what to do when your best effort to fill the gap is thin and unconvincing—the simplest solution would appear to be to go back to the person proposing the position that you are critically commenting about (or someone else who shares his views on the subject), and simply asking.
So, you go back to the person you’re going to argue against, before you start the argument, and ask them about the big gap in their original position? That seems like it could carry the risk of kicking off the argument a little early.
“Pardon me, sir, but I don’t quite understand how you went from Step A to Step C. Do you think you could possibly explain it in a little more detail?”
Accompanied, of course, by a very polite “Thank you” if they make the attempt to do so. Unless someone is going to vehemently lash out at any attempt to politely discuss his position, he’s likely to either at least make an attempt (whether by providing a new explanation or directing you to the location of a pre-written one), or to plead lack of time (in which case you’re no worse off than before).
Most of the time, he’ll have some sort of explanation, that he considered inappropriate to include in the original statement (either because it is “obvious”, or because the explanation is rather long and distracting and is beyond the scope of the original essay). Mind you, his explanation might be even more thin and unconvincing than the best you could come up with...
So, you go back to the person you’re going to argue against, before you start the argument, and ask them about the big gap in their original position? That seems like it could carry the risk of kicking off the argument a little early.
“Pardon me, sir, but I don’t quite understand how you went from Step A to Step C. Do you think you could possibly explain it in a little more detail?”
Accompanied, of course, by a very polite “Thank you” if they make the attempt to do so. Unless someone is going to vehemently lash out at any attempt to politely discuss his position, he’s likely to either at least make an attempt (whether by providing a new explanation or directing you to the location of a pre-written one), or to plead lack of time (in which case you’re no worse off than before).
Most of the time, he’ll have some sort of explanation, that he considered inappropriate to include in the original statement (either because it is “obvious”, or because the explanation is rather long and distracting and is beyond the scope of the original essay). Mind you, his explanation might be even more thin and unconvincing than the best you could come up with...
I think the idea was, ‘when you’ve gotten to this point, that’s when your pre-discussion period is over, and it is time to begin asking questions’.
And yes, it is often a good idea to ask questions before taking a position!