How to write a rebuttal

A rebuttal is a logical operation of establishing the groundlessness, unprovenness or falsity of a previously put forward thesis. To write a refutation correctly, you need to familiarize yourself with the elementary laws of formal logic.

Instruction manual

one

Refute judgment with facts. In order to have factual evidence, you must have documents (for example, for a lawsuit) or, for example, certified results of scientific research, as well as audio, video and photo materials (for any case). Such arguments are the strongest, since they are based on the evidence of the facts being proved, which implies the falsity and groundlessness of the refuted.

2

Establish the inconsistency (or falsity) of the consequences arising from the theses. This technique is called "reduction to the absurd." The starting point in this case will be the recognition of the rebuttable thesis for a while as true. Derive from it consequences that are obviously contrary to the truth, that is, absurd.

3

Criticize the arguments given by the opponent to prove the thesis and prove their failure. But do not forget that the thesis of the opponent may be true, but he does not have good arguments to prove this. So, if a person is innocent of a crime that he is charged with, but does not have serious evidence of his innocence, the trial may be postponed until all the facts have been established.

4

Refute the opponent’s statements if the evidence cited by him in defense of his thesis contradicts logic and leads to an incorrect conclusion about the truth of the judgment. However, the errors identified during the demonstration by the opponent of the evidence do not yet indicate that the thesis put forward by him is false.

5

Refute the thesis of the opponent in one more way. Put forward the antithesis and, using logical evidence, establish that it is he who is true. So, for example, the statement: “All dogs bark” can be refuted by the proposition “Some dogs do not bark” if it is possible to demonstrate at least one dog lacking such ability. In other words, the proof of the antithesis also needs facts (documents, etc.) and their demonstration.