu quoque, and would not be considered a very good argument
by most analytical standards. Still, it is not very difficult to extract the argument1 from the
argument2. We can also easily imagine the words of [1.] being spoken with some
considerable heat, perhaps even vehemence. I believe that we have an emotional argument1
in example [1.]. How do we know it is an emotional argument? Because we were
witnesses to it. By itself, the argument is only a poor argument. Taken in the context of a
typical intimate relationship, most of us can readily identify the style the example exhibits,
viz., a marital tit-for-tat argument that, one hopes, will not go off the deep end. The point,
however, is that to analyze and dismiss Marys argument as a mere tu quoque is to miss the
core dynamic of the argument: she feels that her partner is as bad a communicator as he
accuses her of being. Furthermore, embedded in this exchange and missing from a logical
analysis is the belief that A] good listening and communication is important, and B] that
they are not doing it well.
Let us consider another, slightly longer example.
[2.] Lisa: What do you mean, youre going away when my mother
comes to visit?
Paul: Just what I said: Im going fishing.
Lisa: But I broke my back for you when your mother was
here!
Paul: I never asked you to do a thing. Besides, my
mothers a lot easier to take than yours.
Lisa: (Loudly) The hell you say! Shes just like youshe
expects to be waited on hand and foot!
Paul: (Louder) Oh, so now Im no good either!
Lisa: (Very loud) Youre not good enough to be around my
mother!
Paul: (Shouting) Well, maybe Im not good enough to be
around at all!
Lisa: (Icily calm) Theres no maybe about it.
[Paul storms out of the house.]
M.A. GILBERT WHAT IS AN EMOTIONAL ARGUMENT? YEM2 5
The first question, of course, concerns whether or not example [2.] is an argument.
Frankly, I do not see how it can be classed as anything else. There may be finer categories
under the general umbrella of argument, but even if it is a row or fight or quarrel, it is still
an argument. Any claims that it is not or, worse, that it ought not be considered an
argument are prescriptive, value-laden and theory dependent.3 The second question is
whether or not it is a good argument, and this is less easy to answer. First of all, it depends
on just what one means. Often describing an argument as good means that it achieves
certain goals or follows certain rules for a particular class of argument. On this
understanding, [2.] is certainly, for example, not a very good dialectic argument; in fact its
a downright awful one. But the point I want to make about emotional arguments is not that
they are good dialectical arguments, merely that they are arguments. They need, therefore,
to be judged on their own terms.
Argument [2.] might be what Walton (1992) calls a quarrel. The hallmarks of a
quarrel, according to Walton, are that the participants say hurtful things and that they
sometimes end in an epiphany that can be eye-opening and valuable to the relationship (p.
21). Certainly when we consider the category of highly emotional and highly chaotic
arguments we see many instances of arguments that might well be classed as quarrels.
When emotions are high and linearity is low, we can expect either a situation where the
partners are not paying any attention to each other at all, or one in which there is a good
deal of striking out at each others feelings. Even in a quarrel, the most extreme form of
chaotic/emotional argumentation, there are often benefits (Walton, p. 215). These include
the epiphanic expression of emotion and anger, the exposure of dark-side commitments,
and the potential for the discussion of these newly exposed factors once the most extreme
heat of the moment has subsided. Indeed, there is even the possibility, contra Walton (p.
21), that witnessing the depth of ones partners feelings can lead to new and more open
communication.
Most emotional arguments are not quarrels. Emotional arguments vary greatly by
degree, and the degree is a function not just of the raw emotion, but of the context and the
individual arguers. We have, for example, no difficulty with a colleague who gets
frustrated in a debate and becomes somewhat heated, or with two colleagues whose
emotions get aroused when arguing about grade inflation. Yet in each case we might be
shocked or surprised depending on who the participants are and where the argument is
taking place. Emotional arguments tend to occur in two main contexts. The first is when
one partner is particularly attached to the viewpoint she or he is defending. The second is
when the argument becomes personal in the sense of ad hominem. Argument [2.] is an
example involving both aspects. Each partner is, naturally enough, prone to defend his or
her mother. And each is also liable to be sensitive to an attack on themselves. But the
same process can be witnessed in many circumstances, not just in arguments between
intimates concerning touchy subjects. In the following example Prof. A takes exception to
Prof. Bs remark precisely because it is an attack on her dearly held position.
3. Prof. B: and so, you see, the view you describe is internally
inconsistent.
3 This is not to say that one cannot defend such a view, be it theory-laden or no.
Rather, I merely want to point out that the view is not self-evident.
M.A. GILBERT WHAT IS AN EMOTIONAL ARGUMENT? YEM2 6
prior to an inquiry. And if that inquiry does not take into account the emotive aspect of the
communication it is liable to miss the entire point and, for example, translate as agreement
something quite to the contrary.
In order to understand an emotional argument we must get into it. The greater the
degree of emotion, the more important it is to examine what is being said in its actual
context. Heightened emotion tends to occur more frequently when a] the arguers are
familiar with each other, and b] the issue is a serially recurring one. When both these
factors are taken into account it becomes even more clear that interpretations and trans-
formations cannot be made in isolation of the feelings and personal history of the partici-
pants. In explaining the importance of perceptual analysis in dissecting argumentation,
Nancy Legge (1992) explains that without in depth contextual analysis researchers may
misunderstand many of the dynamics basic to an argument. When people know each other
it is impossible to be aware of what they are saying without breaking the codes of past
discussions, implicit taboos, and unconsciously agreed to rules and prescriptions. Willard
(1989) makes a similar point when he argues that people who know each other constantly
and implicitly draw upon previous conversations and, indeed, their entire communicative
history.
