Grand Rapids Business Daily

When writing an opinion piece that seeks to argue against alternative opinions, what is the best way to write?

Do you first argue against your opponents, thus creating an intellectual vacuum to fill with your proposition solution? Or do you first argue your point positively, and only after that begin to address contrary opinions? I meant "proposed solution". Sorry for the typo!

Public Comments

1. state your opinion. state the contrary opinion. than point out flaws in other opinion and defend your arguement well thats how i do it at least.
2. Thomas Aquinas was quite effective. He made an affirmative case for the alternative positions before shooting them down. Since modern readers are not usually disciplined enough to read St. Thomas, I would not build a strong case for the wrong answers before presenting evidence for the truth. However, I would try to state the alternative fairly, without using heavy connotations to slant the issue. Cheers, Bruce