Seeking Common Cause

Book excerpt: Seeking Common Cause is a reader that defines argument as creating credibility. The authors encourage careful examination of writers' multiple perspectives and various strategies for drawing readers in. These strategies are what help readers see what the writer sees, and share views that they did not expect to share. The book emphasizes a form of argument in which writers synthesize points of view rather than polarize them. The authors aim to teach critical reading through empathy and belief rather than through disbelief and quick dismissal. For that reason, they rely less on legal logic--analysis through claim, evidence, and warrant--than on writing strategies for bringing about mutual consent.