Critical Thinking

By Ms Cheryl

Withaneachi

What is a Good
Argument?

By Ms Cheryl

Withaneachi

Learning
Content

Learnin
g
Objectiv
(L3.0
e
)

By Ms Cheryl Withaneachi

Important
Definitions
Keywords
0 Conclusion

0 Plausible

Claims
0 Begging the
Question
0 Valid argument
0 Invalid
argument
0 Strong
arguments

that
follows
from
premises

By Ms Cheryl Withaneachi

th
e

Goo Reason Believ

d
to
e
0Wha makes an

argument
good?

By Ms Cheryl Withaneachi

Good
arguments?
0 Is it that it should convince

0 What
if the person you convincin is
someone?

are
sleep in aba moo etc g
0 Who? Me, you?
y,
d d
?

What is a Good
Argument?
the conclusion
is
0to
The premise
gives a good
believe true.
reason

0Wha is goo reaso though

Thing toRemembe
s
r!

Things to remember
If we believe the premise, then
there is a good reason for us to believe the
conclusion right? So if we cant find a
reason to believe the premise then we wont
have a good reason to believe the conclusion.
False premise, false
conclusion
All books are written by
woman[P1]
So the author of this book is
a woman
[C].true
0 False
premise,
conclusion
Example:
All books are written by
women [P2].
So the author of this book is a
human being.[C]

Things to remember
False premise, false
conclusion
All books are written by
woman[P1]
So the author of this book is
a woman [C].
False premise, true conclusion
All books are written by
women [P2].
So the author of this book is a
human being.[C]

Lets Try This Ourselves:

False premise, false
conclusion
[P1]
.
[C].
False premise, true conclusion
. [P2].
.
[C]

Plausible
Claim
0 A claim is plausible[probable/possible]
we if

good reason to believe it is true.

have

It is less plausible, the less reason we have to

believe
it
is
true.
It is implausible or dubious if we have no
reason to
believe
it its
true.

Plausible
Claim
0 A claim is plausible[probable/possible] if
good reason to believe it is true.

we
have

Lets Test this theory

A claim is plausible/possible if we have a good
reason to believe its true;
All good people go to heaven [P1]
So my brother will go to heaven[C]
Lets Analyze
If you have a good reason to believe the
concept of heaven and hell, and that good
people go to heaven, it is likely the conclusion
is true right?

Plausible
Claim
It is less plausible, the less reason we have to

believe
it
is
Lets Test this theory
true.
A claim is less plausible/not possible if we have
a less reason to believe its true;
All aliens are intelligent beings that live in
Mars[P1]
So all intelligent beings are in Mars[C]
Lets Analyze
If you have less reason to believe the fact that
aliens exists and that there are intelligent
beings, is it likely that the conclusion is true
or false??

Plausible
Claim
It is implausible or dubious if we have no
reason to
believe it its
Lets Test this theory
true.
A claim is implausible/not possible at all if we
have a no reason to believe its true;
All happy feet penguins fly everyday. [P1]
So all happy feet penguins can fly[C]
Lets Analyze
If you have NO reason to believe the fact that
happy penguins fly everyday, would the
conclusion be true or false??

But is plausible
enough?

0 Sometimes it is not, we will explore this in Is

further
That True?
0 Even
if you agree the
premise
is tha th
(possible/probabl
it les
plausibl
plausible
e),
s s e
n
e
conclusion.

Begging the
0 AnQuestion
argument begs the question of premise

one of its
is ba
no more
plausible than the
0 Thisis
(forany
conclusion.
d
argument).

Begging the
Is when Question
the person arguing believes in truth of the

conclusion or presents is as one of the premises.

But this is not sufficient because the premise
should provide truth of the conclusion, not state
the conclusion.

We should believe god exists because of the bible

says he exists. And we should believe what the
bible says because it is the word of god.
Analysis:
1. Supports each conclusion using another
conclusion.
2. Does not mean the ideas are not true but there
is no independent evidence for the statement
By Ms Cherylgiven.
Withaneachi
3. It goes in circles, not really giving a solid reason.

Begging the
Question

Why is abortion wrong? Because all murder is

wrong.
Analyze!

By Ms Cheryl Withaneachi

Conclusion Follows
from
Premise

th
e

Does this have plausible premises?

Dr.E teaches critical
thinking.
So Dr. E is bald
Analysis:
The conclusion does
not follow the
th
premises.
e
The premises do not
lead to, support or

0Wha is th bes

ebetwee
t
t
connectio
n premise
nan
sconclusio
d
n?

Remembe
r!

0 If there is no possibility that

premise
both
the and the conclusion
could
be true
if the
false,
then
premise
are true,
the conclusion has to be
true too;
0 Every student at this school has paid

tuition.
0 Suzy is a student at this school.
0 So Suzy has paid tuition.

Premises
0 So if we have a good reason

to believe that every student

at this school has paid
andtuition
also that
Suzy is
reaso tobelievtuition,
sh ha pai
it couldn
b
n
e
s d at- this school,
t
e
ae student
then
wise.
other
we have a good

What is a Valid
0 An
argument is valid if the premise is true
Argument?
and the conclusion is true at the same
time. Because there is no way that the
premise could be true and the conclusion
false at the same time.

