Bigfoot Presentation Outline

 Introduction

Attention getter

• Is it a man? A bear? Perhaps a gorilla?

• Harry and The Hendersons (1987) William Dear

• Report #26604 (Fairbank County, Alaska) The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization

Thesis

• The witness of my chosen story saturates their story with many details and includes support from other people in a means of trying to persuade others that their experience was a genuine encounter with bigfoot.

• Categories: People, Bears, and Gorillas

Preview

• Fallacies, premises with premise modifiers, Vrooman

and the multiple argument types used. Perelman & Olbrechts-Tyteca

*Connective*

Body

Fallacies

• Overprecision

• More details = more credibility

• Black-or-White

• Bigfoot person with dedication?

• Appeal to misleading authority

• Put power in the hands of a second-hand, unwitnessed experience

• Wishful thinking

• Persists despite resistance from others

*Connective*

Premises with Premise Modifiers

• Loci (Quality)

• Their own unique experience is better than any other possibilities 

• Values (Specific)

• Good enough to them, should be good enough for you

• Presence (Space)

• Described in a way in which helps readers envision proximity

*Connective*

Argument Types

Quasi-logical arguments

• Transivity

• If I saw bigfoot, other people in the area must have seen bigfoot as well. Other people saw bigfoot, therefore bigfoot is real.

Based on the structure of reality

• Succession (Decisive)

• Promote story until desired conclusion is met

Establishing the Structure of Reality

• Example (Single)

• Their one experience is an example that they feel validates that bigfoot could be real.

• Illustration (Presence)

• Details encourage people to uses their imaginations to envision moment

*Connective*

Conclusion

• Restate thesis