Today’s Quote

Use soft words and

hard arguments English Proverb

Parts of an Argument I Claim: an

expressed opinion or conclusion e.g. “CSI” is an

excellent TV show”

Parts of an Argument II Claim Evidence:

observable or previously accepted statements e.g. It has good

acting, good writing and good production.

Parts of an Argument III Claim Evidence Reasoning: constructs a reasonable

and rational link between the evidence and the claim. e.g. Good acting, writing and

production are the key elements of a good TV drama.

Listen UP! Decide if the statement

you hear is an argument or not.

Foundations of Critical Thinking Questioning Habit Perspective Taking Clarifying Meaning

and Assumptions Evaluating Support Engaging in

Critical Inferences and Comparison

Characteristics of Critical Thinking Clarity: could you illustrate what you

mean? Accuracy: could we find out if that is

true? Precision: could you be more specific?

Characteristics of Critical Thinking Relevance: how does that help us with

this issue? Depth: what factors make this a difficult

problem? Breadth: what other points of view need

to be considered?

Characteristics of Critical Thinking

Logic: does what you say follow from the evidence?

Significance: how important is this factor in the overall discussion?

Fairness: have we represented various positions honestly?

Characteristics of Critical Thinking Clarity Accuracy Precision Relevance Depth

Breadth Logic Significance Fairness

Application Work with a partner to take either

the list just discussed or the attributes listed in chapter 10 of the Debater’s Guide and prioritize your top three. Be able to offer arguments for your choices.

Induction vs. Deduction Deduction

Major Premise• Categorical truth

Minor • Puts specific case in a

category Conclusion

• Necessarily follows from premises

Reasons from “known” to “known”

Induction Series of minor

premises that lead to a probable general conclusion

Reasons from what is “known” to what is probable.

Induction

Information

Conclusion

Next Time Quiz on readings so far and readings

due that day. Discussion of Chapt. 3 in CT Discussion of what makes up a good

debate topic and hearing some of your suggestions.