UCS 1733

MAKING CLAIMS Introduction to Critical

Thinking
 WHAT IS A CLAIM?
Claim = statement
A claim is an idea that someone is trying to convince to
someone else in order to assert or deny that something is
the case or true.
It is a statement asserted within an argument that can be
assessed to be true or false, but it cannot be both.
It is the basic starting point of an argument.
In short, a claim basically says “This is a fact. Accept this as it is
true”.
 group of statements, one or more of which is/are
ARGUMENT: intended to prove or support another statement.
To start with argument, you need statement @ claim
Claim 1/Statement 1 Example:
Claim 2/Statement 2 Hawaii has hot weather year around
Claim 3/Statement 3 and beautiful beaches, so it is the best
place for a vacation.
Conclusion = one of these claim
is conclusion.
*inside the statement will be premises= as evidence to support
conclusion.
EXAMPLES OF STATEMENTS
Red is a color (Physical statement)
Abortion is morally wrong (Moral statement)
The Aquaman is a better movie than Avengers
(Evaluative statement)
 Four things should be noted about statements:
Statements or claims have the following characteristics:
i. They are either true or false
ii.A sentence can be used to express more than one statement.
For example, the sentence “Roses are red and violets are blue”
expresses two (2) distinct statements
if one statement: Red is color
Canada is in South America
Abortion is morally wrong
iii. They are declarative – they are sentences that describes
how things are, were, will be, would be, could be or should
be (i.e. they are NOT questions or command)
Another explanation:
Some sentences contain more than one statement and are
complete arguments (premise and conclusion)

With mortgage rates at 30 year lows, you owe it to yourself

to consider refinancing your home.
iv.They can be about subjective matters of personal
experience as well as objectively verifiable matters of
fact. For example, if I say “I feel a slight pain in my left
knee” – this is a statement/claim because it is either true
or false (I might be lying) even though other people may
have no way of verifying whether I am actually telling the
truth.
v. Not all sentences are statements
Question, command, greeting, request, proposal, instruction and exclamation are NOT
claims or statements
For examples:
1.How do you feel today? (Question)
2.Hi, Kajeepan! (Greeting)
3.Do it now! (Command)
4.Please give me two loaves of bread. (Request)
5.Let’s go to Secret Recipe for lunch. (Proposal)
6.Click on the “Start” button. (Instruction)
7.Great! (Exclamation)
ARGUMENTS: PREMISES & CONCLUSIONS
 ARGUMENT
A crucial part of critical thinking is to identify, construct and evaluate
arguments.
An argument is a group of statements or claims: one or more of which
(called the premises) are intended to prove or support another
statement (called the conclusion), in an attempt to convince other
people using reasons.
In short, to give an argument is to provide a set of premises as
reasons for accepting the conclusion. As such, an argument consists of
the following:
Premise(s) + Conclusion = Argument
 ARGUMENT
Premise(s) + Conclusion = Argument
The premise(s) : These are sentences that are supposed to support, lead
to, provide evidence for, prove or convince that the conclusion is true.

A conclusion : The sentence that the argument is arguing for, or that

part of an argument that the person is trying to convince you. The
conclusion is always a claim.

An argument is an attempt to convince other people that a certain

claim is true.
 ARGUMENT -EXAMPLE
“If you want to find a good job, you should work hard (p). You
do want to find a good job (p). So you should work hard (c).”

The first 2 sentences here are the premises of the argument

The last sentence is the conclusion/claim
Hence, to give this argument is to offer the premises as reasons
for accepting the conclusion.
 ARGUMENT -EXAMPLE
All mammals feed their young with milk. (P1)
All human are mammals. (P2)
Therefore, all humans feed their young with milk. (C)

All that feed their young with milk are mammals. (P1)
All humans feed their young with milk. (P2)
Therefore all humans are mammals. (C)
 ARGUMENT - EXAMPLE
“Memory isn’t that important for academic success.”
Is that sentence an argument? Why?

