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The document discusses the construction and analysis of arguments, defining premises and conclusions while highlighting their importance in critical thinking. It distinguishes between valid and sound arguments, explaining inductive and deductive reasoning with examples. The ability to identify premises and conclusions is emphasized as crucial for effective argumentation and truth discovery.

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8 views18 pages

Critical ThinkingL4

The document discusses the construction and analysis of arguments, defining premises and conclusions while highlighting their importance in critical thinking. It distinguishes between valid and sound arguments, explaining inductive and deductive reasoning with examples. The ability to identify premises and conclusions is emphasized as crucial for effective argumentation and truth discovery.

Uploaded by

01554709272a
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Critical Thinking

Prof. Dr. Mohammed Shihab

Physics Department
Critical Thinking

Argument: Its Construction and Analysis?


An argument is a list of statements, one of which is the conclusion,
and the others are the premises or assumptions of the argument.

An example:
It is raining.
So you should bring an umbrella.

In this argument, the first statement is the premise and the second
one the conclusion.

The premises of an argument are offered as reasons for accepting


the conclusion.
Critical Thinking

Argument: Its Construction and Analysis?


➢ If you say "that dress looks nice," you are only expressing an
opinion.

➢ But if you say "that dress looks nice because the design is very
elegant," then it would be an argument indeed.

➢ Dogmatic people tend to make assertions without giving


arguments. When they cannot defend themselves, they often
resort to responses such as "this is a matter of opinion," "this is
just what you think," or "I have the right to believe whatever I
want"
Critical Thinking
Examples of arguments! Suppose that I want to convince you
to stay in college until graduation.
Premise #1: College graduates earn more money than college
dropouts or people who have never attended college.

+Premise #2: College graduates report that they are more satisfied
with their lives than people who have not graduated
from college.

+Premise #3: College graduates are healthier and live longer than
people who have not graduated from college.

+Premise #4: College graduates have jobs that are more interesting
and more responsible than people who have not
graduated from college.

Conclusion: You should graduate from college


Critical Thinking
➢ If you cannot identify at least one premise and at least one
conclusion, then it is not an argument.
➢ Please check!
▪ I like my critical thinking course better than my chemistry
course.
▪ We drove up to the mountains, went skiing, and then drove
home.
▪ Buy your burgers at Burgerland.
▪ Never trust anyone over 30.
▪ Is dinner ready?

The ability to construct, identify, and evaluate arguments is a


crucial part of critical thinking. Giving good arguments helps us
convince other people, and improve our presentation and debating
skills. More important, using arguments to support our beliefs with
reasons is likely to help us discover the truth and eliminate errors
and biases.
Critical Thinking
Identifying Premises:
➢ The premises are the reasons that support a conclusion. They
are the “why” part of an argument.
Premise Indicators
- because
- for
- since (when it means because and not the passage of time)
- if
- given that (or being that)
- as shown by
- as indicated by
- the reasons are
- it may be inferred (or deduced) from
- the evidence consists of
- in the first place (suggests that a list of premises will follow)
- secondly
- seeing that
- assuming that
- it follows from
- whereas
Critical Thinking

Identifying Premises:

• You should graduate from college because you will earn more
money with a college degree.

• The need for the United States to send troops to Central America
is indicated by the buildup of armed rebels in countries
neighboring those with civil wars.

• Seeing that the current policy of supplying organ transplants is


benefiting the rich, a new program is needed.
Critical Thinking
Identifying Conclusion:

•The conclusion is the purpose or the “what” of the argument.


▪It is the belief or point of view that is supported or defended with
the premises. Both the premises and the conclusion are important,
and both are essential components of any argument.
Conclusion Indicators
- therefore
- hence
- so
- thus
- consequently
- then
- shows that (we can see that)
- accordingly
- it follows that
- we may infer (conclude) (deduce) that
- in summary - as a result - for all these reasons - it is clear
that
Critical Thinking
Here are some simple examples of the use of conclusion indicators:

• Based on all of the reasons just stated, we can conclude that the
flow of illegal drugs must be stopped.

