Counterarguments

Chapter seven taught me about counterarguments and how to properly use them in an argument. One of the concepts I learned in chapter seven is refuting an argument. Refuting a argument directly is” when you show that at least one of the premises is dubious, or you can show that the argument isn’t valid or strong, you can also show that the conclusion is false” (Epstein).   A example of this would be when someone says “Cars are better then motorcycles because they are safer and faster”, you could refute this argument by saying that more riders of motorcycle are aware of they soundings and are more carful compared to drivers who are more careless, and you can also refute the argument by saying that though cars have higher top speeds then motorcycles, motorcycles have faster acceleration and can “split lanes” in and go right through traffic getting to their destination faster. Another thing I learned in chapter seven was refuting indirectly. Refuting indirectly is when you don’t actually have to refute the argument; you just show that their argument leads to an unwanted conclusion. A example would be like when someone says “ you say that we waste electricity and that we need to put up more dams to save the environment, but with more dams more ecosystems would be destroyed and you would ruin the environment just so you would have more electricity. These counterarguments are useful tools that I will use in later arguments.