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Critical Thinking

This guide aims to provide foundational knowledge on claims, their types, and how to effectively construct arguments. Claims express a belief or position on an issue and can be categorized into four types: facts, conjectures, values, and policy recommendations. Additionally, constructing a strong argument involves presenting a claim supported by data, warranting that data, providing backing, acknowledging reservations, and clarifying qualifiers. It's also crucial to be aware of logical fallacies that can undermine arguments. This comprehensive overview enhances critical thinking skills.

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Critical Thinking

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  1. Critical Thinking Eng II

  2. Claims • A claim is a statement that identifies your belief or position on a particular issue or topic. • Example: Both the Democratic and Republican parties have work to do after this election.

  3. Types of Claims • Fact • Conjecture • Value • Policy

  4. Fact • States that something is true, that an event occurred, that a cause can be identified of that a theory correctly explains a phenomenon. • Example: Obese children are at risk for heart disease and diabetes.

  5. Conjecture • Suggests that something will happen in the future. • Example: The economy will improve next year.

  6. Value • Asserts the worth of something – good or bad, right or wrong, best, average or worst. • Example: Ben is the best applicant. • Plagiarism is unethical.

  7. Policy • Recommends a course of action or a solution to a problem. • Example: Our state should ban smoking in public places. • All college students should take a communication course.

  8. Inference • Conclusion based on claims of fact. • Fact: Julia has missed the last three meetings. • Inference: Julia does not care about the meetings.

  9. Inference • Fact: Five students are failing freshman English. • Inference: The students are lazy • The students don’t come to class. • The students don’t understand the topic.

  10. Constructing an argument • Claim: State your position. • Data: Evidence that supports your claim. • Warrant: Explains how and why the data supports the claim • Backing: Provides support for the argument’s warrant. • Reservation: Recognizes exceptions to a claim. • Qualifier: States the degree to which a claim appears to be true.

  11. Constructing an argument • The Chicago Bears are the best team in the NFC North and will win the Super Bowl. • The Bears have a 7-1 record and their defense has scored eight touchdowns off turnovers. • The Bears’ 7-1 record is better than any other team’s in the NFC North. The Bears’ defense has scored more touchdowns than some quarterbacks. • The team that was last 7-1 went on to win the Super Bowl. • The Bears will win the Super Bowl unless Cutler, Hester or Urlacher gets injured. • The Bears will probably win the Super Bowl.

  12. Fallacies • Errors in thinking that leads to false or invalid claims. • Types of fallacies • Attacking the person • Appeal to authority • Appeal to popularity • Appeal to tradition • Faulty cause • Hasty generalization

  13. Attacking the person • Makes irrelevant attacks against a person rather than against the content of the person’s message. • Examples – political campaign ads

  14. Appeal to authority • Using a supposed expert who has no relevant knowledge or experience on this issue being discussed. • Example: “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV, and I recommend that you use Nick’s Cough Syrup.”

  15. Appeal to popularity • Claims an action is acceptable or excusable because many people are doing it. • Example: “Most of your neighbors have agreed to support the rezoning proposal.”

  16. Appeal to tradition • Claims that a certain course of action should be followed because it was always done that way. • Example: We must have our annual company picnic in August because that’s when we always schedule it.

  17. Faulty cause • Claims a particular event is the cause of another event without ruling out other possible causes. • Example: We are losing sales because our sales team is not working hard enough.

  18. Hasty generalizations • Conclusions based on too little evidence or too few experiences. • Example: Don’t go to that restaurant. I went there once and the service was awful.

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