The master diagnostic tool: The summary slide gives the master reference table for all five arts, a four-question diagnostic tool to identify any argument you hear, five live examples, and the bridge to Session 10. The diagnostic tool, as its title suggests, asks four questions: what are the premises?
Source, quality, and goal: What is their source and quality? What is the goal of the speaker?
What certainty does it deserve? And what level of certainty does the conclusion deserve? Answer those four questions about any argument and you will know its art — and how much weight to give it.
Example
Run the four questions: Next time you watch a debate, a sermon, or a political speech, run the four questions on it. Within a minute you will know whether you are hearing Burhan, Jadal, Khitaba, Shi'r, or Mughalata.
Key Terms
As in Topics 9.1–9.5.
Quran or Hadith
None known from the slide title.
Fresh diagram to be drawn: An interactive "4-question diagnostic" checklist for the Reader. To be drawn in Project Desk colours.
Note: Slide 58 was not read; based on the filename. The exact four questions must be verified against the slide before publication.
- The diagnostic tool asks four questions: what are the premises? What is their source and quality? What is the goal of the speaker? And what level of certainty does the conclusion deserve?
- Next time you watch a debate, a sermon, or a political speech, run the four questions on it. Within a minute you will know whether you are hearing Burhan, Jadal, Khitaba, Shi'r, or Mughalata.