CRITICAL THINKING

Course code: PE008IU (3 credits)

Instructor: TRAN THANH TU
Email: [email protected]

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 CHAPTER 2

Recognizing Arguments

Argument: some kind of quarrel or

shouting match???

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 Fact: Can be proved or disproved

 Tell who, what, when, where, or how much.

 Have a verifiable truth value.

 Can be quantified and is specific.

 Are supported by evidence.

"A fact is a thing that is

occurred, to exist, or to be true."
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 Opinion: Personal Belief

 Tend to be An opinion is a view about

vague. a particular issue.
 Are personal It is what the person
beliefs or value believes or thinks, and is
judgments. not necessarily the truth.
Fact Opinion
Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam. Hanoi is the best city in the world.

IU is an university in Vietnam. I love studying at IU.

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 What is an argument?

A Claim Defended with Reasons.

Argument - A form of thinking in which certain
statements (reasons) are offered in support of
another statement (one conclusion).
Arguments are composed of one or more premises
and one conclusion.
 Premises are statements offered as reasons for
accepting another statement.
 A conclusion is a statement supported by reasons.

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 Argument- Example

 Lawyers earn a lot of money. (Premise)

 I want to earn a lot of money. (Premise)
 I should become a Lawyer. (Conclusion)

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 Identifying Statements

 A statement is a sentence that can be

viewed as either true or false.

 Put otherwise, a statement is a sentence

that makes good grammatical sense when it
is prefaced with the words "It is true that…"
or "It is false that…“.
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 Identifying Statements
Here are some examples of statements:
Paris is the capital of France.
The South won the American Civil War.
Ford makes better trucks than Chevy.
Same-sex marriage should be legalized.
I wish Ashley would call.
I'm shocked!
Each of these sentences is a statement, because each
makes an assertion that is either true or false.
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 Identifying Statements

Not all sentences are statements:

How was your summer? (question)
Pick up your room! (command)
Hi! (greeting)
Let's go to the ball game tonight. (proposal)

None of these are statements, because none can

sensibly be preceded by the phrases "It is true that…"
or "It is false that…"
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 Identifying Statements

A statement can be expressed by a phrase or a dependent

clause rather than as a complete sentence.
Example: Considering Ian's near-perfect SAT scores, he
should be able to get into an Ivy League college.

For critical thinking purposes, therefore, it's important to

recognize that there are two statements in this passage,
rather than one.
"Ian made nearly perfect SAT scores."
"Ian should be able to get into an Ivy League college."
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 Identifying Statements
Rhetorical questions should be regarded as statements.
Rhetorical questions are sentences that have the grammatical form of
questions but are meant to be understood as assertions.
Example:
Alyssa, you should quit smoking. Don’t you realize
how bad that is for your health?
The point of such "questions" is not to ask for information, but to
make a positive assertion that the speaker or writer expects at least
some of his readers or listeners to agree with. For that reason,
rhetorical questions should be treated as statements rather than as
questions.
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 Identifying Statements
Ought imperatives should be regarded as statements.
Ought imperatives are sentences that have the grammatical
form of imperatives (i.e., commands, orders, suggestions,
proposals, exhortations) but are intended to be understood as
“ought statements,” i.e., statements that express a
judgment/advice about what ought to be done (what is
good or bad or right or wrong).
Example:
Do not read beauty magazine. They will only make you feel ugly.
“You shouldn’t read beauty magazine.” advice or value judgments
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 Identifying Premises and Conclusions

TIPS
 Look for premise indicators that provide clues when
premises are being offered.
Examples: because, since, for, given that, as, judging
from, and seeing that.

 Look for conclusion indicators that provide clues when

conclusions are being offered.
Examples: therefore, thus, hence, so, as a result,
accordingly, consequently, and which shows that.
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 Identifying Premises and Conclusions

TIPS
 If the passage contains no indicator words, try these two
strategies:
 Ask yourself, "What claim is the writer or speaker trying
to prove?" That claim will be the conclusion.

 Try putting the word "therefore" before each of the

statements in turn. The statement it fits best will be the
conclusion.
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 Identifying Premises and Conclusions

 1. No one under eighteen-years-old can vote.

 2. Jen is under eighteen-years-old.
 3. Therefore, Jen cannot vote.

Arguments = one or more premises + a conclusion.