As a result of these considerations the idea of removing emotional aspects of an
argument prior to its analysis becomes not only overly narrow, but dangerous as well. It is
dangerous precisely because it is liable to lead to an analysis that interprets the argument in
a way quite different from the participants. This may be the reason many theorists want to
exclude those arguments that are obviously highly emotional and chaotic. Leave them to
the psychologiststhey are not even arguments. But this approach wont work: we have
no way of knowing what the emotional aspect of an argument is until we have investigated
the feelings and emotions of the participants and learned how they enter into the dispute.
Understanding emotional arguments means respecting the influence that emotion
has on communication. If we do this, if we allow that even the simple comprehension of
what is being said must take into account the emotional configuration of the arguers, then
we can move forward to try to understand what is, for example, good and bad emotional
argument. A good emotional argument might be one in which the arguments correlate
directly to feelings expressed rather than being embedded in oblique references. In this
case the definition I offered above must be demoted to a sufficient but not necessary
condition of emotional argumentation. Further, certain classical fallacies can be seen as
particular signals of emotional argument. Irrelevant Reason, for example, can sometimes
signal the entrance into an emotional sphere. Such conclusions cannot be considered until
argumentation that has emotion at its core is accepted, respected, and studied.
4 Please note that nowhere have I said that the words are irrelevant, unimportant, or
otherwise devoid of significance. It is the relative importance of the words versus the
feelings they express that is crucial.
M.A. GILBERT WHAT IS AN EMOTIONAL ARGUMENT? YEM2 8
the expression of such feelings is important to us. These arguments can begin as quite
linear and clinical arguments, where the emotional aspect grows as the argument becomes
more pressing, more urgent. Alternatively, emotional arguments can begin with high
emotional content from the very beginning. The issue, ones partner, or a combination of
the two can result in an argument that is initially very emotional.
Where then, does the quarrel come in? And why is it that people who are trained in
the ways of argumentation, who teach it and study it, still sometimes fall into the sort of
dispute they themselves abhor: one that is intended to be hurtful and damaging and that is
nothing more than an outpouring of negative emotions? It must also be remembered that
not all quarrels are loud shouting matches. Icy calm, frigid silence, and the silent
treatment are also ways of conducting quarrels. Walton says of quarrels: The goal of the
quarrel is to hit out verbally at the other party and, if possible, to humiliate the other
party (op. cit., p.215). The advantages cited, such as the cathartic effect, the expression of
dark-side emotions, and the avoidance of physical violence can all be had without the
deleterious and even embarrassing effects of a real quarrel. Why, then, do we do it?
I believe the answer, while very complex, can be described as resulting from one of
two main things. Sometimes we quarrel because we are hearing something we do not want
to hearwhether in the words or in the meanings communicated by the tone; and
sometimes we quarrel because we are saying something we want to be heard that we
believe is not being heardagain whether the communication is explicit within the words
or embedded within the tone. In the first instance the anger and strong reaction stem from
the psychological resistance to taking in information we do not want. In the second, there
is the mirror reaction of having information that we believe is true, but that is being
intentionally (or so we believe) resisted by the intended recipient. It is also important to
note that there are important visceral or situational factors that are always involved. Stress
levels, hormonal influences (think of teenagers,) and the status of the issue and/or
relationship of the participants are all major factors in how well one deals with surging
emotions every bit as much as how well and effectively we can reason in a linear
argument. As, however, the I wont hear you / you must hear me frustration and anger
escalates we sometimes succumb to the expression of sentiments that are hurtful and
damaging. In these cases, the rage and quarrel seems to be, more than anything else, a way
of bringing ones dispute partners attention to the great need one has. Naturally, when the
frustration occurs on both sides, anything can happen.
Argumentation Theorists quarrel with their mates because we are no better than
anyone else. Perhaps we do not do it as often, perhaps more so. Ive done no surveys. I
just know that for most if not all of us the quarrel is an occurrence, though hopefully not a
frequent one. But let us not blame emotion for this, let us not isolate it into a subordinate
corner where we trim it away, transform it, or filter it out. That will never help us to
incorporate its reality into our everyday argumentation. What we should aim for is not the
elimination of the emotional aspect of argumentation but rather its study and
comprehension in order that we might better utilize this very real and actual happening. In
other words, we must not identify emotional argumentation with quarrelsit may be our
goal to eliminate the latter, but not the former.
Argumentation Theorists argue with their mates because frustration does not
disappear with knowledge. The causes of quarrels can be known and understood, but that
does not mean they will not occur. It just means that Argumentation Theorists might end
M.A. GILBERT WHAT IS AN EMOTIONAL ARGUMENT? YEM2 9
up more embarrassed than most quarrelers. This, of course, may tend to diminish its
occurrence among ourselves, but its elimination is, unfortunately, a distant dream.
REFERENCES
Gilbert, Michael A. 1990. The Delimitation of Argument. Delivered to the 6th Annual
Ontario Philosophical Society conference, Trent University, Peterborough,
Ontario.
M.A. GILBERT WHAT IS AN EMOTIONAL ARGUMENT? YEM2 10