Critical Thinking: Arguments and non-Arguments

we left off last class we talked about issues planes and arguments some of you said you found that than helpful and understanding this and actually it's kind of the side note but this is I think useful information for you one of the things I do in my lectures that the book doesn't do for you is to focus on the sort of problems that keep coming up for students semester after semester after semester I've been teaching critical thinking now for well not my entire teaching career but for at least eight years so I've seen the same kinds of confusions the same kind of simple mistakes like confusing an issue with the topic okay if what doesn't cover that I think because it assumes you know that what a lot of times students aren't fully aware of what they know they they do know it in the back of their head that they're not able to to bring it out when they need it so that's why we work on it here and we draw on so last time we talked about claims claims are the most basic elements of arguments the most basic thing that you're going to deal with in this class is being able to tell what's a claim what's not a claim and you guys were pretty good about that now that gets a little trickier because when it comes to RT was mr. Ricca crash we have a sort of basic structure we have some planes and they're being used to support another claim and this entire structure is called an argument it actually there's even a technical word for the process of going from premises to the conclusion whether the claims that were getting people to assume or to agree with and the claims that we're trying to get the sticks out and that's called inference so when you infer something you aren't actually doing something like argumentation when you are given a bunch of data and then you draw conclusions from that data all of you have to do it in classes in their careers right actually you do it anyway when you're making a decision this is the new research let's say you're going to buy a house or a car you get yourself information and then you have to draw collisions each conclusion that you're drawing is something that you're incurring from those premises and we're going to get to this a little bit more in later classes an argument doesn't work if it only has one premise now often when we make arguments we only get one premise but that's because we're assuming that the audience already knows some of the other things that we're hoping that they will agree to so if I say it's it's snowing today therefore you won't have any class what am i assuming that you know well that's the conclusion that we won't have any class so I'm not assuming that you know that what am i assuming that you you read into it it's snowing today we're not going to have class what bridge is that well that's the conclusion again see this is one of those basic confusions that students have well that could be a step along the way there's a much simpler way to do it it's knowing today you won't have any class what sort of statement can you put there to get from one to the other if it's snowing we don't have any class I'm assuming that you all understand that and I'm assuming that you understand that because we're here in Fayetteville in the south where if it snows we often don't have class that's not the case where I come from you have to have about six or eight or sometimes ten inches of snow before they're gonna cancel class we you know where you sit driving on snow all the time but here this is background knowledge here you know that if it snows FSU typically cancels classes right that's something that you're assuming those are part of the premises so you could set up an argument that will run it's snowing today if it snows we don't have class there for another class this is a very simple one right and we start out with with very simple ones so that we can build towards we'll learn more complex ones the kinds of ones that you'll encounter in real life like the State of the Union address that State of the Union address is making a number of different arguments remember last class I ended by saying that you could practice the things that you're learning in this class all the time anywhere you go right here's an example President Obama every time a president makes a State of the Union address they're not just giving you information they're making arguments they're making some claims and they are hopefully backing up those claims with some things that we can agree on and then sometimes they'll go one step back what if somebody doesn't agree with all of the promises when you have to argue for those as well that's okay so one of the things that we want to think about now this is what an argument it's claims where they're connected to each other and one of the claims is being supported or at least looks like it's being supported by the other claimants so that's what an argument is what is not well if you have just one claim by itself can that be an argument somebody might say my argument is we need a universal health care that's not America that's just a claim they have not yet giving you any reason to think that that is a true statement you may already agree with that but that's just sort of short-circuiting the process of thinking isn't it somebody who offers you something that's a controversial claim you probably want to see whether it's actually true or not see whether there's any reasons to believe it that's part of being an educated person that's part of being a critical thing when you arrive here in college there are many things which you believe which are false there will be many beliefs along the way that people introduce you to that will be false as well how do you know until you see whether somebody can make an argument for them and whether that's a good argument could be that we didn't need universal health care so you've actually looked at the arguments for it you don't know if somebody just makes claims to you you should give me some money I hope you don't accept that claim around for that but with no argumentation you know did the deed if you do it doesn't give me some money I'll take it and all use it for good purposes right so a single claim by itself can't be an argument again very common mistake students like not so much in class by itself but when they're writing papers when they are there we go