Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 Lecture Notes Chapter 3

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 Overview Argument Identification –recognizing arguments and distinguishing them from other sorts of material Argument Analysis – taking arguments apart, understanding how they are put together and designed to work Argument Evaluation –appraising argument’s strengths and weaknesses Argument design –generating of original arguments

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 Argument What does it mean? –To have an argument—a verbal conflict –To offer an argument—to claim that something is true and to support that claim –a composition whose primary purpose is to persuade a person by appealing to the person’s reasoning capacity –A connected series of statements intended to establish a proposition—Michael Palin

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 An argument is a composition - whose primary purpose is to persuade a person by appealing to the person’s reasoning capacity—consisting of a set of claims, one of which, called the thesis or conclusion, is understood or intended to be supported by the other(s), called the premise(s)

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 Argument Identification Claim—a statement asserted to be true –Some claims are non-argumentative Fact: Baseball is a popular sport in the United States. Explanation: A snake in the grass frightened the horse. Jokes, greetings, narratives, or instructions

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 Conclusion: the claim the premises support Premises: reasons why the conclusion is true Some claims are argumentative –Arguments attempt to establish the truth and offer evidence for it –We can’t rely on international legal institutions to bring international terrorists to justice, The U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights don’t apply to terrorists, they should be tried in secret by United States military tribunals.

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 The weather forecast calls for rain. You should take your umbrella today. Premise Conclusion

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 because the weather forecast calls for rain. You should take your umbrella today Premise Conclusion

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 Some Signal Words Premise signals Since Because For Follows from After all Due to Inasmuch as Conclusion signals So Therefore Thus Consequently It follows that As a result Hence In conclusion

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 Caution: ambiguity Argument You should take your umbrella because the forecast calls for rain. Explanation The streets are wet because it rained last night. Rely on argumentative structure –Not grammatical structure Ask: what is supporting what?

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 Deeper Analysis Arguments are built layer upon layer Conclusion Premise supporting conclusion –Premise supporting premise Ask: what supports what?

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 Hidden Depths Presuppositions: the kind of assumption that must be made in order for what is explicitly said to make sense—often unstated Example –If you were an alien trying to scope out Earthly terrain, the last place you'd go would be to one of the most highly fortified and tightly secured military installations in the United States. –Presupposes that alien reasoning is similar to our own reasoning

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 Hidden Conclusions: the conclusion of the argument is implied rather than stated explicitly –I'm sorry sir, but only those citizens whose names appear on my roster are eligible to vote, and your name does not appear. [Therefore, you are not eligible to vote.] Hidden conclusion

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 3 Hidden Inferential Assumptions: a premise of the argument is implied rather than stated explicitly –“International terrorists are not entitled to the protection of the United States Constitution or Bill of Rights, because these documents pertain only to United States citizens.” –[This depends on the additional inferential assumption that international terrorists are not United States citizens. ] Hidden premise or assumption