Argumentation Sketch Quotes

“But why an argumentation sketch? The reasons are to save time or simply to be realistic (a rigorous proof in an axiomatic system can be impossibly long), to show off, from an 'aristocratic pride' that despises the plain and the common, and so on. But there is also a philosophically relevant reason for it: every complicated problem may demand countless steps of argumentation if we want truly rigorous argumentation, but the readers may be distracted by and lost in all the trivial arguments. An argument sketch, then, may be advantageous in that it offers readers the big picture with important signposts, and a qualified reader can fill in the missing steps. This incisiveness, and the ability to see and show the big picture, I believe, is what makes the great thinkers - whether great philosophers or great scientists - great.”
― Tongdong Bai, Against Political Equality: The Confucian Case