The Toulmin Method
The Toulmin Method is a philosophy and strategy for examining arguments. The method was developed by Stephen Toulmin who wrote about the process in his book The Uses of Argument in 1958. (Green, 283).
The Toulmin Method suggests that there are several parts to an argument including:
The Claim-what the author or speaker is explicitly stating
The Reason-the evidence or grounds for making the claim
The Warrant-what connects the reason/evidence to the claim, the warrant is usually left unstated
In addition to these three main components of the Toulmin Method, other factors also play a part in the process. Including qualifiers, which is a way of explaining that while the author believes their claim they recognize situations where it may not apply or that there are limits to the claim. (Green, 285) Words like typically, or usually would indicate a qualifier. Another component is the rebuttal, where the author offers up potential challenges to their argument in advance. (Green, 286)
I took a look at an article by the New York Times where the Toulmin Method could be applied. The article is titled, Workers Fighting for America's Overdose Crisis are 'Hanging on by a Thread.' The article discusses harm reduction workers and their fight against the opioid crisis.
The Claim: More funding needs to be made available to harm reduction workers to combat the opioid crisis and provide life-saving supplies to addicts.
The Reason: According to a study by RTI International there are only 1,100 harm reduction workers nationwide, 600 or so part time workers, and 2,000 volunteers. The annual budget for harm reduction supplies is low, and one American dies every 5 minutes from an overdose. Increased funding would support more full-time workers.
The Warrant: the unstated claim or assumption of this argument is that harm reduction practices help reduce overdose deaths.
Qualifiers-harm reduction won't save everyone, but it does make an impact, and while it is not the only solution to the opioid epidemic it is one strategy to mitigate overdose deaths.
Rebuttals: harm reduction is permissive of drug use and signals acceptance of drug use without the goal of sobriety
Green, Julia (2023). Communicating Online: Communication 211. McGraw Hill Create. pp 283-293
Weiland, N. (2023, February 10). Workers Fighting America’s Overdose Crisis Are ‘Hanging by a Thread.’ The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/us/politics/harm-reduction-overdoses-iowa.html
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