Argument Structure Flashcards
What critical reasoning questions aim to achieve?
They force you to understand arguments, by identifying the flaws in the chains of logic, and proposing how to fix them
What is a premise?
A fact or an opinion that is intended to support some claim made by the author
What is the conclusion?
It is the main claim made by the author
Does the conclusion need to appear at the end of the argument?
No, it may appear anywhere within the text of the argument
What is an intermediate conclusion?
It is also a conclusion, but one that leads to another one which is the core of the argument. Therefore, be attentive to the intermediary conclusion
What is a counterpremise?
A counterpremise, or counterpoint, goes against the author’s conclusion in some way. Some arguments contain this kind of information, but many do not
What is a background?
A background is an additional information to provide context for the overall story
What is the causation argument?
It is the argument which concludes that one circumstance caused another. It is important to note that the causation argument is not always valid. It is possible that the causation might actually be reversed or that some third factor may influence both the premises to allow the conclusion. When faced by such causation arguments, start thinking about alternative causes that may lead to the conclusion
What is the plan argument?
It is an argument that aims to justify whether a plan will work the way that the author says it will.
If this kind of argument is presented, it will be necessary to analyze whether it works. Evaluate the exact plan as it stands. It is not necessary to find a way to achieve the same goal via a different plan
What is prediction argument?
It is an argument in which the conclusion aims to predict the turnout of some situation based by some past or current assumptions.
Answers related to prediction arguments, commonly focus on some other issue or intervening circumstance that could influence the prediction
What is a profit argument?
These are arguments that try to lead to a conclusion regarding an increase or decrease of profit in an activity. Remember that Profit = Revenue - Cost. So, to a profit argument be sustainable, it must present complete information about both Revenue and Cost in order to allow a perfect conclusion regarding the profit result. The lack of one component may be relevant to the answer
What are language weaknesses?
The incorrect use of grammar or meaning causes a sentence to be illogical:
- Extreme words: only, never, always, cannot, certainly, obviously, inevitably, most, least, best, and worst.
- False synonyms or false equivalents: “use their cell phones more” is not necessarily equivalent to “sent more text messages”, as you can use your phone more in other phone activities.
- Vague language: “exercise the some amount” is vague as the same amount can be of time, of distance, of calories burned. The expression the same amount in that case creates an imprecision and any term that is insufficiently precise is a language weakness and a flaw in the logic
What is Selection Bias flaw?
Whenever a sentence compare two groups, it is necessary to make sure that the two groups are legitimately comparable. Otherwise, the bias can cause an issue in causation arguments.
- Unrepresentative sample: necessary to ensure that the sample of the comparable groups is representative (be wary of volunteers)
- Survivor bias: does not judge an entire group by concentrating only on who survived a process or time period while ignoring the non-survivors
- Ever-changing pool: it is necessary to ensure that the comparable information refers to the same pool. Changes in the pool by the time or use of a different sample creates a bias flaw
What are math errors?
If any numbers or numeric relationship (ratios and percentage, for example) are presented in an argument, determine whether they are being cited in a logical way.
What are big leaps in logic?
Big leaps in logic are a flaw in the causation argument, generally by some unjustified language (e.g., something good is described as the absolute best) or by assuming a causal relationship between A and B due to the concurrent happening of both, whereas it is not clear if A causes B, or the other way around, or if both occur due to external factors.
