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6.1 Pyramid Rule 1

The first aspect of the Pyramid Rule is that higher in the argument tree a reason or objection appears, the more general or abstract it should be.

Primary considerations should be the most general or abstract considerations bearing upon the main contention.

 
Discussion

Examples:

In this example from Tutorial 4, the objection at level 1 is a more general claim than the reason which supports it at level 2.

Similarly, in this argument the objection is a general objection to the Moon landing; the supporting reason is a more specific piece of evidence supporting the general objection.  There might also be other reasons to think that The astronauts cannot have been to the Moon.

 
New Concepts

The Pyramid Rule: More general or abstract considerations should appear higher in the argument tree, and considerations at the same level of the tree should be at roughly the same level of generality or abstraction. 

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  18-Apr-