• Premises are statements offered as reasons for

accepting another statement.
• A conclusion is a statement supported by
reasons.
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 Example

Make a will. Otherwise, the state will determine

who gets your stuff.

(Andrew Tobias, "Isn't It Time You Faced the

Future?" 2001)

Identify the premise(s) and conclusion in this

argument.
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 Example: Make a will. Otherwise, the state
will determine who gets your stuff.
Premise: If you don't make a will, the state will determine
who gets your stuff.
Conclusion: You ought to make a will.
The word otherwise often functions--as it does here--as
premise indicator.

Notice that both the premise and the conclusion have been
rephrased slightly.
 The premise has been rephrased in order to make it a
complete sentence.
 The conclusion has been restated in order to make clear
that it is intended as a statement rather than as a
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A good society treasures its dissidents and
mavericks because it needs the creative
thinking that produces new hypotheses,
expanded means, a larger set of alternatives,
and, in general, the vigorous conversation
induced by fresh ideas.
(Nel Noddings, Philosophy of Education, 1995)

Identify the premise(s) and conclusion

in this argument.

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A good society treasures its dissidents and
mavericks because it needs the creative thinking
that produces new hypotheses, expanded means,
a larger set of alternatives, and, in general, the
vigorous conversation induced by fresh ideas.
Premise: A good society needs the creative thinking
that that produces new hypotheses, expanded
means, a larger set of alternatives, and, in general,
the vigorous conversation induced by fresh ideas.
Conclusion: A good society treasures its dissidents
and mavericks.
Notice the word because in this passage. This tips
us off that a premise is being offered. [email protected]
Since in American schools every child is unique
and of equal worth with every other child,
academic competition, which subverts this
egalitarian and individualist creed, must be
discouraged.

(Stated but not endorsed in E.D. Hirsch, Jr., The

Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have
Them, 1996)

Identify the premise(s) and conclusion in

this argument.

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Since in American schools every child is unique and of
equal worth with every other child, academic competition,
which subverts this egalitarian and individualist creed,
must be discouraged. (Stated but not endorsed in E.D.
Hirsch, Jr., The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have
Them, 1996)
Premise 1: In American schools every child is unique and
of equal worth with every other child.

Premise 2: Academic competition subverts this egalitarian

and individualist creed.

Conclusion: Academic competition must be discouraged.

Here the premise indicator since helps us to identify the

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Research universities also must aggressively
support teaching. After all, a significant
percentage of their students are undergraduates,
and such institutions are clearly obligated to
provide them a quality education.

(Ernest L. Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered,

1990)

Identify the premise(s) and conclusion of

this argument.

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The Jews and Arabs have been fighting for
centuries and I seriously doubt this will ever be
resolved. The United States should get out of
this never-ending fight, or the next terrorist
bomb might be in Washington--and it just might
be nuclear.

(John G. Ferguson III, Letter to the Editor, USA

Today, February 12, 2001)

Identify the premise(s) and conclusion in

this argument.
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No one who observes people can pretend that in
fact they always seek anything like their own long-
run advantage. If this were the case only stupidity
could explain how frequently and obviously they
act contrary to their own long-run advantage.
People are not that stupid!

(Charles Hartshorne and Creighton Peden,

Whitehead's View of Reality, 1981)

Identify the premise(s) and conclusion in

this argument.
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 What Is an Argument?

An argument is a claim defended with reasons.

 More precisely, a passage is an argument if and
only if:

 It is a group of two or more statements.

 One of those statements (the conclusion) is claimed

or intended to be supported by the other(s) (the
premises).

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 What Is an Argument?
 Notice three important things that follow from this definition:
 Arguments consist entirely of statements (sentences that it
makes sense to regard as either true or false). Questions,
commands, and other kinds of non-statements cannot be
parts of arguments (Keep in mind, however, that rhetorical
questions should be treated as statements.).

 No single statement is an argument. Arguments always

consist of at least two statements.

 Nothing counts as an argument unless it is claimed or

intended that one statement follows from one or more other
statements in the passage. In other words, a passage is an
argument only if the speaker or writer intends to offer
evidence or reasons why another statement should be
accepted as true.
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 What Is Not an Argument?
 Five kinds of passages that are sometimes confused
with arguments are:
Reports A statement or group of statements intended simply to
convey information about a subject.
Unsupported Is a statement or set of statements in which the speaker
statements of belief or writer expresses his or her personal opinion, but
or opinions offers no reasons or evidence to back up that opinion.
Illustrations Is a passage intended to provide examples that illustrate
or support a claim, not to provide convincing
evidence that the claim is true.
Conditional Is an if-then statement. It is an assertion that such-and-
Statements such is true if something else is true.
Explanations Is a statement or set of statements that seeks to provide
an account of why something has occurred or why
something is the case.

