BUS 290: Critical Thinking for Managers

1. BUS 290: Critical Thinking for Managers Text Table of Contents #4: What are the Reasons?

2. What Are the Reasons? • Arguments intend to convince us to accept a conclusion – i.e., a position, claim, belief, etc. • Why does the author want us to accept this conclusion? • Reasons tell us why that conclusion should be accepted. • Will Ferrell

3. Identifying the Reasons • For each sentence ask: • Does this sentence support the conclusion? • Or does it make sense when you precede the sentence with: • The conclusion is true because …

4. Reasons • Reasons + Inferences  Conclusion • The acceptability of a conclusion depends on • the quality of the reasons (evidence) • the validity of the inferences (logic)

5. Should the public be shown actual courtroom trials on television? • It seems as though the system can easily be corrupted by having cameras in the courtroom. • Victims are hesitant enough when testifying in front of a small crowd, but their knowledge that every word is being sent to countless homes would increase the likelihood that they would simply refuse to testify. • There is little to no assumed innocence for the accused when their trial is put on television. • People do not watch court television because they are concerned about our country’s ability to effectively carry out the proceedings of the judicial system; instead, they are looking for the drama in witness testimony: entertainment. • Thus, leave the cameras out of the courtrooms, and let the public view sitcom drama based on the legal system.

6. Issue: Should court trials be televised to the public? • Conclusion: Do not televise court trials. • R1: Televising corrupts judicial system. • SR1a: Fewer victims will testify. • SR1b: Presumed innocence will disappear. • R2: Public wants drama in witness’ testimony (i.e., entertainment) – not judicial process.

7. Inference • Infer deduce or conclude (information) from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements (Oxford dictionary) • Validity of inference • does not refer to truth of premise or conclusion • refers to the form of the inference • i.e., how the inference is drawn • A word about inference - induction vs. deduction • induction – results in probable conclusion • deduction results in certain conclusion

8. Valid Form of Inference • All fruits are sweet. • A banana is a fruit. • Therefore, a banana is sweet. • For the conclusion to be necessarily true, the premises need to be true.

9. Invalid Form of Inference • Leading from true premises to a false conclusion. • All apples are fruit. (correct) • Bananas are fruit. (correct) • Therefore, bananas are apples. (incorrect) • Do you understand why this argument is invalid?

10. Validity of Inference • When a valid argument is used to derive a false conclusion from false premises, the inference is valid because it follows the form of a correct inference. • A valid argument with false premises may lead to a false conclusion: • All tall people are Greek. (incorrect) • John Lennon was tall. (correct) • Therefore, John Lennon was Greek. (incorrect) • Do you understand why this argument is valid?

11. Validity of Inference • A valid argument can also be used to derive a true conclusion from false premises: • All tall people are musicians (incorrect) • John Lennon was tall (correct) • Therefore, John Lennon was a musician (correct) • Do you understand why this argument is valid?

12. Quality of Evidence • Facts, examples, analogies, statistics, authorities, etc. • Observations, beliefs, principles • Later we will explore more thoroughly how to evaluate the quality of evidence