Critically Illuminating Relevant Absences in Public Sphere Arguments via Digital Mining of Their Weblinks: A Software-based Pedagogy

Abstract

This chapter highlights and illustrates a software-based method devised to assist with the detection of straw man arguments. It is intended for use by undergraduates on modules where enhancing critical thinking is a key focus. This method helps establish efficient critical purchase on online arguments in the public sphere, particularly where students are not knowledgeable about the argument’s topic or the standpoint it criticises. It does this by employing simple-to-use digital text analysis software to explore the content of weblinks inserted in an online public sphere argument. Weblinking is a common practice to direct the reader to the text(s) being criticised in an argument. But, weblink content is often long and may not have been checked carefully by the argument’s author. What if a weblink contains material which conflicts with the author’s framing of the standpoint they are criticising? If this framing is found to be unstable because of relevant absences, then the argument’s credibility is in doubt. It is a ‘straw man’. A key pedagogical advantage of focusing on weblink content is the student can attain a critical grip on a public sphere argument with an unfamiliar topic in a targeted, and thus non-open-ended manner while simultaneously increasing their knowledge of a new domain of debate. A key methodological advantage of this software-based data extraction is that rigour is augmented since arbitrariness in both the exploration of the standpoint data and the evaluation of the straw man status of an argument are considerably reduced.