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 Report

 A statement or group of statements intended

simply to convey information about a subject.
 The authors are simply reporting a series of
events, not to offer reasons “why one
statement should be accepted on the basic of
others”.
 Reports about arguments.

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 Unsupported Assertions

 Is a statement or set of statements in which

the speaker or writer expresses his or her
personal opinion, but offers no reasons or
evidence to back up that opinion.
 EX: I believe that it is not ….

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 Conditional Statements

 If ………. then ……..

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 Illustrations

 Is a passage intended to provide examples that

illustrate or support a claim, not to provide
convincing evidence that the claim is true.

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 What Is Not an Argument?
 Five kinds of passages that are sometimes confused
with arguments are:
Reports A statement or group of statements intended simply to
convey information about a subject.
Unsupported Is a statement or set of statements in which the speaker
statements of belief or writer expresses his or her personal opinion, but
or opinions offers no reasons or evidence to back up that opinion.
Illustrations Is a passage intended to provide examples that illustrate
or support a claim, not to provide convincing
evidence that the claim is true.
Conditional Is an if-then statement. It is an assertion that such-and-
Statements such is true if something else is true.
Explanations Is a statement or set of statements that seeks to provide
an account of why something has occurred or why
something is the case.

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 Explanations

 Is a statement or set of statements that seeks

to provide an account of why something has
occurred or why something is the case.

 The common-knowledge test:

 The past-event test
 The author’s intent test
 The principle of charity test

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 Explanations

The common-knowledge test: is the statement that

the passage seeks to prove or explain a matter of
common knowledge. If it is, the passage is
probably an explanation rather than an argument.
(There’s usually little point in trying to prove
something that is already a well-known fact.)

EX: The North won the American Civil War because

it had a larger population and a greater industrial
base
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 Explanations

 The past-event test: is the statement that the

passage is seeking to prove or explain an event
that occurred in the past.

 If so, the passage is probably an explanation

rather than an argument because it is much
more common and try to explain why past
events have occurred than to prove that they
occurred.
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 Explanations

 The author’s intent test: is it the speaker’s or

writer’s intent to prove or establish that
something is the case – that is, to provide
reasons or evidence for accepting a claim as
true? Or is it his intent to explain why something
is the case – that is, to offer an account of why
some event has occurred or why something is
the way it is?

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 Explanations

 The principle of charity test: requires that we

interpret unclear passages generously and, in
particular, that we never interpret a passage as
a bad argument when the evidence reasonably
permits us to interpret it as not an argument as
all.

 Interpret = understand

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 Summary
1. Distinguishing Fact = Can be proved or disproved
Fact & Opinion Opinion = Personal Belief
2. What is an An argument is a claim defended with reasons.
Argument?
3. Identifying Look for premise indicators that provide clues when
Premises premises are being offered (e.g. because, since, for).
& Conclusions Look for conclusion indicators that provide clues when
conclusions are being offered (e.g. therefore, thus, hence,
so).
If the passage contains no indicator words, try these two
strategies: 1) Ask yourself, "What claim is the writer or
speaker trying to prove?" That claim will be the conclusion.
2)Try putting the word "therefore" before each of the
statements in turn. The statement it fits best will be the
conclusion.
4. What Is Not Five kinds of passages that are sometimes confused with
an Argument? arguments are: Reports, Unsupported statements of belief or
opinions, Illustrations, Conditional Statements, and
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Explanations
1. Begin each day with a prayer. 2. Work hard. 3. Love your family. 4.
Make light of your troubles. 5. Follow the Golden Rule. 6. Read from
the Bible. 7. Show kindness. 8. Read worthwhile books. 9. Be clean
and pure. 10. Have charity in your heart. 11. Be obedient and
respectful. 12. End the day in prayer. These twelve rules, the "Quaker
Dozen," were written long ago in a family Bible. But I believe they still
fit today's problems.
(Adapted from Olive Ireland Theen, "Grandfather's Quaker Dozen," in
William Nichol, ed., A New Treasury of Words to Live By, 1959)

This passage is an unsupported statement of belief

or opinion.
An unsupported statement of belief or opinion is a
statement or set of statements in which the speaker or
writer expresses his or her personal opinion, but offers
no reasons or evidence to back up that opinion.
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If Hal comes to the party then Sarah will come to the party.

