Blog ___: 5 Types of Public Arguments

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After identifying the potential audiences for my public argument, I must now choose how to frame the argument. I will provide a few sentences for each argument type, explaining how I will craft my argument if I choose that type:

Position (pro/con) Argument

Many scientific or even medical magazine articles seem to go with this method, stating the benefits of a certain drug/treatment, but then also acknowledging the drawbacks. I may discuss the pros of physician assisted suicide which appears to revolve around the idea of less suffering and more control over one's life and the cons which are the ethical issues and possible change in how humans see death. At the end of the argument (which may most likely be a brief article in an online magazine/newspaper) I will choose a side.

Causal Argument

For a causal argument, I may argue that people are more inclined to kill themselves because they have lost control of their lives and that legally providing them with the means to do it helps alleviate this fear. Any form of commercial or slideshow is appropriate for this because they serve to sway a larger audience who is not familiar with the topic or does not possess strong views.

Evaluative Argument

Here, I may explore the success of laws that allow physician assisted suicide in other countries or in Oregon where this law was passed. I may need to include statistical data and surveys to evaluate the success of permitting physician assisted suicide. This type of argument works with the scholarly arguments meant to persuade the people who have the power to legalize physician assisted suicide.

Proposal Argument

The proposal argument will take a bit more effort to craft because to support its claims, one must combine different elements. In a way, the proposal is a mix of the other types of arguments. I may include statistics from countries that permit physician assisted suicide, anecdotes from relatives, and may even need to say how the United States healthcare system is not living up to its standards. Using these, I may have to devise a plan to persuade my audience who will most likely be in politics or medicine using that evidence.

Refutation Argument

If I choose this route, I will have to delve into the morals and/or beliefs against physician assisted suicide and disprove them. Pathos may seem to be the best device here in the form of anecdotes where I can choose stories where people suffer because they were denied their request for a suicide. I can also mention the Hippocratic oath and redefine what it means to fit the argument. A refutation seems to be aimed toward a broader audience (same one as causal argument).

After going through all these arguments, I decided to maybe go with the position argument or the refutation argument. Now I shall delve deeper into one of them.

Deeper Look at Refutation Argument

With the refutation argument, I find it more convenient to get my message across through public means such as an online article, YouTube slideshow, website, blog, etc. The audience will be those who do not feel strongly about physician assisted suicides. Most likely this will include people who are age 40+ and most likely middle classed who had a loved one suffer in the hospital. Sound logical reasoning and tapping into the tender emotions of the audience will be the primary ways of conveying the message, but I can also add that I know how it feels to have a loved one suffer which helps me connect with the audience. For the logic, I may try to debunk any misconceptions that arise from this such as the idea that this promotes suicide. That is why controls must be put in place to prevent people who are emotionally unstable from ending their lives. The emotion I'm would be trying to elicit is pity.