Would you trust the assertions of someone who dogmatically pushes his own view and ignores or dismisses out of hand anyone who dis- agrees?
\Remember that a logical argument is not a quarrel or spat and that a truly productive debate is not a competition or shouting match. In ethics, written and oral approaches to moral issues are honest searches for truth and sincere exchanges of ideas.
In an essay, an assessment of objections can come early or late but usually appears after the presentation of the argument. In conversation, objections may be taken up throughout and be addressed as interlocutors raise them. Mutual respect and fairness is a necessity in oral debate. Speakers must be given a chance to have their say—to present arguments, raise objections, or respond to objections.
Handling objections properly involves both summarizing and examining them. We of course always should avoid the fallacies mentioned ear- lier, but in considering alternative views, we need to be especially alert to the straw man. Because the essence of the straw man fallacy is the misrepre- senting of someone’s claim or argument so it can be more easily refuted, inserting the fallacy into discussions is both dishonest and counterproduc- tive. And by using it you miss an opportunity to spot weaknesses in your case, which means you also miss a chance to strengthen it.
SUMMARY
An argument is a group of statements, one of which is supposed to be supported by the rest. To be more pre- cise, an argument consists of one or more premises and a conclusion. In a good argument, the conclu- sion must follow from the premises, and the premises must be true.