英语修辞与写作·21.1　辩论

21.1　辩论

21.1A　辩论场合和论题选择

1） 有两种场合的辩论：非正式辩论和正式辩论。两个汽车司机狭路相逢，几乎相撞，于是双方下车争论谁是谁非；哥哥和妹妹吃完饭后都不想洗碗，并为之争执起来。像上述这类场合的争论都属于非正式辩论，往往越争论越离开正题，相互指责甚至谩骂。这样非正式的辩论不属本章所讨论的问题。我们这里讨论的辩论属于正式辩论（Formal Argumentation），它具有两个特点：

一是辩论双方可能会争得面红耳赤，但不失去控制，不作人身攻击；

二是坚持依靠推理和论证阐述自己的观点，力图在辩论中说服对方。

2） 在论题选择上要注意辩论的对象和范围。例如在论述本地区的建筑规划时，论题应集中在公共建筑上，而若论述学校建筑，则应集中谈教学区、生活区、办公区及文体设施上，不应论述范围过泛，更要避免脱离本题。此外，有的论题很容易得到答案（如“Swimming is a healthful and enjoyable activity”，“George Washington was six feet tall”），有的论题属于个人爱好 （如“Blue is a prettier color than green”，“Basketball game is more interesting than football game”），也不应进行辩论。

21.1B　两种辩论题旨与三种逻辑推理策略

1） 进行辩论的主旨有两种：

一种是为了说服对方接受自己的观点、信仰、主张等，这叫做“Proposition argument”：提出自己的主见后，接着陈述理由和加以论证，这和说明文体有相似之处，但重点是强调对方接受与否的利害关系。

另一种是提出问题和解决方案，这叫做“Problem-solution argument”，突出说明自己提出的为什么是最佳方案。例如：

I can sum up very briefly my position with regard to the question we are discussing. I am dissatisfied with the present Freshman English course in its typical form; but I am convinced that any radical amelioration must wait on, not precede, changes in the English curriculum in high school. Attempted coercion of high school English teachers would get us nowhere. They would like to do a better job of teaching writing quite as much as we would like to have them do it; but we must help them, working with them as equals on a problem neither they nor we have so far been able to solve properly. If our combined efforts lead to the results we want, the need for this present Freshman course would disappear — but not the need for a new Freshman course that would take advantage of and build upon the revised high school courses. I would argue that such a course ought to be at least as much value to the Freshman as any other course he might take in that year — valuable because it would concentrate on trying to raise the level of his writing skill from competence to distinction, and valuable also because it would contribute significantly to his liberal education through the continued study of literature and language. Both of these are rightful concerns of an English department.

Indeed, I think they are obligations.

（Albert R. Kitzhaber）

在1959年全美英语教师理事会上，Warner G. Rice教授提出取消现设的一年级英语课程，持相反观点的Albert R. Kitzhaber教授则主张加以改革。上面是他的发言的结尾段落，他扼要说明了为什么改革的方案比取消的方案更为实际和有效。

2） 虽然辩论的主旨可能有所不同，但都离不开逻辑推理（Logical reasoning）。在进行逻辑推理时，有3种基本策略：

一是激发读者/听话者的兴趣和感情；

二是引用公认的权威论点；

三是提出有力的证据。

例如：

The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses! For it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but, which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with a sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in — to bind up the nation's wounds — to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

（Abraham Lincoln）

21.1C　两种推理方式与四种三段论结构

1） 前面20.2A介绍了说明体的两种格式，即“演绎”和“归纳”，这也是进行推理的两种基本方式，而且在具体场合往往是将两种方式综合应用。

所谓“演绎法”（Deduction）,是从一般情况推论到个别情况。

例如：

Determined 　　　People who live in huge homes, have servants, and drive expensive cars are wealthy.

Generalization 　　The Johnsons live in a huge house, have servants, and drive an expensive car.

Conclusion 　　　The Johnsons are wealthy.

而“归纳法”（Induction）正好相反，即从个别情况推论到一般。例如：

Individual 　　This supermarket-brand item is cheaper than its comparable name-brand item.

Instance 　　Each of these other seventeen supermarket-brand items is cheaper than its comparable name-brand item.

Conclusion 　Supermarket-brand items are cheaper than comparable name-brand items.

2） “三段论”（Syllogism）是建筑在演绎法上的推理方式，由主前提（Major Premise），次前提 （Minor Premise）和结论（Conclusion）3部分组成，这里介绍三段论的4种基本结构。

第一种结构为“ALL”式：

All freshmen are dorm residents.

（All A's are B's.）

All the members of the Green Team are freshmen.

（All C's are A's.）

Therefore, all the members of the Green Team are dorm residents.

（All C's are B's.）

第二种结构为“SOME”式

No graduate students are dorm residents.

（No A's are B's.）

Some older students are dorm residents.

（Some C's are B's.）

Therefore, some older students are not graduate students.

（Some C's are not A's.）

第三种结构为“IF”/THEN”式

If the stadium is finished, then the team will open its season there.

（The stadium is finished.

Therefore, the team will open its season there.）

第四种结构为“EITHER/OR”式：

Either the Common Market succeeds or Europe falls.

（The Common Market is succeeding.

Therefore, Europe will not fall.）

21.1D　推理中应注意的几个问题

1） 要注意前提本身的正确性、合理性，否则必然得出不恰当的结论。例如：

Abortion is a form of murder.

All forms of murder are wrong.

Therefore, abortion is wrong.

显然，笼统说“abortion is wrong”的结论是不正确的，而结论的毛病又来自前提。

2） 要注意主、次前提之间逻辑的严密性，防止话题转移并导致荒谬的结论。例如：

Major premise: All property owners favor reduced real estate taxes.

Minor premise: Janet favors reduced real estate taxes.

Conclusion: Therefore, Janet is a property owner.

3） 注意了解、研究应用三段论的范例。例如：

Our society has moved illogically in this direction by virtually institutionalizing adultery; a growing number of spouses permit each other complete sexual liberty on the conditions that there shall be no “involvement” and that the extracurricular relations are not brought to their attention. It is beginning to institutionalize ritual spouse exchange.

（Alex Comfort: Sexuality in a Zero-Growth Society）

上面这段话可以用“三段论”格式表示为：

A society that encourages ritual spouse exchange is a society that institutionalizes adultery.

Our society is a society that encourages ritual spouse exchange.

Our society is a society that institutionalizes adultery.

又如：

The cases of Adolf Beck, of Oscar Slater, of the unhappy Brooklyn bank teller who vaguely resembled a forger and spent eight years in Sing Sing only to “emerge” a broken, friendless, useless, “compensated” man — all these, if the dignity of the individual has any meaning, had better have been dead before the prison door ever opened for them. This is what counsel always says to the jury in the course of a murder trial and counsel is right: far better to hang this man than “give him life.”

（Jacques Barzun: In Favor of Capital Punishment）

上面这段话也可以用“三段论”格式加以表示：

An experience that takes away individual dignity is worse than death.

Long imprisonment is an experience that takes away individual dignity.

Therefore, long imprisonment is worse than death.

这里需要说明：上述逻辑推理固然符合三段论的要求，也有一定的道理，但存在着明显的片面性和表面性，因为“死刑”是在一定历史时期内解决特殊社会矛盾的一种极端的法律手段，是否采用它，应以维护社会安定和群众生命财产安全为准则，而不能只从个人尊严角度着眼；对于长期监禁，也要看到它们的必要性和积极方面，不宜一概否定。总之，如果能从不同方面分析问题，就会更有说服力。