A vali argume nee no b

d
d
t e
nt
good.

Premise
0 Every elected official in

the US is under thirty-four

years
0 So Presiden ofth
U old.
is unde thirtyyear
e S
r
four
s
the t
old.

Analysi
s:

0 This argument is valid. When the premise is

true,
there is no way the conclusion can be false
even if the
laws change.
0 But
if laws changed,
and its prohibits
people
impossible
for the president
to be
34
older
olderthan
than34 from holding office, then it.
would
0 But be
the argument is bad, since it
has a false conclusion- because the
premise is false.

vali
d
Some
argumen ar
e
ts
bad

Is every argument
valid?

0 Danny heard this morning that were on sale

parrot
the mall. He knows his
neighbor
wonde if ithas
woul b bi enoug
r
d
e g h.

at
abirdcag
an
e
d

Analysi
s
0 All parrot anyone I know has ever seen, or
heard, or read
about are under 2 feet tall.
0 Therefore all parrots on sale at the male are
under 2 feet tall.
0 Premise could be true even if there is a possibility

that the
conclusion is false.
0 The conclusion does follow from the premise,
even though
the argument is not valid or less valid.

Strong & Weak

Arguments
0 An argument is strong if there is

some way (chances are high)premise is true even if its

conclusion is false- although that is
unlikely..
0 An argument is weak, if its
possible and not unlikely for its
premises to be true, and its
conclusion false (at the same time)

Weak/Bad
Arguments
0Dick is a

doesn drive motorcycl

0SoDic student.
k

e.

The conclusion follows

from
the
means that
premise
argume is the
vali or stron
nt
d
g

How to evaluate
an
argument?
0 Imagine the possibilities.

2. Not every valid or strong argument is

(a
1. Every good argument is valid

good
orcould
strong.
premise
implausible)
3. Only invalidbe
arguments
are
classified
weak.
4. Every weak argument is bad.

fro stron to
m g

In any of these
ways is the
conclusion false?

NO= VALID
EVERY WAY THE
PREMISES COULD BE
TRUE
THE CONCLUSION IS
TRUE

YES:
VALID
HOW
LIKELY?
VERY
UNLIKEL
Y:
STRONG

NOT SO
UNLIKEL
Y: WEAK

Test for
an
Argument
b Goo
to
e d
0 What are the three tests?
1. The premises are plausible.

The premises are more

plausible conclusion.
3. The
is valid or
argument
strong.
2.

tha th
n
e

Condition
0 Each of s:
this tests is independent of the
others.
0 Each can fail while the other two hold.
0 We can start with which is easier to
determine.

0 Why do we evaluate if we dont whether

know

the

premises are true?

income
0 Think house loan. Do you know they
if the
state is actually true?

0 Are the arguments valid? If not,

where
on the scale from strong to
weak, does
lie? If the
is vali
th example
e argument
or stron is it als good d
g,
o ?

Analysis the
following:

0 Dr.E is a philosophy

professor.
0 All
philosophy

ar bald
professors
0 SoDr E bald e .
.
.

Lets analysis the

following
examples in the fe
w
next
slides

Analysi
s

Is the argument valid? Y/N

Remember there is no way the premise
could be true
and the conclusion false at the same time.
IfBut
theitpremise
is true,because
the conclusion
true.
aba argume
seconis
premis
is
d nt
the
d
e
is
false.

In any of these
ways is the
conclusion false?

NO= VALID
EVERY WAY THE
PREMISES COULD BE
TRUE
THE CONCLUSION IS
TRUE

YES:
VALID
HOW
LIKELY?
VERY
UNLIKEL
Y:
STRONG

NOT SO
UNLIKEL
Y: WEAK

0 Maria to her

supervisor:

I was told that I would earn a bonus if I put in

100 hours
of overtime and had a perfect attendance
record
two attendance
have a for
perfect
th las te week
months.
record forI have since put in 110ehours
t nof s.
overtime
and to a bonus.
So Im entitle

Analysi
s:

0 Is this a valid argument? Y/N

0 Its not possible for the premise true and

the
to be
conclusion
false.
0 But we dont
know if the
is goo becaus we
argument
d
e
don kno if th premis is true
t
w
e e
.

is abachelo S Dann wa neve marrie

Danny
r.
o y
s r
d.
0

0 Is this argument valid? Y/N

0 Danny could have been divorced.
0 The argument is weak, so given what

chanc
we
know,
are
that is unlikely the premise is th e
true
and fals So
conclusio
argume is bad e
n
e. the nt
.

Remembe
r!

An argument is weak, if its

possible and not unlikely for its
premises
to conclusio fals (a
be true, and
its
e
t
th sam time n
e e
)

How do we show
an
argument is
premis coul b tru an th conclusio fals
e
d
e eweak?
d e n
e.
We describe at least one likely way
in which the