The Devil's Advocate
A devil's advocate is a person who takes the opposite point of view for the sake of argument. A devil's advocate can quickly become a nuisance by constantly disagreeing with what you say. While you wouldn't want to put up with one for long, having a devil's advocate respond to your draft can often give you new and different insights. The devil should challenge you to do your best to explain and defend your position. If you review this dialogue later, you may find that you have stated your position much better while discussing it than in the draft itself. Then you can cut-and-paste your new phrasing into your revised draft.
Playing the role of devil's advocate can be a lot of fun but it takes some imagination. In general, your goal is to challenge the assertions made by the writer. The writer will then have to elaborate the point, by presenting arguments and evidence to support the stated view. When the writer begins to present a definition, you should propose an alternate definition (possibly a far-fetched one) so that the writer will have to argue why the proposed definition is better than the ones you offer. You may also propose criteria that the writer had not considered before, and which may be quite helpful to the goals of the paper.
One important point to remember: When the writer has done a good job of stating a point, concede the argument and move on to another topic. Arguing a point to a stalemate will not be helpful to the writer.
Below are sample exchanges between a writer and a devil's advocate. Read through the dialogues and look for examples of the following devil's strategies:
- Challenge assertion
- Ask for elaboration or examples
- Restate a writer's claim as a question (i.e., is this what you're saying?)
- Concede to writer
- Move on
- Propose alternate definitions
- State a specific opposing viewpoint
- Ask how the writer's definition matches the definitions in the handouts.
Note that the key to revising based on the Devil's comments is to reconsider your arguments and see where elaboration, examples, or even a new argument is needed. Work on using the devil's counterarguments to clarify your own position:
--If you think the Devil has a good point, so might other readers--so make a concession or qualify your claim.
--If the Devil is confused about your argument, others probably will be confused as well. These are places where you need to add examples or elaborate upon the reasons for your claims.
--Even if you think the Devil is wrong, other readers might have the same reaction. So summarize the Devil's counterargument and then rebut it politely in your essay.
Dialogue 1
Writer: In my paper, I define diversity as a person's background—not the color of their skin.
Devil: What do you mean by background? Isn't the color of someone's skin part of their background?
Writer: By background, I mean where they were raised and what religion they practiced growing up. I think these things are more important in shaping our values than someone's race.
Devil: So by diversity you mean diversity of values? Why are religion and place of birth more important than race? Doesn't a person's race shape their values?
Writer: Race can shape our values, but I think how you were raised is more important. A person who is only around people of the same background as themselves is more likely to be prejudiced no matter what race they are.
Devil: So it sounds like what you're saying is that its exposure to different people and backgrounds that makes someone diverse.
Writer: Yes, that's what I'm saying.
Devil: OK. So why is religion important? Couldn't someone be raised in a completely Christian community, but then move somewhere else and gain exposure to other religions? Isn't that more important than how they were raised?
Writer: I see your point. So, I think my NEW definition should be that knowledge of different religions is important.
Devil: OK, let's move on. Do you think this class is diverse?
Writer: No, because I interviewed 8 people and all of them are Christian or were raised Christian.
Devil: But didn't we just say that exposure to different religions is more important than the religion you were raised as?
Writer: You're right. Maybe I asked the wrong questions. I should have asked what people knew about non-Christian religions……
Dialogue 2
Writer: I define a diverse classroom as one that has a mix of traditional and liberal opinions.
Devil: What do you mean by traditional and liberal? Why is this important?
Writer: Traditional means conservative values and liberal means more modern values. It's important because we should have a range of opinions in a classroom—especially in a class on argument.
Devil: I still don't understand. Could you give an example of traditional and liberal?
Writer: Traditional would be family values, women raise the children and fathers work. Traditional people would think that marriage is important and would probably have pro-life positions. Liberal would be more like a two-career family or a gay couple.
Devil: Those seem like good examples. So, you're saying that a diverse class would have a mix of attitudes and opinions about family?
Writer: Exactly.
Devil: Do you agree with the first article that a diverse class needs a range of opinions?
Writer: I agree with that article that we need to have diverse opinions. But I don't think that we need to have a certain number of people of each race to get diversity of opinions.
Devil: So you're saying that someone's opinion is more important than their race? Isn't race related to someone's opinion though? For instance, African-Americans tend to vote democratic.
Writer: But some African-Americans are very conservative. If we assume that because people are a certain race they have certain opinions, then I think we're being racist.
Devil: OK, I'll concede that opinion is more important than race. So are you agreeing with the second article (Volin) that race is unimportant when defining diversity?
Writer: Not exactly…..
______
To participate in the Devil's Advocate activity, open a web browser and go to the class web site:
Click on "Devil's advocate peer review"
Click on your group number
Click on "Start a new thread" and type a 1-2 sentence description of your definition.
After you have submitted your definition, begin acting as the "devil" for your peers by replying to their postings. Alternate between defending your own argument and challenging those of your peers.