A political argument is an instance of a logical argument applied to politics. Political arguments are used by academics, media pundits, candidates for political office and government officials. Political arguments are also used by citizens in ordinary interactions to comment about and understand political events. More often than not, political arguments tend to be circular, repeating the same facts as premises under perhaps slightly different guises. Much political argument concerns issues of taxation and government spending.
Political argument should be distinguished from propaganda, in that propaganda has little or no structure or the rationale, if it exists, is egregiously fallacious.
A classic example of political arguments are those contained in The Federalist Papers arguing in favor of ratification of the American constitution.
There are several ways of classifying political argument:
- Based on the purpose of the argument.
- Based on the logical structure of the argument.
- Based on the subject matter dealt with in the argument.
Read more about Political Argument: Purpose of Political Argument, Structure of Political Argument
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or argument:
“In a town-meeting, the great secret of political science was uncovered, and the problem solved, how to give every individual his fair weight in the government, without any disorder from numbers. In a town-meeting, the roots of society were reached. Here the rich gave counsel, but the poor also; and moreover, the just and the unjust.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“You have such strong words at command, that they make the smallest argument seem formidable.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)