Summary Of Toulmin Model Of Argumentation By Christopher M. Fairman

According to the Toulmin Model of Argumentation, Christopher M. Fairman has constructed a strong persuasive piece on the case against banning the word retard. The components of the Toulmin Model of Argumentation that will be evaluated to determine the degree to which the argument was successful are the claim, data, warrant, and backing. To begin a synopsis will be provided about the article. Fairman’s main argument of the article is that the word retard should not be banned due to the many negative repercussions of the action. He starts the article stating he would not be making the pledge at www.r-word.org to eliminate the word from his everyday speech. Then he states that it is not the word that is the culprit, but the meaning behind them

First was that the term retard originated for the classification of individuals whom would have been known otherwise as “idiot”, “imbecile”, and “moron”. This piece of evidence was used to support his minor claim that new words would eventually replace new words. The supported minor claim helps to lift his major claim providing a reason not to replace the word retard because it will only leave a place for another derogatory term. Next Fairman refers to a book written by Randall Kennedy in 2002 about the stigmatization of words and how it can result in the over eagerness to detect insult where none was intended. Fairman terms this as a “word fetish” and describes a situation where this happened to David Howard. Howard works in the D.C Mayor’s office in 1999 and told the staff that due to budget cuts that he would have to be “niggardly” with the funds in hand. This caused the black subordinates to take offence and lobby for his resignation. Looking at the results of this incident, people took offence to a word that had no inclination to be an offensive term. Therefore, supporting that due to the censorship of a term can cause over sensitivity. From this data, the first building block of the Toulmin Model rises and forms a base for the

This warrant didn’t have any backing because it is widely accepted by many, if not all. Meanwhile another warrant was that the modern use of a word does not justify the censorship of the word. By definition retard means “slow” or “delay” and the modern use of it is “stupid” or “dumb”. Fairman backed up this warrant by discussing about how the use of “gay” also has changed and gained a negative meaning. In comparison of the two terms, both can be viewed as negative terms but gay is not censored meanwhile censorship of retard is being rallied for. Both of these warrants are used to justify that the censorship of retard will infringe the first amendment and can result in the censorship of other