Rogerian Argument

In the Reading Response 8, I understood how is very important to focus on my audience who play one of the main roles of understaing my arguments.

In the introduction of the article "A Psychologist's View: Rogerian Argument" conducted by Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau, the author shows Carl Rogers's concept in which he found out that he is the part of communication. According to the text "A Psychologist's View: Rogerian Argument" conducted by Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau, Carl Rogers "was a psychotherapist, not a teacher of writing" (Batnet, Bedau 340). Rogers had an influence on a lot of professors who teach argument. He wrote his argument essay in the 1950s during the Cold War. This essay opened a new "world" for the writers.

After reading this article, it was pretty hard to understand what does Rogerian Argument mean, because it made me think about controversial topics in a different way. How I understood, a Rogerian argument is a method which requires me as a writer to analyze and share the same ideas and arguments with my audiences. Therefore, the goal is to find these common ideas and use them to further argue. The strategy of Rogerian argument is to illustrate the problem and show why you and your audience are influenced by the problem. Then, declare the position which the writer is holding without saying that his position is greater than the opposing idea. Finally, it is to provide examples where and when writer's position is persuasive and how his position is different from the opposing belief. Also, the most significant point is to state your thesis.

In my opinion, the advantage of using Rogerian argument is that the writer gains the attention of his audiences and limits them from immediately arguing in opposition. The advantage is that I, as a writer, will be more likely to persuade my audiences. As a result, I am definitely going to use a Rogerian argument, because I want to make my audiences to believe in my points stronger as possible.