1. What is an Argument?

2. Review Critical Thinking involves Reasoning
All reasoning has reasons and a conclusion
Reasoning does not involve rhetoric, advertising techniques, etc.
We reason to support different kinds of beliefs
Moral, political
Mathematical
Scientific
Practical

3. From Ordinary Language to Argument Form1
Empirical, Normative and Conceptual

4. Ordinary Language and Argument Form
Three years after its handover from Britain to China, Hong Kong is unlearning English. The city's "ghost men" must go to ever greater lengths to catch the oldest taxi driver available to maximize their chances of comprehension. Hotel managers are complaining that they can no longer find enough English- speakers to act as receptionists. Departing tourists, polled at the airport, voice growing frustration at not being understood. The Economist 2001.
Argument Form
……….
………..
1-3 must be claims/ statements
1, 2 are support / reasons / evidence for 3
Premises
Conclusion

5. From Ordinary Language to Argument Form
Remove Non-Claims
Identify Indicator Words
Add Implicit Premises
Ordinary
Language
Argument Form

6. Claims and Non-Claims Claims are true/false; Non-Claims are not
can add “It is true/false that …” to claims
cannot add to non-claims
Exclamations: Raptors win, yay!! Hi! Yes!
Commands: Go to the Raptor game.
Requests: Could you send me Raptor tickets?
Declarations: I pronounce you husband and wife
Questions: Will the Raptors win the game?

7. Loaded / Rhetorical Questions Commands with a reason
Exceptions
Loaded / Rhetorical Questions
"Do you still refuse to help around the house?”
can be made not to solicit information but as a statement
“You still refuse to help around the house.”
Commands with a reason
Don’t go down that road. It’s not safe.
Hand in the report by the deadline! You won’t be here next year otherwise. => “You ought to hand in the report by the deadline”

8. Not Arguments Statements given without reasons
Opinion: I believe that the earth is flat.
Descriptions: I felt cold on Monday outside.
Reports: World War II lasted 5 years.
Conditionals: if we run 3 miles a day, we will be fit.

9. Explanations are Not Arguments
Argument that the dog has fleas
Reason: he keeps itching himself
Explanation: what caused the fleas
Cause: spends too much time near garbage
Argument that violent crime has increased
Explanation what caused violent crime to increase

10. Identify Premises and Conclusion by Indicator Words
Since …. (premise), …. (conclusion)
Because … (premise), …. (conclusion)
… (premise), so … (conclusion)
Therefore, … (conclusion)
It follows that … (conclusion)

11. Implicit Premises and Enthymemes
Arguments that leave essential claims (premises or conclusions) unstated are called enthymemes
When stating arguments, we want to state explicitly all unstated essential claims
Example
Tall women earn a lot of money. I guess Chris earns a lot of money.
Tall women earn a lot of money.
Chris is a woman
So, Chris earns a lot of money

12. Argument Form and Enthymemes
Inclass Assignment
Argument Form and Enthymemes

13. Empirical, Normative and Conceptual
Kinds of CLaims 2
Empirical, Normative and Conceptual

14. Empirical Statements Empirical Statements Examples
purport to describe the world: what the world is the case, what was the case, what will be the case;
Can be verified by sense experience
Could be true or false (they are not necessarily true)
Examples
It is raining right now.
Toronto real estate prices will continue to rise.
Dinosaurs once populated the earth.
Vancouver is the capital of Canada.

15. Normative Statements Express what ought to be, should be
Express what is good/bad; right/wrong; blameworthy/praiseworthy
Do not describe the world
Not verifiable by sense-experience
Example
You should pay your parking ticket
Murder is a blameworthy action

16. Normative Statement Cannot be Justified Empirically
Cannot be supported by empirical statements
Can only be supported/justified by principles, rules
People eat meat all the time
So, we should eat meat
People eat meat all the time
So, we should not eat meat
Killing any animal that has feelings is wrong
So, eating meat is wrong

17. Conceptual Claims True in virtue of meaning only
They are necessarily true (cannot be false)
Do not have to be empirically verified
knowable without empirical experience/verification
Examples
All bachelors are male.
Bachelors are unmarried males.
No object is red and green all over.
People who run move their bodies.
The sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 °

18. Mixed
The book also includes a mixed category i.e. statements that can be interpreted different (as normative and conceptual, or empirical and normative) depending on what its words mean.
“God exists”
If “God” means a white, bearded man, then it is empirical
If “God” means the infinite, then it is conceptual
Note: If it is clear that “God exists” has (1) meaning that “God exists.” is not MIXED – it is empirical
We will try to avoid this category by working with statements that have a relatively clear meaning from context