--- title: How to argue: reasons and evidence — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «How to argue: reasons and evidence», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Arguing well is not shouting; it is giving reasons: "I think X because Y". --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/) / How to argue: reasons and evidence # How to argue: reasons and evidence Lesson 39 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 18 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/0/) — Arguing well is not shouting; it is giving reasons: "I think X because Y". - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/1/) — A claim is what you think, a reason is why, and evidence (facts, examples, experiences) backs up the reason. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/2/) — Some reasons are weak, like "everyone does it" or "because I want to"; reasons about harm, fairness and rights count for more in ethics. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/5/) — For a child today this helps at home, in the playground and at Sunday school: when you explain why, people can understand you, and Peter wrote that Christians should be ready to give a reason for their hope, with gentleness and respect. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/6/) — Giving a reason means saying why you think something, not only what you think. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/7/) — A claim is what you think, a reason is why you think it, and evidence or an example backs up the reason. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/8/) — Strong arguments have a claim, a reason and evidence. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/9/) — Evidence is facts, examples or experiences that support a reason; it should be true and fair. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/10/) — "Everyone does it" and "because I want to" are weak reasons. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/11/) — A reason that only repeats the claim, like "it is gross because it is gross", gives no real reason at all. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/12/) — Reasons about harm, fairness and rights are stronger reasons in ethics. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/13/) — A clarifying question asks what a word or idea means before arguing about it. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/14/) — Many arguments disappear once the words are made clear. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/15/) — A principle is a general rule used in reasoning, such as "do not harm the innocent". - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/16/) — Consistency means treating similar cases in similar ways. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/17/) — Changing one detail of a case can show what really matters to your answer. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/18/) — Saying "it depends" well means naming the key things it depends on. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/39-how-to-argue-reasons-and-evidence/19/) — The Bible (1 Peter 3:15) asks Christians to be ready to give a reason for their hope, with gentleness and respect. - ← previous: [The Golden Rule in many traditions](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/38-the-golden-rule-in-many-traditions/) - next →: [How to argue: counter-arguments and respect](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/40-how-to-argue-counter-arguments-and-respect/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)