Let’s Begin withSimple Examples
Example 1:
The test was unfair. I studied for days, reading the material four times, underlining
important details and then studying them. After doing all this, I should have gotten
a good grade. That test was unfair.
● What is the conclusion of the argument? What is he trying to persuade his
teacher to accept?
● What reasons does he give in support of his conclusion?
● Does he assume anything without actually saying it?
● Is it a good or a bad argument?
3.
Argument
1. Test wasunfair.
2. Teacher should look again at the test or at the student’s answers.
3. Hans answers should be regraded by the teacher or some other independent
assessor.
4. Something should be done to rectify the wrong.
4.
Reasons
● I studiedfor days reading the material 4 times underlining important details
and then studying them. After all this, I should have gotten a good grade.
Assumptions
● Is the student assuming anything that needs to be mentioned?
● Since he says what he did should have been sufficient to get a good grade,
then it is not an assumption. He actually says those exact words.
5.
Does the reasoningjustify the conclusion?
● Let’s say that the students peers/colleagues consider his mode of studying
sufficient to do well on the test, then his complaint is more forceful than if the
teacher had simply made it clear that CT requires people to practice CT and
think things through on their own
● So it is hard to imagine that a student of CT disposed to CT would agree or
support that the student’s way of studying vs practicing the relevant skills
would be enough to do well on the test
● So if the teacher expected the student to exhibit CT skills then it is a rather
POOR piece of reasoning
● Therefore, he should fail.
6.
Example 2
Couples intendingto marry should always enter into a prenuptial agreement which
specifies how their property will be divided should their marriage end in divorce. If
they can’t agree on something like that, they would be wise not to marry in the first
place. But if they do, a prenuptial agreement will at least save them from lengthy,
acrimonious and expensive legal action about the division of their property in the
divorce court.
7.
Same Questions
● Whatis the conclusion of the argument? What is author trying to persuade us
to accept?
● What reasons does he give in support of his conclusion?
● Does he assume anything without actually saying it?
● Is it a good or a bad argument?
8.
Conclusion
Couples intending tomarry should always enter into a prenuptial agreement which
specifies how their property will be divided should their marriage end in divorce.
Assumptions:
● If a couple makes a prenup this cannot be contested during divorce
proceedings.
9.
Good/Bad? Depends onthe Reasons, Assumptions, Support
● Roman Catholics for example will challenge such a conclusion on the grounds
that making a prenup means that you expect to get divorced
● Some may challenge the reason that a prenup will save the parties from
expensive legal action–most get contested in the course of a divorce
● Need specific legal knowledge
10.
Example 3
We needto make rail travel more attractive to travellers. There are so many cars
on the road that the environment and human safety are under threat. Rail travel
should be made cheaper. Everyone wants the roads to be less crowded, but they
still want the convenience of being able to travel by road themselves. People will
not abandon the car in favour of the train without some new incentive.
11.
Same Questions
● Whatis the conclusion of the argument? What is the writer trying to persuade
readers of?
● What reasons does he give in support of his conclusion?
● Does he assume anything without actually saying it?
● Is it a good or a bad argument?
12.
Before we proceed:The Language of Reasoning
Someone walks up to you and says “Have you heard the one about the bartender
and the psychologist? What are they about to do?
Just like this, there are certain words that we use to indicate that we are arguing a
case–that we are presenting REASONS for a CONCLUSION.
Remember the student: I studied for days…Therefore, the test was unfair.
13.
Conclusion Indicators: indicatethe presence of a conclusion for which reasons are presented
● Hence
● Thus
● Consequently
● Which proves/establishes that
● Justifies the belief/view that
● From which we can infer that
● I conclude that
● It follows that
● It demonstrates that
14.
Reason/Premise Indicators
● Because
●Since
● For
● Follows from the fact that
● The reasons are
● Firstly, secondly,
● Assuming that
● As shown by
● Whereas
● Given that
● The reason is that
15.
Example 3: Rewrittenso we can Understand IT
There are so many cars on the road that the environment and human safety are
under threat and everyone wants the roads to be less crowded, but they still want
the convenience of being able to travel by road themselves and people will not
abandon the car in favour of the train without some new incentive. Therefore, we
need to make rail travel more attractive to travellers. Therefore, rail travel should
be made cheaper.
16.
Practice 1
The traditionalBritish approach to food safety has been one where local health
officials only intervene at the level of food retailing, for instance inspecting
premises where food is prepared or sold. However, a much broader approach to
the question is needed. Many dangers to our health resulting from the food we eat
arise from the way it is produced in the first place, that is, modern intensive
farming practices involved, rather than small-scale organic farming. A national food
agency that fails to address the question of food production will therefore be
unlikely to protect us from damaging our health through the food we eat.
