HOW CAN I RESPOND TO MY READERS’ PREFERRED CAUSES?
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Choose an alternative cause, and summarize it. Be sure to summarize it accurately and fairly. Do not commit the straw man fallacy of knocking down something that no one really takes seriously.
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Decide whether you can refute the alternative cause or need to concede it. Refute the alternative cause if you can show that it lacks credible support or if the reasoning underlying the cause is flawed. Concede it by pointing out that the cause is obvious and setting it aside or by showing that it plays a less important role than the cause you are championing. Try the following sentence strategies, or use language of your own.
- Just because caused [a similar subject] does not mean that it caused this one. Here’s why: .
- The [scenario/anecdote] others sometimes give to support this cause certainly helps dramatize , but it doesn’t really explain what caused it.
- If did cause , then one would expect to happen, but [it hasn’t/the opposite has happened].
Mistakes correlation for causation.
- Some argue that caused because [occurred/began rising sharply] at the same time that [occurred/started increasing]. But, in fact, [this is merely a coincidence/both were caused by something else altogether].
Mistakes chronology for causation.
- Just because occurred before doesn’t prove that caused . [Opponent] has not provided convincing evidence to show how could have caused .
Set Aside a Well-Known Cause
- An obvious explanation is . But if we dig deeper, we find that .
- Typical explanations include and , but let’s consider a totally different possibility: .
Show That an Alternative Cause Is Minor
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is one of the answers but may not play as central a role as most people think it does.
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may have kept the process going, but was the trigger: Without it, would never have gotten started.
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may have been a factor at the outset, getting the process started, but what keeps it going is .