Claim: The best test of an argument is its ability to convince someone with an opposing viewpoint.Reason: Only by being forced to defend an idea against the doubts and contrasting views of others does one really discover the value of that idea.

Although some people may think that the best test of an argument is its ability to convince someone with an opposing viewpoint, I can not totally agree with this point of view. It may seem logical that one could evaluate his own opinion thoroughly and strengthen the reliability of the argument by being forced to defend the idea against the doubts and contrasting views of others. However, I believe that it is not always the case for the following reasons.

The first reason is that the claim is based on the assumption that defending an idea against the opposite viewpoint is the only way for one to discover the value of that idea. However, there are actually many ways for one to strengthen his argument and make it more reasonable. For instance, one can go over and clarify every assumption he had made before reaching the conclusion. During the evaluation, he should search the literature carefully and try to find as many pieces of evidence for his argument as possible. Second, if the argument can be tested by doing some real experiments, the credibility of the argument can be unraveled clearly. Based on these scientific procedures, I think that the truth can be found more easily than just arguing with other people.

The second reason why I disagree with the claim is that it made a rush assumption which does not apply well in all circumstances that the one who holds an opposing viewpoint is convincible. There are irrational people who do not make their judgments logically. For instance, recently in Taiwan, there is a serious debate about whether homosexual people have the right to get married. Some people insist that the homosexuals don’t deserve this human right make their argument based on their religious and believe that everyone, no matter what his or her religion is, should follow the rule made by the head of their religion. This statement is obviously illogical but those people just refuse any deeper discussion.

In conclusion, I believe that the claim that the best indicator to evaluate whether an argument is reasonable or not is not its ability to convincing people who hold the opposite viewpoint. Since there are many different scientific ways for us to test an argument and the people with the opposing viewpoint are not always rational, we should always try to find the best method for the evaluation which best suits the situation we faced.

Votes
Average: 5 (1 vote)
Essay Categories

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 7, column 207, Rule ID: NUMEROUS_DIFFERENT[1]
Message: Use simply 'many'.
Suggestion: many
...the opposite viewpoint. Since there are many different scientific ways for us to test an argum...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, but, first, however, if, may, second, so, then, well, for instance, i think, in conclusion

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 20.0 19.5258426966 102% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 11.0 12.4196629213 89% => OK
Conjunction : 10.0 14.8657303371 67% => OK
Relative clauses : 18.0 11.3162921348 159% => OK
Pronoun: 43.0 33.0505617978 130% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 41.0 58.6224719101 70% => OK
Nominalization: 19.0 12.9106741573 147% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1994.0 2235.4752809 89% => OK
No of words: 406.0 442.535393258 92% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 4.91133004926 5.05705443957 97% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.48881294772 4.55969084622 98% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.63354747943 2.79657885939 94% => OK
Unique words: 199.0 215.323595506 92% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.490147783251 0.4932671777 99% => OK
syllable_count: 630.9 704.065955056 90% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59117977528 101% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 8.0 6.24550561798 128% => OK
Article: 3.0 4.99550561798 60% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 3.10617977528 97% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.77640449438 0% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 4.38483146067 68% => OK

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 16.0 20.2370786517 79% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 25.0 23.0359550562 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 54.7789592362 60.3974514979 91% => OK
Chars per sentence: 124.625 118.986275619 105% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.375 23.4991977007 108% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.25 5.21951772744 120% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.97078651685 80% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 7.80617977528 13% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 10.2758426966 58% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 5.13820224719 175% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 1.0 4.83258426966 21% => More facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.400018174347 0.243740707755 164% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.122186725786 0.0831039109588 147% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.138346686106 0.0758088955206 182% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.258891992996 0.150359130593 172% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.123142294266 0.0667264976115 185% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.4 14.1392134831 102% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 46.1 48.8420337079 94% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.0 12.1743820225 107% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.49 12.1639044944 94% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.22 8.38706741573 98% => OK
difficult_words: 86.0 100.480337079 86% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.0 11.8971910112 109% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.2143820225 107% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.7820224719 110% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Better to have 5/6 paragraphs with 3/4 arguments. And try always support/against one side but compare two sides, like this:

para 1: introduction
para 2: reason 1. address both of the views presented for reason 1
para 3: reason 2. address both of the views presented for reason 2
para 4: reason 3. address both of the views presented for reason 3
para 5: reason 4. address both of the views presented for reason 4 (optional)
para 6: conclusion.


Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 Out of 6
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.