• In summary, postal rates must be increased because we can no


longer afford to run the postal system with a deficit.

• We have had very little rain this season. Consequently, water will
have to be rationed.
Critical Thinking
Validity and Soundness:
➢ An argument is valid if and only if there is no logically possible
situation in which the premises are true, and the conclusion is
false.

- To put it differently, whenever we have a valid argument, if the


premises are all true, then the conclusion must also be true.

Example of valid argument:


Marilyn is 20 years old.
Marilyn is more than 10 years old.

- Validity is about the logical connection between the premises and


the conclusion.
Critical Thinking
Validity and Soundness:
➢ An argument is valid if and only if there is no logically possible
situation in which the premises are true, and the conclusion is
false.

- To put it differently, whenever we have a valid argument, if the


premises are all true, then the conclusion must also be true.

Example of valid argument:


Marilyn is 20 years old.
Marilyn is more than 10 years old.

- Validity is about the logical connection between the premises and


the conclusion.
Critical Thinking
Logically valid argument but not true argument:

Every bird can fly.


Every bat is a bird.
Every bat can fly.

Soundness: An argument is sound if: (a) It is valid, and (b) It has


true premises.

If an argument is valid, and all the premises


are true, then it is called a sound argument. Of course, it follows
from such a definition that the conclusion of a sound argument
must be true. An argument that is not sound is unsound.
Critical Thinking
All chickens are mammals.
All mammals are green.
All chickens are green.

This is an argument. It is valid, because IF the premises WERE true,


then the conclusion would also HAVE to be true. But, as it turns
out, the argument is unsound.

Though it meets criterion (a) for soundness— namely, it is


valid—it does NOT meet criterion (b). It does not have true
premises. Premise 2, “All mammals are green” is absurd and
clearly false.
Critical Thinking
Inductive and Deductive Arguments

- An inductive argument is an argument in which it is thought


that the premises provide reasons supporting the probable
truth of the conclusion.

- Inductive arguments are arguments in which the


conclusion is presented as following from the premises
with a high degree of probability.

- A deductive argument is an argument in which it is thought that


the premises provide a guarantee of the truth of the conclusion.
- Deductive arguments are arguments in which the
conclusion is presented as following from the premises
with necessity.

Some dictionaries define "deduction" as reasoning from the


general to specific and "induction" as reasoning from the specific
to the general.
Critical Thinking
Inductive Arguments examples:

❖ The members of the Williams family are Susan, Nathan and


Alexander.
Susan wears glasses.
Nathan wears glasses.
Alexander wears glasses.
Therefore, all members of the Williams family wear glasses.

❖ It has snowed in Massachusetts every December in recorded


history. Therefore, it will snow in Massachusetts this coming
December.
Critical Thinking
Inductive Arguments examples:

The important point about inductive arguments is this: it's possible


that, even though an argument is a good one, starting from true
premises and reasoning in the right way, it can give you a false
conclusion.

For example,
1- 93% of Chinese have lactose intolerance.
Lee is Chinese.
Lee has lactose intolerance.

2- It has never snowed in Jakarta in the last 50 years.


It is not going to snow in Jakarta this year.
We might define an inductively strong argument as one that
satisfies two conditions:
1. It is an invalid argument.
2. The conclusion is highly likely to be true given that the premises
are true.
Critical Thinking
Deductive Arguments examples:

- A good inductive argument provides good evidence for its


conclusion, but, as we've seen in, no matter how good the
evidence for the conclusion, it's always possible that the
conclusion is false. This is an important fact that be remarking
on several times.

Deductive argument: if the premises true, the conclusion must be


true.
Here's an example:
PREMISES: All fish breathe under water with gills.
Flounders are a kind of fish.

CONCLUSION: All flounders breathe under water with gills


Thanks!

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