let's try to update all sorts of things students make this sort of mistake when they're trying to write papers when they're they're looking at other people's claims they they get a little bit careless they think that anything that's out there is an argument it's only an argument that has this structure so what if we have a bunch of claims all thrown together but there's no one single claim that's being backed up by either the other claims it's not enough to just jumbled up a bunch of words and argument people do this sometimes as a matter of fact one of the fallacies that we're gonna look at later in the semester fallacy is a bad type of barbecue one of the fallacies consists of just jumbling up a bunch of claims together that don't have anything to do with each other pretending like they do what sort of things might this be like well you know when somebody's telling a story you know yesterday I went and gave a lecture at the Cumberland County Library Wardell Branch it was six o'clock when I got there I used the flip cam to record it the lecture was well attended but no FSU people showed up meaning my colleagues I didn't expect any of you to show up we had good question the answer I enjoyed myself a lot do we have an argument there at all no we have a lot of claims and we could rearrange them to become an argument you could ask me how do you know know that those who people do their and I might say something like well you know I was giving the lecture so I was looking at the audience and I know who the FSU people are and none of them were in that audience what am i doing I'm giving you premises now and it leads to a conclusion so it's very important to be able to see you have to have this structure if you if you don't have a conclusion you don't have an argument and a conclusion by itself is not a conclusion conclusion by itself is just an isolated claim so a bunch of things all jumbled up together not an argument yet another thing that your book talks about is the difference between this is on page 12 and 13 difference between an arguments and explanations this is the wall of a trickier race this and we'll bring it back a little bit later explanations are something that are not in argument let's say we take that case again of giving the lecture no FSU people we're in the audience who said dr. Sadler how would you know that and I said well you know I looked out in the audience and I didn't recognize any people from FSU they're there we have an argument all right I made a claim you ask me dr. Sandler how can you back that girl off and I gave you some some support for it I gave you some further claims those are your premises why did no FSU people show up now you're not asking for an argument you're asking for an explanation aren't you now one of the things I want to clue you into both the arguments and explanations we'll use one word and common that that leads students to confuse them very easily because arguments and explanations we'll use this in different ways an argument is looking for you to make pays they adds whatever it is you want to hard before the president gave a good speech the president get bad speech if you take this up yeah excuse me if you take a side on that and somebody says why do you think that they're asking you for an argument now that would be if they disagree with you they want you to make a case they could also be asking you why as and you know well why do you think that why do you have that opinion I'm not worried about whether you know whether you're right or wrong I just want to understand you've heard things like that before right oftentimes when we actually get in arguments not in the sense that we're using here in arguments we were yelling at each other and fighting and then they send you to counseling together what does the counselor say I just want to hear both sides or mediators or whoever I just want to understand understanding is about explanation an explanation is looking for why they tell me why something is the case why didn't any of us when people show up well I can think of some explanations and this is something actually that we're going to look at later in the semester how do you figure out what's a good explanation what's what's not a good explanation I personally at first I thought when I well that's because FSU people don't support each other and then I started thinking about it a little bit more and you know behind it totally busy I barely have time to keep my head above water and get the things on blackboard for you guys and keep up with all my committee work and do all the special projects that I've assigned to and I don't even have any kids down here why my colleagues have kids that they have to keep track up and drive around and all that sort of stuff that makes sense that makes sense out of that thing that we want to explain see what an explanation does is makes sense out of something it helps you understand that it doesn't make the case that something is the case when do you need an argument when somebody doesn't accept what you're saying when do you need an explanation they might accept what you're saying they just don't fully understand them you guys see the difference between these now seeing the difference between these is not the same thing as being able to actually distinguish them apart from each other real-life circumstances easily so let's actually look over here we can't see it on the camera but we have it in transcript form from National Public Radio okay so speech starts off and it always starts off with you know talking to people and is this first part of argument tonight I want to begin by congratulating the men and women of the 112th Congress as well as your new Speaker John Boehner Boehner I hear different different people pronouncing in different ways and as we mark this occasion were also mindful of the empty chair in this chamber we pray for the health of our colleague and a friend Gabby Giffords applause that's took place it's a transcript is there an argument there yeah why not music he's not actually even explaining so much he's introducing these this is sort of ceremonial language it means something but it doesn't mean here's a claim I want you to accept it I'm going to defend it or anything like that but that will come like I love to shrink this back to them let's look at the next sentence it's no secret that those