An argument implies that there are two sides to a question.  Which you shall take depends on the way you look on it, that is, on what may be called your mental point of view.  Therefore any fact, allusion, maxim, comparison, or other statement which may cause you to look at the question in a different light or from a different point of view may be used as an argument.  In effect, it calls up a general theory whose presence affects your decision.  Notice how brief the argument is in the following selection from Macaulay:—­

Many politicians of our time are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom.  The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story, who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to swim.  If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait forever.

—­Macaulay:  Milton.

+186.  Summary.+—­To summarize the preceding paragraphs, the authority we quote, the maxims we state, the facts we adduce become valuable because they appeal to general theories already believed by the reader.  Success in argument demands, therefore, that we consider carefully what theories may probably be in the mind of our audience, and that we present our argument in such a way as to appeal to those theories.

+Theme CII.+—­Write a short argument, using one of the following:—­

1.  A young boy is urging his father to permit him to attend an entertainment.  Give his reasons as he would give them to his father.

2.  Suppose the father refuses the request.  Write out his reasons.

3.  Try to convince a companion just entering high school to take the college preparatory course instead of the commercial course.

(Are your reasons true and pertinent?  To what general theories have you appealed?  Consider the coherence of each paragraph.)

+187.  Arrangement of Arguments.+—­We have learned that in arguing we need to consider how those whom we address arrive at the belief they hold, and that it will assist us to this knowledge of others if we consider our own beliefs and the manner of their establishing.  We must present our material in the order that convinces.  Each case may differ so from every other that no general rule can be followed, but the consideration of some general principles of arrangement will be of assistance.  It is the purpose of the following paragraphs to point out in so far as possible the most effective order of arrangement.

+188.  Possibility, Probability, and Actuality.+—­It has been stated, in Section 175, that reasoning leads to probable truth, and that this probability may become so strong as to be accepted as certainty.  In common speech this difference is borne in mind, and we distinguish a fact or event that is only possible from one that is probable; and likewise one that is only probable from one in which the probability approaches so near to certainty as to convince us that it actually did exist or occur.  Our arguments may therefore be directed to proving possibility, probability, or actuality.