TA: Enthymeme

I do not know what to write about for this entry. We are supposed to write a response or an experiment about what we have discussed in class—to practice a technique. For this English blogging assignment we have to write in our blogs three times a week; one day a rhetorical analysis (RA), one day a free write (FW), and one day a technique assignment (TA). Since I’ve done a free write and a rhetorical analysis already this week, I need to do a technique assignment.
We’ve primarily covered enthymemes in class so far. An enthymeme is a formula for an argument with an implicit assumption. In an enthymeme A leads to B because A leads to C. So with the enthymeme ‘Michelle is unintelligent because she is an art student,’ the consequence of A (being Michelle) leads to B (being unintelligent), because of C (she is an art student). The implicit assumption in this argument is that any art student is going be unintelligent. This example is an example of a weak argument. However, even though it is a bad argument, it is remarkable how many people believe it to be true. Just because somebody’s primary major is art does not mean that he or she is an idiot. There could be plenty of other reasons why Michelle might appear to be stupid.