Disagreement ranges from name-calling at the bottom through contradiction and counter-argument to refuting the central point, and most public argument sits near the bottom.
Graham's seven levels run from name-calling, through ad hominem, tone criticism, contradiction, counter-argument and refutation, to refuting the central point. The value is diagnostic: the ranking is easy to apply to a real exchange and usually reveals that a long dispute never rose above the fourth level, which is where contradiction sits.
In practice
- A twenty-message thread in which nobody quoted the other's actual claim has been conducted at level four.
- A rebuttal that answers the weakest supporting example has not refuted the central point, whatever its length.
- Standing
- A prescriptive ranking rather than a finding. Compare the Argument Clinic distinction, which makes the same separation between contradiction and argument.
- Subject
- Communication & Media
- Essay
- Rules for speaking, writing and disagreeing