The Counter Claim

The Counter Claim: The counter claim is the acknowledgment of another side of the argument, which every well done argument must address. To acknowledge another side of an argument allows you to further your own point-of-view by refuting (proving wrong) the counter claim with your own, rephrased argument. Let's look at "Slip or Trip?" again:

• There are those who will say that not letting go of a glass is not evidence enough to doubt Queenie's claim that Arthur fell to his death; after all, he was intoxicated. It could be that he was simply too drunk to react to falling in the expected manner of a sober person and somehow, in his fall, held onto the glass. While it is true that gross motor reflexes are slower when an individual is drunk, self-preservation is a deeply instinctive behavior that would not be guaranteed to be over-ridden by intoxication. Simply put, Arthur was not rendered unconscious by his drinking, which instance would be the only one in which reactive behaviors would absolutely not occur. Therefore, Arthur may have been slow to react, but, slow or not, he still would have automatically used his hands to thwart his fall, which would cause him to let go of the glass. The evidence shows, unquestioningly, that the glass in Arthur's hand has been staged, which staging shows Queenie is lying about certain aspects of Arthur's death.

• Light Blue = counter claim
• Purple = refute
• Red = commentary

NOTE: When you write your refute, keep in mind that you are rephrasing the entirety of your argument. In the example I give you, only one aspect of the argument is rephrased because I only gave you one body paragraph as an example.