In
Joseph Harris’ book “Rewriting”, he describes the concept of countering.
Countering is a way to respond to a piece of writing the reader may or may not
agree with. Countering is kind of similar to forwarding. Forwarding is where
the discussion is lead to a new light. Countering is the discussion that is
taking place. “Countering looks at other views and texts not as wrong but as
partial – in the sense of being both interested and incomplete. In countering
you bring a different set of interest to bear upon a subject, look to notice
what others have not” (Harris 56). When countering an argument, the writer has
to focus on the little details. An argument is found when looking at the piece
of writing line by line, rather than the whole thing. The writer does not have
to disagree with all of it. Harris
discusses three ways of creating a counter argument: arguing the other side,
uncovering values, and dissenting.
Arguing the other side is when an author looks at the details and makes
a solid argument against it. Uncovering values is to “notice what a text leaves
unasked” (Harris 64). By examining details that are not fully explained, a
writer is able to expand their ideas and bring the discussion to a new light.
Dissenting is where the writer shares a few ideas with the author, but also has
some new issues to bring up. (I just did a little bit of dissenting with that
sentence haha).
Here
is an example I found of countering:
The
gun issue has been a very countering argument issue. There are both pros and
cons on the subject. Depending on the article being read, the author may argue
for and against it. But there are a lot of gray areas on the subject. When it
comes to countering, the unbiased view of the subject is usually lost. Knowledge
of a certain side of the argument is usually gained and the issue is altered
for their purpose.
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