NORM
The word norm has two main meanings.
1.The average
Satisticians define the norm as the average. Something is « normal » when it is the most frequent.
In France, the average age of first sexual intercourse is 16.8 years. Twenty-seven percent of young people are sexually active before 16. On average, the French have 16.7 partners in their lifetime. Only 10% will be satisfied with the same partner for life. On average, our [French] contemporaries perform 121 somersaults per year. [1
2. The norm as imperative
The stastitical norm refers to what is, whereas the norm as imperative refers to what should be. The latter corresponds to an injunction, which is expressed by a rule belonging to the particular institution or domain concerned, for example:
Moral and legal domains: Thou shalt not kill.
Ordinary civility: Thou shalt respond when spoken to.
Proper use of language: You shall not say « I is« , you shall say I am
Rational behavior: Do not make ambiguous statements. Your tongue shall not be forked.
Road driving: You must remain in control of your vehicle.
3. Norms in argumentation
The different theories of argumentation have very different relationships with norms. Only some express them as rules.
– Generalized theories of argumentation, such as the theory of argumentation in language or natural logic, have no relation to moral, truthful or rational norms
When the theory of argumentation in language speaks of norms, it refers to linguistic norms, which are expressed in terms of the acceptability or nonacceptability of statements and sequences of statements. The considered rules are linguistic rules. See scale; orientation.
– Argumentative rhetoric defines rhetoric as both a form and a content. As a form, it is the « art of speaking well »; as a content, it is the « art of saying what is morally gooda form, the “art of speaking well”, and as content, the “art of saying what is morally good”.
Speech does not have an autonomous standard. Its norms are externalized as a moral of discourse, combined with an art of speaking that applies the rules of good taste,
These are both diffuse norms, adaptable to the tastes of the time, and difficult to transpose into a set of rules.
– The New Rhetoric takes the quality of the audience that accepts the argument as a norm, S. to persuade, to convince
This norm is not provided by a system of rules but by an ideal instance, the universal audience.
— Classical logic. As a natural form of argumentation, classical logic uses as a norm the laws of thought, first of all the principle of non-contradiction. The syllogism is evaluated through a system or rules, see syllogistic paralogisms.
— Classical Logic. As a natural form of argumentation, classical logic uses the laws of thought as a norm, primarily the principle of non-contradiction A syllogism is evaluated through a system of rules; see « syllogistic paralogisms. »
— Pragma-dialectics proposes a system of normative rules. See rules; evaluations and evaluators.
— Informal logic uses the method of counter-discourse to test the resistance to refutation of a given argumentation. The norm of a discourse is the discourse of its opponent.
[1] http://www.uniondesfamilles.org/sexualite_ en_chiffres.htm (20-09- 2013)