Filtered dossier

rhetoric

  • 6 / 6
  • No visual on file
    Rhetoric & Omission Entry #0597

    The reason an example is not evidence but persuades as one

    One case says nothing about how often. It arrives with detail, sequence and a face, and those are the properties that get treated as weight.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0597

    A case carries no frequency information and all the memorability. Choosing the example for how well it illustrates the point is where the argument moves.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Rhetoric & Omission Entry #0596

    Why naming a bias is not refuting an argument

    Where a claim came from and whether it holds are separate questions. A motive can be identified accurately and the claim still be true.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0596

    Provenance sets how much checking a claim deserves, not whether it is true. Naming the motive is the beginning of the work, not the end.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Rhetoric & Omission Entry #0595

    The reason a qualifier makes a claim unfalsifiable

    Each hedge removes a case that could have contradicted the claim. Enough of them and nothing observable is inconsistent with it.

    Master
    The hidden part #0595

    Content is what a claim forbids. A qualifier added after the fact removes a prohibition while adding the sound of rigour.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Rhetoric & Omission Entry #0594

    Why a question about method deflects a question about result

    Any method has a weakness available. Raising it moves the discussion to procedure, where the finding waits indefinitely without being addressed.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0594

    Every method has a real flaw available. Which flaw gets raised, and when, is the argument — and it leaves no trace.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Rhetoric & Omission Entry #0593

    The reason a metaphor smuggles a premise

    A comparison arrives as decoration and leaves behind a structure. Whatever was true of the source is now assumed of the subject.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0593

    A metaphor imports relations, not colour. The premises it supplies are never stated, so they are never contested.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Rhetoric & Omission Entry #0592

    Why the last sentence carries the position

    A balanced account ends somewhere, and where it ends is what gets retained. The final clause reads as the conclusion the evidence reached.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0592

    Balance is measured in allocation and delivered in order. Where the passage stops is what the reader keeps.

    Open file