of us here tonight and had our differences over the last two years the debates have been contentious we've fought fiercely for our beliefs and that's a good thing that's what a robust democracy demands that's what helps sets us apart as a nation now and they have passage you notice it's one paragraph there's more than one thing going on that's good this one you mark that is there an argument can you see an argument there where some claim is being advanced and then some other claims are being given a support for theirs beliefs is just a word so that can't be a claim claim has to be a whole sentence the subject of the verb an argument is going to be a set of claims that's that's a claim another claim that one is actually a premise we did sure we'll try to sell three on the board what is that actually supporting why is he saying that's what a robust democracy demands look at that look at the passage that we bought here's what is what is the point that he's making that that's what a robust democracy demands yeah that's going to lead to the main claim I get it again it's a shorter sentence in there yeah that's a good thing because that's what a robust democracy demands because that's what helped to set us apart as a nation you want to get yourself than they have it when you're looking at these things and asking what is the most basic claim that other things are supporting if there's an argument there there will be a most basic claim you have to be attentive readers when you're looking at anything that has arguments the ordering by itself will necessarily give you this so here's that schema that's an argument has premises and a conclusion and in the case of this one the conclusion is that's a good thing what does he mean by that he means the stuff that he's talking about now earlier we've got our differences that we've fought fiercely for our beliefs so what is a good thing I'm these brackets here because that's the way we show that we're not using the exact same words let's say strong debate strong debate is a good thing its lucky he thinks that because there's an awful lot of it isn't there there always is there's never been a time in American politics where everybody agreed from the beginning so strong debate is a good thing why is it a good thing he's not asking for here he's not asking you for an explanation you're not you're not asking him for once he's backing it up with some things a robust democracy demands strong to me that's being given a support isn't it that leads you to this conclusion robust democracy demands strong debate therefore what else that's what helps sets us apart as a nation now if that's the case what's what are these other sentences - are they part of the argument not really they're giving you information or background information that helps you make sense of the argument it's no secret that those of us here tonight and had our differences over the last two years he's setting the stage he's giving you information the debates have been contentious we fought fiercely for our beliefs that's a good thing that's what a robust democracy demands that's what helps sets us apart as a nation so the argument is really only the second half of that now this isn't something that I've expected you to study yet at this point I'd like you to think about this do you accept this premise robust democracy demands strong debate think that maybe do your civics class or your American history class or whatever whatever social science class or social studies what is democracy all of you know this because you've all had it many times is elementary middle high school students what is it wizard democracy well you don't it's not necessarily that you have a party system because you have yeah run by everybody and what in what sense because you know right now the Democrats don't feel like they're running the show even though they have the president because they the House of Representatives is Republican the people we often say that but who which people that's particularly actually in to run things through the people who are actually going to get that's how it's different than than a dictatorship or an oligarchy or a communist state or a fascist state or all the other different possibilities that there are out there and the only way a democracy really works well is if there's a lot of debate I mean if we don't want the bait we can just elect somebody ruler for life and that have them beside everything right what's the point in having a baby well you could say you know air a lot of ideas and then see which ones are the best ideas and how do you tell whether they're good ideas are not in a democracy you see what votes for now it was the best way by the way to tell them if it's a good idea because most people if you know there are certainly the peels you can make you can say how would all of you like to get $1,000 extra every year without having to earn it let's vote on that most you'd vote for it right probably wouldn't be a good measure to do because some would have to pay for that right and then when you get the bill you would then he'd start saying oh I don't think this is such a good idea in the first place now 1,000 they got $1,000 but they took $1,000 more out but we have debate about things there's some assumptions built you notice we just unpacked something though is he having all these debates is that part of what sets us apart as a nation maybe he maybe he's talking about having a stronger democracy it's not there in that sentence is it what sets of the sets us apart as a nation does that set us apart I think things what you know about other countries if you're not able to answer these sort of questions that's a sign that your your education has not prepared you for college at this point if you don't know enough about American democracy and foreign countries there's some gaps and you're going to want to fill those in because when you get in the workplace you're going to need to know a lot about a lot of different things so if you're having you're struggling with this right now it's not just that you're shy you really don't have any answers for these things you have a lot of work to do because if you want to make sense out of these things you have to have the background knowledge don't you this is just the you know the first paragraph of a major speech that was given by our president if you