Critical Thinking Flashcards
Argument
Reasoning that seeks to establish the truth of a doubtful claim (which is its conclusion).
Assumption
Any claim or link that is not explicitly expressed can be said to be implied or assumed.
Audience
The person/people we wish to convince of the correctness of our argument or explanation.
What should certainty be compared with?
Scope
Scope examples?
All
Some
A few
Certainty examples?
High probability
Some chance
Virtually no chance
How is a claim distinguishable from other statements?
With a claim, it is possible to ask “Is this statement true or false?”
Claims are used as either one of two things:
Conclusions and premises
Conclusion
A claim that is being explained by the premises.
Denotative VS Connotative
Words can denote or describe something
but they also carry hidden meanings about the objects and events they denote (connotative).
Descriptive claim
A claim that describes without judging what is good or bad about the object being described.
Rare
Opposite of value claim
A text can either be…
an argument or explanation.
Claims always include some indication of…
scope or certainty (though often they are implied).
Is a statement the same as a sentence?
No, because a sentence can be made up of more than one statement.
