Check out this essay by Paul Graham, where he creates a ‘Disagreement Hierarchy’ to elucidate the various levels of disagreement between name-calling and proper refutation.
- DH6. Refuting the Central Point – the most powerful form of refutation; refutes a key point in the argument
- DH5. Refutation – find specific points you disagree with and explain why they are mistaken; often requires quoting; the rarest and most convincing form of disagreement
- DH4. Counterargument – contradiction + reasoning and/or evidence; can be very convincing, but can also dance around with side-arguments and not get at the core
- DH3. Contradiction – stating the opposite, with little or no supporting evidence
- DH2. Responding to Tone – attacking the tone of the author and not the argument (and not the author directly)
- DH1. Ad Hominem – attacking the author and not the argument
- DH0. Name-calling – the lowest form of disagreement; e.g. “u r a fag!!!!” or “The author is a self-important dilettante.”
What good is this list? According to Graham, it has three advantages.
The first is that it helps people evaluate what they read; it provides critical readers with a tool for seeing through intellectual dishonesty.
Second, it helps writers catch themselves using a lower form of argument and may encourage the use of higher levels.
Lastly, and most importantly, it won’t just make conversations better, but it will help make the people having them happier. The lower you go down the hierarchy, the generally more meanness the argument will have.
If you have something real to say, being mean just gets in the way. -Graham
When reading or writing arguments, assess their quality and strive to improve them… unless you enjoy arguments digressing into flame-wars.
/A
Graham, Paul. March 2008. Accessed February 9, 2010. http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html
