Scientific Rhetorics and Enthymemes Simone Teufel University of Cambridge April 21, 2016 1/15
Work in Cambridge on Argument Interpretation • Argumentative Zoning and Scientific Rhetorics; scientific text • First steps in Enthymeme Interpretation (with my student Olesya Razuvayevskaya); general text 2/15
What is required for an article to be published? • HLG-1 : Show: Knowledge claim is significant • HLG-2 : Show: Knowledge claim is novel • HLG-3 : Show: Authors are knowledgeable about area • HLG-4 : Show: Research methodology is sound 3/15
Publication justified Knowledgable Novelty Significance Sound Methodology Goal New Methods New Known Goal R-5: Desir. H-11: Clash R-1: Real problem R-4: Import. We use good stuff H-12: Support Suff. # citations Suff. different from most similar Comparison to SoA R-2: Goal New H-13 H-14 H-4: Solves H-5: Good H-14: Use H-16: Similar R-6: Gap H-6: Better H-7 H-1 H-2 H-3 H-8: Different R-3: Goal hard H-9: Harder 4/15
Rhetorical statements: Properties of the “research space” Problem addressed is a problem R-1 R-2 New goal/problem is new New goal/problem is hard R-3 R-4 New goal/problem is important/interesting R-5 Solution to new problem is desirable R-6 No solution to new problem exists Recently, R-4 the use of imines as starting materials in the synthesis of nitrogen-containing compounds has attracted a lot of interest from synthetic chemists. (1) (b200198e) 5/15
Properties of new solution New solution solves problem R-7 R-8 New solution avoids problems New solution necessary to achieve goal R-9 R-10 New solution is advantageous R-11 New solution has limitations R-12 Future work follows from new solution Moreover, R-10 the simplicity and ease of application of the electrochemical method . . . should also be emphasised and makes it an interesting and valuable synthetic tool. (b513402a) 6/15
Properties of existing solution Existing solution is flawed H-1 H-2 Existing solution does not solve problem H-3 Existing solution introduces new problem H-4 Existing solution solves problem H-5 Existing solution is advantageous H-4 This account makes reasonably good empirical predictions, though H-2 it does fail for the following examples: . . . (9503014, S-75) 7/15
Relationships between Existing and New Solutions New solution is better than existing solution H-6 H-7 New solution avoids problems (when existing does not) New goal/problem/solution is different from existing H-8 H-9 New goal/problem is harder than existing goal/problem New result is different from existing result H-10 H-11 New claim is different from/clashes with existing claim Agreement/support between existing and new claim H-12 H-13 Existing solution provides basis for new solution H-14 Existing solution provides part of new solution H-15 Existing solution (adapted) provides part of new solution H-16 Existing solution is similar to new solution H-12 Greater survival of tillers under irrigated conditions agrees with other reports in barley [4,28] and wheat [10,13,26]. (A027) 8/15
Enthymeme recognition and discovery • Socrates is mortal because he’s human. 9/15
Enthymeme recognition and discovery • Socrates is mortal because he’s human. • Syllogism with modus ponens: All humans are mortal. [major premise] Socrates is human. [minor premise] Therefore, Socrates is mortal. [conclusion] 9/15
Enthymeme recognition and discovery • Socrates is mortal because he’s human. • Syllogism with modus ponens: All humans are mortal. [major premise] Socrates is human. [minor premise] Therefore, Socrates is mortal. [conclusion] • It is the major premise here that is not explicitly stated. 9/15
Enthymeme recognition and discovery • Socrates is mortal because he’s human. • Syllogism with modus ponens: All humans are mortal. [major premise] Socrates is human. [minor premise] Therefore, Socrates is mortal. [conclusion] • It is the major premise here that is not explicitly stated. • Task: find enthymemes in text • reconstruct them/ guess missing premise 9/15
Our framing of the problem • Delineation of “atomic argument context” and “Decision Enthymeme Y/N” • Use discourse markers to find possible mini-arguments • Complicated by fact that there’s often a mixture of Walton’s argument types in the vicinity • Judgment of size of “inference step” • Generation of candidate premises • Testing of premises for relevance/support • Judgment of size of “inference step” Data used: Novels, BNC, advertisement pamphlets 10/15
