Critical Thinking Slide 5

CRITICAL THINKING & PRACTICAL REASONING

Session 5 – CONTRASTING TYPES OF DISCOURSE

Session Overview
•Individuals engage in a discourse use language, very often with the intention of being understood. Yet, this sometimes ends up in disputes and difficulties in understanding caused by different factors. This session introduces students to these factors and how to avoid them.
•Goals and Objectives
At the end of the session, the student will understand
1. types of dispute.
2. the difference and relation between metaphors and proverbs
3. linguistic vices such as vagueness and equivocation, and how to avoid them.
4. the types of discourse revealed in passages.

Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows:
•Topic One: TYPES OF DISPUTES
a. verbal disputes
b. substantive disputes
•Topic Two : METAPHORS AND PROVERBS
•Topic Three: COMMON LINGUISTIC VICES
•Topic Four: TYPES OF DISCOURSE REVEALED IN PASSAGES.

Topic One
TYPES OF DISPUTE

•A dispute may be defined as a disagreement or a controversy or difference of opinion between two or more people. Or Basically an argument between two or more people.
•For instance, if I say my grand mother was a good woman and you say she was a horrible woman then we can say there is a dispute in opinion about my grand mother.
•However, we will be looking at these two types of dispute.
1.Verbal disputes
2.Substantive disputes

Verbal Disputes
•A verbal dispute is a disagreement which occurs as a result of difference in opinion about the meaning of a word and the dispute can be resolved easily when the meaning is clarified. That is, when two parties to dispute are interpreting a particular word differently and that is what causes them to disagree with each other.
•Examples:
1. Kpanlogo is a traditional folkloric dance that our Ga ancestors used to dance only at funerals for hundreds of years.
NO! Kpanlogo is a neo-traditional popular dance that the dance-band Otoo Lincoln and his group created in Bukom Square, Accra, around 1962. He relied on the old funeral dirges to build up a versatile form of popular dance which suits every occasion nowadays, including funerals. This is a verbal dispute because the dance “kpanlogo” is what is causing them to disagree.

2.Kwame has new laptop. No, he does not, his brother gave him his old computer when he upgraded, and that computer is at least five years old. So does kwame have a “new” laptop? This depends on how one defines “new”. So this is also a verbal dispute.
•Verbal disputes can be dissolved by means of a stipulative definition where the parties to the dispute finally settle on a common usage or meaning of the word causing them to disagree in the first place.

Substantive Dispute
•On the other hand if the disagreement or dispute is about the expression of different opinions about facts or subscription to contrasting values then the dispute in question is considered as a substantive dispute.
•Example:
1. The US army personnel are helping Iraqi citizens because their presence maintains a peaceful and secure environment. No, these US soldiers are imposing martial law and have orders to target civilians so they pose a threat to Iraqi citizens. This is a substantive dispute since the only way we can know who is telling the truth is to check the facts on the ground.

•NB. When a dispute still exists after clarifying the ambiguity in the usage of a word between two parties then that dispute is a substantive dispute but if the dispute dissolves then it is a verbal dispute.

Topic Two
METAPHORS AND PROVERBS

•Metaphors and proverbs involve vague use of language that carries many associations. They are the type o sentences that can carry more than one meaning simultaneously and which also have different functions, depending on the circumstances.
•METAPHORS:- A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used to describe an object or action with which it does not normally have an association in order to imply a connection.
•PROVERBS:- They are phrases that embody some advice or commonly believed fact. They can also be referred to as axioms, truisms, clichés and adages.

•Examples of metaphors and proverbs are;
1.Time is money.(metaphor)
2.Juliet is the apple of my eye.(metaphor)
3.Life is war.(metaphor)
4.Birds of a feather flock together.(proverb)
5.When a palm-branch reaches its height, it gives way for a fresh one to grow.(proverb)
. Understanding metaphors and proverbs depends so much upon the situation and mood and reception and background knowledge or preparedness of listeners to appreciate and interpret the multiplicity of the meaning of metaphors and proverbs. Individuals can read their own meanings into metaphors and proverbs.

•Thus metaphors and proverbs cannot be relied upon to convey a single objective meaning. They are useful in inspiring, motivating and advising and to speak on topics that are socially powerful and highly charged.
•NB. To be very clear and straight forward in conveying information it is usually best to avoid metaphorical and proverbial expressions. This is because their interpretations are open-ended and indecisive.
•For instance, referring to kwame as a lion, he might interpret it to mean that he is an animal and for that matter lives in the forest when you intend to mean that he is brave or courageous.

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