17.
Practice 2
Many speciesare in danger of becoming extinct from the destruction of their
habitats. Sometimes this is caused directly by human activity, as when forests are
cleared for agriculture but global warming is also having a devastating effect on
many habitats. Of course, human activity is the main cause of this too. Human
beings are the main threat to the existence of many species.
18.
Practice 3
Banning cigaretteadvertising could easily lead to an increase in smoking. If a
government bans cigarette advertising within its territory then cigarette
manufacturers save their advertising budgets in that country–and in order to
compete with each other they are then likely to lower their prices. And what is the
likely effect of that?
19.
Chain of Reasoning
Burningvast quantities of fossil fuels is causing global warming, which is hurting
us all, so it is vital to negotiate reductions in the production of the gases which are
doing the damage. Thus we need an international agreement under which
countries reduce the production of such gases in proportion to the extent to which
they are creating the problem. Therefore, the US must not be allowed to buy
permissions to produce these gases from other countries.
Reasoning: (A) so (B) thus (C) therefore (D).
20.
Separate Reasons
Dissecting creaturesin the biology classroom teaches students that animal life is
expendable and unimportant. Also a recent study showed that certain companies
who supply these creatures are careless of the suffering and pain inflicted on
them. Furthermore, there are good alternatives available now in computer
simulations, which teach the lessons taught by dissection just as well. So for all
these reasons we should no longer use dissection of animals to teach students in
the biology classroom.
Reasoning: (A) also (B) furthermore (C) So for all these reasons (D) Each
separately gives some reason for the conclusion.
21.
ARGUMENTS VS EXPLANATIONS
1.Jane was angry with him because he crashed her car. (Explanation not
Argument) Your friend is trying to explain why Jane is angry and NOT
persuading you that she was angry as she would be if that were her
conclusion.
2. Jane had every right to be angry with him because he crashed her car.
Some cases authorial intent is clear, in others quite the opposite.
22.
Examples
1. We shouldrestrict the production of greenhouse gases because they are
damaging the ozone layer.
2. Napoleon died because he was poisoned with arsenic.
3. The dinosaurs died out because a huge meteor crashed into earth.
4. The scope for out of school play activities has been greatly diminished over
recent years because parents want to protect their children from harm,
whether from traffic or from molesting strangers.
5. Our street lights are too dim. That’s why we have more accidents and more
crime than we should.
23.
Explanation can functionas Reason
Several accidents have occurred at this road junction because it is very hard for
drivers to see other cars coming round the bend as they pull out to cross the main
road on which the traffic is travelling quite fast. The only realistic answer is to
install traffic lights to control the flow of traffic.
24.
ARGUMENT OR EXPLANATION:YOU DECIDE
1. A councillor speaks at a council meeting and says “Because our street lights
are too dim, we have more accidents and more crime than we should.
Furthermore they are so low that they are easily and often damaged by
vandals. That is why we should get new bright high level sodium lights.
2. The police have found the body of a woman lying near a footpath; after a post
mortem the pathologist reports “she died because she had a heart attack and
no one found her soon enough to help.”
25.
ARGUMENT OR EXPLANATION:YOU DECIDE
3. A newspaper reports “Thailand and India have had to fight costly legal battles to
protect Thailand’s jasmine rice and India’s basmati rice because a company in
Texas, Rice Tec. was granted patents in the US on varieties of rice it claimed to
have developed, which closely resembled the Thai and Indian versions.
4. A government spokesperson says “Though investigations are continuing, the
trawler which sank suddenly in relatively calm seas last week probably went down
because a submarine fouled its nets and dragged it down.”
26.
ARGUMENT/EXPLANATION?
5. A financialjournalist writes “The bank will almost certainly reduce interest rates
at the next opportunity because the economy is slowing down fast, many
companies are in great difficulties and demand has fallen off dramatically.”
27.
Final Thoughts
1. Argumentshave a structure.
2. Reasons can support their conclusion in different ways.
3. Chain of Reasoning and Separate Reasons are two of the more common
structures.
4. Basic patterns can combine to create more complex patterns.
5. Easy to confuse arguments and causal explanations. If the author seems to
assume the consequence is true then you probably have a causal
explanation. However, if the author is trying to prove the consequence then it
is likely an argument.
6. Conclusions can be anywhere in an argument.
