G.B.C. 8 Layering reasoning | The English Farm

Layer upon layer.

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To make an even stronger argument, it is essential that you layer reasoning. This lesson will teach you how to find weaknesses in your reasoning, and add layers to create a stronger position.

Introduction

Recall the lesson on reasoning. Explain to your teacher what the job of reasoning is in an argument.

Reasoning connects your claim to your evidence. Saying "because" is not enough. You have to explain more. You must be explicit. Sometimes to make the connection clear, you need to provide more than one layer of reasoning. Namely, you need to link each idea to the next and 'walk' your argument from evidence to claim.

Warm Up

To review, here is a claim (1) and some evidence (2) to support the claim:

Tom Cruise is not a good actor.
Tom Cruise has never won an Oscar.

What reasoning can you use to connect (1) with (2)?

Here you are looking for something like:

Good actors tend to win awards, and the most prestigious acting award is an Oscar. But Tom Cruise has never won an Oscar, so I guess he's not such a good actor. Otherwise, he would have won one.

The fact that an Oscar is an indicator of a good actor needs to be explicitly stated.

Language

Consider the following G.B.C.-style question:

Is it better to travel alone or with friends?

Now discuss these three things with your teacher:

What is your claim?
What is your evidence?
What is your reasoning?

Here we need to ask probing questions to ensure that the student has a well-reasoned argument. This is best done with the student and their own ideas. Get them to think about the question above about travel and state a claim, evidence and reasoning. Make it clear that they do not need to give a complete answers. We'll do that at the end.

You might get some answer like this:

It is better to travel alone;
When you travel with friends, you have to make compromises and don't get to see everything you want to; and
Travel should be fun and stress-free, so you want to take a trip free of compromises and worries.

Whatever sort of answer you get, you need to ask questions that poke holes in the person's reasoning. Suggest alternatives to their position.

For example:

Shouldn't you and your friends be interested in doing the same kinds of things?
Shouldn't travel be exciting?
Doing things that other people want to do might mean you experience new and interesting things.

Now ask your student to add a couple of layers of reasoning that takes these ideas into account. The result might be something like this:

To me, it is clearly better to travel alone. Travel should be fun and stress-free, so it's best to take a trip free of compromises and from worries about what other people want to do. It's true that traveling with friends can be fun—often close friends are interested in the same kinds of things, and it's nice to share the experience. You might even do some things you would not otherwise. But on the other hand, traveling with friends can be really stressful, and that's the last thing you want on your holiday. Moreover, I have found that when I travel alone, it's more relaxing. That is to say, I can do whatever I want, without having to worry about whether my friends are having a good time or not.

Try and build a similar answer with your student's ideas.

Some questions that the student can ask him- or herself: