Visual Argumentation
• Visual arguments use images to
engage viewers and persuade them to
accept a particular idea or point of
view.
• Advertisements use images to make a
product appealing or to link a product
to a particular lifestyle or identity.
• However, advertisements are only one
type of visual argument.
• In almost every discipline, visual
arguments are used to support claims
and present new research.
Visual arguments contain three
main elements:
• Claims
• Evidence
• Unstated premises/assumptions
• Reading visual arguments involves
analyzing all three of these
elements.
Claims
• Claims are declarative statements that are
either true or false but not both.
• Effective argumentation requires evidence
(supporting material) to support each claim.
• The proposition or thesis is the central claim
of the argument. It is also called the
conclusion as it is the conclusion or main
thrust you want your audience to support.
• In visual arguments, the conclusion is often
implicit.
Evidence/Supporting Material
• Visual arguments use several types of
evidence to support their claims: expert
testimony, examples, empirical facts, and
often, definition and/or statistics.
• In order to persuade, they appeals to beliefs,
needs, core values, attitudes.
• They also use Aristotle’s strategical
“available means of persuasion:” ethos,
logos, and pathos.
Evaluation
• Analyze the visual argument carefully, and ask yourself if the
evidence is both accurate and adequate.
• Visual information can be distorted or manipulated just as
words can.
• Analyze visual evidence to be sure it’s fair, precise, and
credible.
• Similarly, visual evidence should also be relevant and
adequate.
• It should pertain directly to the issue of the topic central to the
proposition/thesis.
• It should avoid sensational or purely emotional effect.
Discovering Assumptions and
Unstated Premises
• Visual arguments are based on assumptions
and unstated premises about why and how
the evidence relates to the claims.
• In visual arguments, the key assumptions
often involve the following:
– Beliefs about the target audience:
•
•
•
•
Who they are
Where they will see or encounter the visual argument
What they already know and believe about the subject
What kinds of information or ideas they will find
persuasive
Don’t accept visual arguments at face
value.
• Visual arguments are powerful tools of persuasion that appear
in a myriad of forms in our media culture.
• To become critically literate and informed, we learn and
practice the skills of reading visual arguments critically.
• Just as we would not accept an opinion as true just because we
found it in print, so too, we should not simply accept visual
arguments.
• Evaluate them by examining their claims, weighing the
evidence offered in support of those claims, and by exploring
the unstated claims (premises), assumptions the arguer makes
about the target audience and their particular belief systems.
Visual Argumentation Fallacies
• Visual fallacies can take the form of
misleading images.
• The power of images can make them
especially difficult to analyze: people
tend to believe what they see.
• Photos and other visuals can be
manipulated to present a false
impression.
– Think of photos that make a politician look
misleadingly bad or good.