This passage is a conditional statement.

A conditional statement is an if-then statement. It is an assertion

that such-and-such is true if something else is true.

Conditional statements are not arguments because arguments

always contain at least two statements and conditional
statements consist of only a single statement: " Statement A is
true on the condition that statement B is true."

In the passage above, the speaker or writer isn't asserting that

Hal will come to the party. Nor is she asserting that Sarah will
come to the party. Rather, she is asserting that Sarah will come
to the party provided that Hal comes to the party. This is a single
statement, and thus is not an argument.
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 I speak English because my parents sent me to boarding

school in London.

This passage is an explanation.

An explanation is a statement or set of statements that seeks to

provide an account of why something has occurred or why
something is the case.

In this passage, the speaker or writer isn't trying to prove that he

can speak English (that's obvious from the fact that he is speaking
English!). Rather, he is trying to explain why he speaks English.

In other words, arguments seek to provide evidence or reasons

that something is the case; explanations seek to explain why
something is the case.
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For the person who called and said Larry Bird was better
than Michael Jordan, wake up. No one was ever better than
Michael Jordan, not even Kareem in his glory and not even

Dr. J (From a newspaper call-in column)

Is this passage an argument or not an argument?

If it is not an argument, is it a report, an unsupported

statement of belief or opinion, an illustration, a conditional
statement, or an explanation?
Non-argument (unsupported statement of belief or opinion).

In this passage, the speaker simply asserts his

opinion; he makes no effort to defend it.
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When a democratic society is correctly understood to be
one in which the people live under constitutional
government with universal suffrage and with the securing
of human rights, economic as well as political, for all
citizens, it must then be recognized that a democratic
society is not yet fifty years old in this country

(Mortimer J. Adler, The Paideia Proposal, 1984)

Is this passage an argument or not an argument?

Argument.
If it is not an argument, is it a report, an unsupported
statement of belief or opinion, an illustration, a conditional
The writerorisangiving
statement, a reason to support his claim
explanation?
that democracy is less than fifty years old in the United
States.
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If a claim or position is being set forth and no other
explicit or implicit statement is used to support it, then the
spoken or written material in question is not an argument

(T. Edward Damer, Attacking Faulty Reasoning, 4th ed.,

2001)

Is this passage an argument or not an argument?

If it is Non-argument
not an argument, (conditional
is it a report, anstatement).
unsupported
statement of belief or opinion, an illustration, a conditional
statement, or an explanation?
The writer is simply making an if-then statement, not
giving reasons why some other statement should be
believed.

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Women my age know whom to blame for our own self-
loathing, eating disorders and distorted body image:
Barbie. So we're raising our vulnerable, body-conscious
girls to beware the perpetually pointy-toed goddess with
the impossible body and perfect face

(Amy Dickinson, "Measuring Up," Time, November 20,

2000)Is this passage an argument or not an argument?

Non-argument (explanation).
If it is not an argument, is it a report, an unsupported
statement of belief or opinion, an illustration, a conditional
The writer isn't seeking to prove that women her age are raising
statement, or an explanation?
their vulnerable, body-conscious daughters to beware of Barbie;
rather, she's offering an explanation why they are doing so.

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Although you usually cannot eliminate the personal
feelings that are influencing your perceptions, you can
become aware of them and try to compensate for their bias.
For instance, if you are asked to evaluate a group of
people, one of whom is a good friend, you should try to
keep these personal feelings in mind in order to make your
evaluation as accurate as possible
(John Chaffee, The Thinker's Way, 1998)

Is this passage an argument or not an argument?

Non-argument (illustration).
If it is not an argument, is it a report, an unsupported
statement
In of belief
this passage, theor opinion,
words "for an illustration,
instance" a conditional
signal us that the
statement,
author or antoexplanation?
is trying illustrate a claim, not to prove it.

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 Homeworks:

Exercise 2.2 II (pages 37-39)

Exercise 2.4 II (pages 49-51)

Submission due date:

One day before the next class
Use submission form uploaded on
Blackboard
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