want to be a critical thinker you have to be able to take that sort of thing sit down with them and be able to processes like that that's what a college education is supposed to signify that you can do that so you know the word of the wise what assumptions are being made here do we want to have a democracy do you why we're based on the people but so yeah yeah okay there's a an explanation now notice what I asked for they're an expert article I asked for an explanation why do you think that yeah you have a little bit more say in what your life is going to be like in a democracy you know mainly in China which is our big strategic rival many people don't get to decide what they're gonna do in life it's decided for them and it's decided pretty early that's a different model of society there's no necessity that that we do things our way it could be 20 years from now that we're going to do things their way they're not a democracy you know we are though the European countries are Japan has quite a few of the other you know countries in the third world or democracies sometimes they're working sometimes not there's a big assumption here that he's expecting Americans to share that we want democracy that democracy's a good thing that can you have to build that indicate to this conclusion that strong debate is a good thing do they think that in every other country stronger betas birthday you know if you engage in strong debate in China you may find yourself in a prison camp what's up we're dead or you may have to be exiled to the United States strong debate is not tolerated in in a lot of cases but it is in our political system that's all built into this first paragraph so you notice we're dealing with with arguments from the start let's go on a little bit further and then we'll look at some more issues about arguments since it's a part of the nation let's see if we can find some good explanations there's a lot of arguments built in here he's making a case war okay let's look at this this passage many people watching tonight can probably remember a time when finding a good job than showing up at a nearby factory or business downtown you didn't always need a degree your competition was pretty much limited to your neighbors if you worked hard chances are you do have a job for life with a decent paycheck and good benefits in the occasional promotion maybe you can even have the pride of seeing your kids work at the same company argument there ask you something see a few heads shaking if you actually understand today's material if you if you've done adequate preparation for class this should be very easy for you to say no it's not an argument this is this is a narrative he's not actually this could be an explanation you know maybe if the question is how did people think about things in the past he could be explaining that he's not actually saying let me tell you how people used to think about in the past he was the first artist he's assuming that everybody understands and doses may not be a great assumption to because it's pretty me hunger people this has never been the case in your lifetime has it that you can just show up in a place and there's a job and it will never be the case in your lifetime that you can just show up there will be a job it's going to be very high competition let's look at what he says after that the world has changed and for many the change has been painful I've seen it as a shuttered windows and once booming factories and the vacant storefronts of wants busy Main streets I've heard it in the frustrations of Americans who've seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear proud men and women who feel like the rules have been changed in the middle of the game it's very powerful rhetoric isn't it my rhetoric I don't necessarily mean it's false or anything like that I just mean it appeals to to the emotions very well that world has changed and for many of the changes been painful those are those are notice two different issues remember when we talked about issues has the world changed that's an issue has the change been painful that's another issue they're connected together so now he's changing subjects isn't he when you're changing issues you're shifting the subject slightly I've seen it in the shuttered windows of the once women factories and the vacant storefronts is he making an argument here do you think it could be if somebody actually is making the case that the world hasn't changed do you think anybody's making that case these days probably not there may be a few older people who are out of the workforce and they say I don't know what's wrong with these kids back in my day you know you just get a job and work hard and blah blah blah but that's because they're they're not part of the mainstream conversation all of you know that it's tough isn't it it's tough to even to get entry-level jobs these days that world has changed what he's doing here again is he's giving you a nice story but a story is not yet an argument it's a narrative it's a different kind of speech let's look at the next passage that they're right we're right about what proud men and women feel like the rules have changed in the middle of the game they're right the rules have changed you know single generation revolutions and technology have transformed the way we live work and do business steel mills at once needed a thousand workers can down to the same job with a hundred today just about any company can set up shop hire workers and sell their products wherever there's an internet connection here he's not just telling the story isn't he what's he doing that he's not making an argument yet yeah he's erased explanation he's giving you an explanation isn't he he's telling you how did the rules change what do you mean when you say the rules have changed he's giving you now some explanation of what he means in a single generation revolutions in technology have transformed the way we live work and do business that's an explanation for what sort of changes he goes on meanwhile nations like China and India have realized with some changes of their own they could compete in this new world and so they started educating their children earlier longer with greater emphasis on math and science they're investing in research and new technologies just recently China became home to the world's largest private solar