The Power of Counterarguments
Understanding Counterarguments
In this section, we will talk about how to use counterarguments to make your article more outstanding.
Counterargument is a kind of response to what might come in your opposition when you are stating your viewpoint.
Example: If you are arguing about “we need academic writing class very much”, you can make up a person saying, “we don’t need academic writing class because it is useless”. Then you prove why the class is not useless (why it is useful for us students), completing your argument.
Why Use Counterarguments
Improve Your Own Arguments
When you use counterarguments, you are actually improving your own arguments by thinking about their potential flaws.
“I’m not entitled to have an opinion unless I can state the arguments against my position better than the people who are in opposition. I think that I am qualified to speak only when I’ve reached that state.”
— Charlie Munger, Influential Investor
You come up with an opposition point and find a way to argue it.
Demonstrate Comprehensive Understanding
When you write out the counterargument, it shows that you actually understand the question in a comprehensive way rather than looking at problems from a single perspective. In this way, it may be more convincing once you have shown the whole picture of the problem you are arguing.
Show Critical Thinking
Using counterarguments demonstrates that you are thinking critically. Only when you are able to look at both sides of a problem can your thinking be insightful and critical. That is a pretty good quality of writing and
Some people may worry that they cannot tackle their own counterarguments. But it’s okay. You don’t have to destroy your counterarguments for your point. Counterarguments may be actually right for certain aspects. You just have to prove that your point is right in your own presets.
Example: Suppose you are the founder of quantum physics, you don’t have to prove that Einstein is wrong. You just have to admit that the relativity theory works among planets but your theory works in the micro world.
How to Use Counterarguments Effectively
- Think like a skeptical reader: Assume yourself as a doubtful reader to your work. Try to think out of your “author” box and reread your article from a different perspective. Does your argument by examples is based on facts? Have you twisted others words? Answer these questions to yourself. You can find your disadvantages in your point of views. Moreover, you can point out these contradictions in your argument, which shows that you have thought what readers might think.
- Return to your position: You should turn back to your ideas. You need to show that why these disapprovals are wrong or they are reasonable but relatively unimportant. Otherwise, if you cannot find a stronger support to your argument, you should change it.
- Consider placement carefully: The place to put your counterarguments is important. There should not be to much counterarguments in your article, or it will make the words complicated and confusing, losing the meaning to constrict. The correct place to put, for example, introduction, transition sentences, and paragraphs before your conclusion, can make your article more acute and passionate.
- Use in the writing process: You can use the thinking mode of counterargument in pre-writing and revising. Brainstorming yourself or asking others about these ideas may spark creative thinking.
Wish you good luck in writing!