“Of course” snippets • Indication of a “smaller, obvious” step in argumentation • Communicative function: • On surface, an apology for an obvious piece of information. • Or maybe, a wish to reaffirm some assumptions • Compiled a small corpus of “of course” phrases • Data collection with fixed sentence boundaries • Also: “let alone” sentences, “therefore” mini-arguments 11/15
Some examples of “Of course” sentences • Of course Peter will try to acquit him. He is a criminal himself. 12/15
Some examples of “Of course” sentences • Of course Peter will try to acquit him. He is a criminal himself. • Missing premise: Criminal lawyers are more likely to acquit criminals than non-criminal lawyers. 12/15
Some examples of “Of course” sentences • Of course Peter will try to acquit him. He is a criminal himself. • Missing premise: Criminal lawyers are more likely to acquit criminals than non-criminal lawyers. • Of course, she would have to get off smack in the long run. Or else she would look like that girl in the adverts. 12/15
Some examples of “Of course” sentences • Of course Peter will try to acquit him. He is a criminal himself. • Missing premise: Criminal lawyers are more likely to acquit criminals than non-criminal lawyers. • Of course, she would have to get off smack in the long run. Or else she would look like that girl in the adverts. • Missing premise: The girl in the adverts is on smack, or at least looks like it. • Missing premise: That look is not desirable (to her, presumably). • Missing premise: Taking smack is something that will eventually show on photos. 12/15
More “of course” examples • Of course, the statue was in modern dress. A suspiciously stained smart dark suit, just like Clive’s. 13/15
More “of course” examples • Of course, the statue was in modern dress. A suspiciously stained smart dark suit, just like Clive’s. • Counter example – the enthymeme, if one exists, includes the previous (invisible) sentence. 13/15
More “of course” examples • Of course, the statue was in modern dress. A suspiciously stained smart dark suit, just like Clive’s. • Counter example – the enthymeme, if one exists, includes the previous (invisible) sentence. • Of course it is possible to have isomers of some of these. For example, it is possible to string together the four carbons of butane in two different ways. 13/15
More “of course” examples • Of course, the statue was in modern dress. A suspiciously stained smart dark suit, just like Clive’s. • Counter example – the enthymeme, if one exists, includes the previous (invisible) sentence. • Of course it is possible to have isomers of some of these. For example, it is possible to string together the four carbons of butane in two different ways. • Missing premise: Carbons of butane, if strung together correctly, form an isomer of X. 13/15
More “of course” examples • Of course, the statue was in modern dress. A suspiciously stained smart dark suit, just like Clive’s. • Counter example – the enthymeme, if one exists, includes the previous (invisible) sentence. • Of course it is possible to have isomers of some of these. For example, it is possible to string together the four carbons of butane in two different ways. • Missing premise: Carbons of butane, if strung together correctly, form an isomer of X. • I did, of course, help her. 13/15
More “of course” examples • Of course, the statue was in modern dress. A suspiciously stained smart dark suit, just like Clive’s. • Counter example – the enthymeme, if one exists, includes the previous (invisible) sentence. • Of course it is possible to have isomers of some of these. For example, it is possible to string together the four carbons of butane in two different ways. • Missing premise: Carbons of butane, if strung together correctly, form an isomer of X. • I did, of course, help her. • Missing premise: Helping people is a moral principle in our society that the speaker also subscribes to. 13/15
Current experiments • Measure agreement on “is this a mini argument or not”? • We think it measures intuitions about size of inference step • We don’t show any context • Elicit from humans premise candidates 14/15
“Let alone” sentences • Implies a scale • Typically the smaller point is negated • The implication is that the larger point is “even more” negated • For instance: The advice of the church’s moral experts and authoritative clerics was thus pertinent to the entire population of the world, let alone that of Ireland. • What can we mine from that? • Ireland is a part of the world? • Whatever is pertinent to the world is of course pertinent to Ireland? 15/15
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