research facility in the world's fastest computer so what's going on here arguments story explanation what do you think you're right he is building up to his argument this is all part of one big argument often times arguments are not so straightforward and simple insists they're part of a larger structure and explanations can be part of that nations like India realizes some changes of their own they could compete in this new world and so they started educating their children earlier and longer they're there so far he's giving he's telling you a story then he starts telling you what they do greater emphasis on math and science investing in research and technologies gives you some examples he is building towards an argument here is the argument yes the world has changed all that stuff that he's saying now you can see fits into the bigger picture does he was trying to make that point why is he trying to make that point well he's gonna say that more the competition for jobs is real but this shouldn't discourage us it should challenge us now is they had a claim that everybody's going to agree with so that should tell you when now when you see somebody making a claim that other people are probably not going to all agree with you should start thinking is there an argument here how is he gonna back this up then you should start looking for arguments the world has changed the competition for jobs is real but it shouldn't discourage us it should challenge us so now look at what he says after this remember for all the hits who have taken these last few years for the naysayers predicting our decline America still has the largest most prosperous economy in the world no workers are more productive than ours this no country has more successful companies our grants more patents to investors and entrepreneurs were the home to the world's best colleges and universities where more students come to study than any place on their okay here's an argument this is an argument so let's see if we can sort of reconstruct it it shouldn't discourage us what's the claim he's saying he's not just saying that shouldn't describes it should challenges change should challenge us and want you to challenge us instead of discouraging us when we could get discouraged alright if you discouraged yeah you know this is this bright new world that he's talking about it doesn't exist everywhere equally it exists less here in Fayetteville than it does in Raleigh doesn't wear all the biotech stuff used to be and where there are bigger universities you know the big university is the world's best colleges and universities where students come to study more than any other place on earth that describes some places better than other places doesn't Wow let's see where his argument is done so what is he actually giving you here's our conclusion what is he giving as premises he's giving you if I count before look at the argument that's up there and say yes there's one premise no workers that's all part of yeah let's all great thing no country has more successful companies or grants more patents well those could be two seven things no country has more successful companies you know let's of psyching this I can actually get this done let's let's skip it x2 we have the best colleges and universities okay so we actually have four different reasons being given they're all sort of thrown together and we want to do this for a reason let's say somebody doesn't accept this now this is they don't they don't accept the premise that we are the most prosperous country well then maybe they'll accept these other words or maybe this is actually being used sort of as a middle point in the argument and I'll show you how to do that in later classes maybe these premises right here actually backing this up why were the most prosperous country that is giving you the reason why we should feel challenged its discouraged the workers are more productive that might be true it depends on how you measure it no country has been successful companies that's a true statement we are actually that's still the largest economy on earth we have the best colleges and universities you know it depends on how you want to measure it some some people see that you know the Sorbonne Oxford are better than the you know Harvard or your daily you know things like that but if you look at it as an aggregate we sure we have a lot of colleges and universities compared to other places other places they're almost all state-run and you know in France Germany places like that not everybody gets to go to college here we open it up to anybody who wants to go you can't go everywhere you want you know it's on your grades your aptitude but you know in Germany in France not everybody goes you take a test that if you're not smart enough you're not part of that 15 percent who get to go but you have to go to trade school so maybe these are the reasons for you he's talking to you by the way in this this speech he's not just talking to those who have power he's talking to everybody including young Americans who are trying to figure out what they're doing with their lives and are currently in college and wondering what's gonna happen he's trying to offer you reasons not to be discouraged now what will end this class let me ask you that I'm not I'm being completely forthright I don't know the answer to this do you find any of this to be good reasons why you should not be discouraged but a challenge that I see a lot of shaking yeah why why not here I'm looking for an explanation I'm not looking for you to make a case the place is barely there doing what sense any sense strongly strongly by that point I agree with it this way we're doing with the premise okay well this is interesting you can make that this brings us to a good point you can make the same argument saying you can make the same conclusion with different premises so what she's talking about is maybe these aren't the best premises to do them think about this in the time that we have it and work on the material for the next stop we're going to start going into more complicated little tricky material and I'll see all you have credit

Channel: Fayetteville State University

Views: 59,605

Rating: 4.8683729 out of 5

Keywords: Arguments, and, non-Arguments

Id: O5XGP_ffiuk

Length: 43min 2sec (2582 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 26 2011