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Critical Thinker
Someone who uses specific criteria to evaluate reasoning, from positions, and make decisions.
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Argument
A conclusion about an issue that is supported by reasons.
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Conclusion
A position or conclusion taken about an issue, also called a claim or an opinion; in deductive reasoning, the inference drawn from the major and minjor premises.
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Reasons
Statements given to support conclusions (often called premises).
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Elements of an Argument
- There are three parts to an argument; conclusion, issue, and reasons.
- Critical thinkers first state there claim, then their issue, and details for there reasoning.
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Four Primary Uses of Logical Argumentation
- Persuasion
- Explanation
- Discovery Analysis
- Recording inferences
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Ad baculum
Appeal to force.
- ex. "I'm sure you can support the proposal to diversify into the fast food industry
- because if I
- receive any opposition on this initiative, I will personally see that you are transferred to
- the janitorial division of this corporation."
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Ad hominem
Attacking the person. When a person is attacked on a personal quality that is irrelevant to the issue under discussion.
ex: the woman is not qualified for a position on city council because she is a homemaker
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Ad misericordiam
- Argument based on providing emotional excuses connected to extenuating circumstances to justify unacceptable bahavior.
- (argument from pity or misery).
- ex. Oh, Officer, There's no reason to give me a traffic ticket for going too fast because I was just on my
- way to the hospital to see my wife who is in serious condition to tell
- her I just lost my job and the car will be repossessed.
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Ad novarum
- [Appeal to newness]
- arguments are those in which an item's status as new automatically makes it better than other such items.
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Ad populum
Appeal to the authority of "everyone." Based on the assumption that a course of action should be taken or an idea should be supported because "everyone" is doing it or believes it.
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Ad Verecundiam
Appeal to authority.
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Antecedent
Major premise. Preceding or prior to where a conclusion is derived.
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Apeal to Pity
- Poor me, poor you, poor them
- ex: you should go out with me because I'll be really upset if you dont
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Appeal to Tradition
When something is supported because it's the way it's always been done; not looking for evidence to justify it.
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Argument by Elimination
Seeks to logically rule out various possibilities until only a single possibility remains.
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Backing
Evidence used to support a warrant.
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Begging the Question
- When a speaker or writer assumes what needs to be proven. \
- ex. Have you stopped beating your wife yet?
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Categorical Statement
Where members of one class are said to be included in another class. May be used as the major premised of a syllogism.
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Claim
A statement or conclusion about an issue that is either true or false. The advocate for a claim will seek to prove the truth of the claim through evidence.
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Conclusion or Primary Point of View
The position taken on the issue or argument.
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Conditional / Hypothetical Syllogism
Contains at least one hypothetical (if then) premise. Asserting if first part (antecedent) is true, then second part (consequent) is also true.
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Consequent
As an effect of result.
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Deductive Reasoning
Structured in such a way as to give us a certainty about what is true in a given situation.
ex. Be careful of that wasp: it might sting. is based on the logic that wasps as a class have stingers; therefore each individual wasp will have a stinger. This conclusion is freeing in that we do not have to examine each and every wasp we ever encounter to ascertain what characteristics it may have
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Discovery Analysis
Putting a given situation into a conditional argument to see if the data is reliable or not.
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Disjunctive Syllogism
If one possibility is true, then the other possibility is false.Either A or B.Not B.Therefore, A.
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Egalitarianism
A belief system in which behavior is considered to be ethical when equal opportunities and consequences apply to all people.
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Ethics / Morals
A set of standards that determine what is right from wrong.
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Explanation
Teach new information; explain the why and how.
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False Analogy
Comparison of one situation or idea to another that disregards significant differences that make the comparison invalid.
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False Cause
- [post hoc ergo propter hoc]
- Has no evidence of causation, just correlation that one event occurred after the other. No proof that event was caused by another event.
- ex. She didnt do well because she sat next to her classmate.
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False Dilemma
An argument based on establishing a limited set of options to choose from [usually 2] when many others exist.
ex. Either you are with the united states or your with the terrorists
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False Analogy
Comparison of one situation or idea to another that disregards significant differences that make the comparison invalid.
ex. Apples and oranges.
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Grounds
Evidence that supports reasons and claims.
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Guilt by Association
Corollary of Ad Hominem. Argument based on an opponent's repuation, the company he/she keeps, etc., rather than the issue at hand.
ex. "He's running for office? Well hell no, I won't be voting for him! He used to hang around with that group of hooligans on the corner. Nothing good ever came from them, so obviously he can't be worth a quarter.
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Hasty Conclusion
Where a generalization is drawn from a small and thus inadequate sample of information.
- ex. Smith, who is from England, decides to attend graduate school at Ohio State University.
- He has never been to the US before. The day after he arrives, he is
- walking back from an orientation session and sees two white (albino)
- squirrels chasing each other around a tree. In his next letter home, he tells his family that American squirrels are white.
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Hidden Assumptions
- Beliefs of a person that aren't directly stated; you can find hidden
- assumptions by closely examining what a person is saying and finding the underlying meaning of it. Where important assumptions are not made explicit.
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Ideal Value vs. Real Values
- Ideal values what you believe is right and good.
- Real values is what you believe is right and good that act upon your life.
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Issue vs. Topic
- Issue: what we are arguing about/the question being addressed.
- Topics:ideas or subjects
- -later becomes issues when a question or controversy is introduced.
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Libertarianism
A system in which the behavior of someone does not affect the freedom of others.
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Major Premise
A categorical statement.
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Minor Premise
Expresses an instant of the principle set out in the major premise.
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Modus Ponens
A valid conditional / hypothetical syllogism in which the antecedent is affirmed.
ex. If A, then B. A.Therefore, B.
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Modus Tollens
Denying the consequent.
ex. If A, then B.Not B. Therefore, not A.
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Non Sequitur
Doesnt make any sense, reason has nothing to do with conclusion
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