“Much undergraduate assessment is coursework. Moreover,

in some exams students are able to take in reference books.
Thus, memory isn’t that important for academic success.”
Now, is that sentence an argument? Why?
 ARGUMENT -EXAMPLE
“Much undergraduate assessment is coursework. Moreover, in
some exams students are able to take in reference books. Thus,
memory isn’t that important for academic success.”
Let us break the sentences down:
Much undergraduate assessment is coursework – Premise 1
Moreover, in some exams students are able to take in reference
books – Premise 2
Thus, memory isn’t that important for academic success –
Conclusion/Claim
 ARGUMENT - EXAMPLE
Here’s another example:
“You should complete your college education. People who
graduate from college earn, on average, more money than
college dropouts. They also report much higher levels of
satisfaction in life.”
Can you tell me if that sentence is an argument? Please explain.
 ARGUMENT -EXAMPLE
“You should complete your college education. People who graduate from college earn,
on average, more money than college dropouts. They also report much higher levels of
satisfaction in life.”

In this case, the first sentence is the conclusion, and the rest are premises.
This is because the other sentences give reasons that you should accept the first
sentence. Therefore, they act as premises, or evidences for the conclusion (You should
complete your college education).
Another way to see that this is the conclusion is to ask yourself: What is this person
trying to convince me of? It’s not “college graduates earn more money”. He is telling me
without any evidence how they earn more money. But if that’s true, that’s a reason for me
to graduate from college. Hence, earning more money is a premise that is presented as
evidence for the conclusion.
 NON-ARGUMENT
oWhen people sweat a lot they tend to drink more water. [Just a single
statement, not enough to make an argument.]
oOnce upon a time there was a prince and a princess. They lived happily
together and one day they decided to have a baby. But the baby grew up to
be a nasty and cruel person and they regret it very much. [A chronological
description of facts composed of statements but no premise or conclusion.]
oCan you come to the meeting tomorrow? [A question that does not contain an
argument.]
oYou should bring your shoes. [An opinion without premise.]
oOh, my goodness! [An exclamation]
oLet’s go to Paradigm Mall. [Just a proposal]
 INDICATORS WORDS
How do we identify arguments in real life?
We usually have to rely on the context (setting/situation) to determine
which are the premises and the conclusion.
The language in which an argument is presented often contains
words or phrases to help identify its part (premises & conclusion), and
these words are called premise indicators or conclusion indicators.
For example, if a person make a statement, and then add “this is
because…”, then it is likely that the sentence that comes before it is
a conclusion, and the sentence after it is the supporting
statements.
 PREMISE INDICATORS
Often appears before a premise to show that the sentence(s) are premise(s).

EXAMPLES OF PREMISE INDICATORS

Since For Seeing that Inasmuch as
In view of the fact Judging from Because Given that
Considering that As As indicated by On account of
This is because Insofar as For the reason that Assuming that
Follows from As shown by As indicated by May be inferred
May be deduced May be derived Firstly Secondly …
from
 PREMISE INDICATORS - EXAMPLES
Having fun can be the spice of life but not its main
course (c), because when it is over, nothing of lasting
value remains (p).
Women are not by any means to blame when they
reject the rules of life, which have been introduced
into the world (c), seeing that it is men who have
made them without their consent (p).
 CONCLUSION INDICATORS
Often appears before a conclusion.
EXAMPLES OF CONCLUSION INDICATORS

Thus Therefore In conclusion So

This implies that Hence Consequently Wherefore

Indicates Entails It follows that It must be

This suggests that This proves that This demonstrates That is why
that
As a result This being so Accordingly For this reason
 CONCLUSION INDICATORS - EXAMPLES
You want people to be honest with you (p), so be
honest with them (c).

Sorrow is merely a state of mind and may not be

warranted by the circumstances (p). Hence whether or
not you feel sad over something is all in the mind (c).
NON PREMISES AND NON CONCLUSION INDICATORS
Keep in mind that some of the words can also appear within the context
of an argument, but without indicating an inference.
Examples:
1.I haven’t seen you since *high school. (* is not a premise)
2.You’ve had that jacket for as long as I’ve known you.
3.Thus for everything has been great.
4.It was so *cold that even the ski resorts shut down. (* not a conclusion)
5.I wouldn’t mind seeing that movie again.
6.There is water on the floor because the sink overflowed.
ARGUMENTS WITH NO INDICATOR WORDS
Cats are smarter than dogs. You can’t get eight cats to pull a sled
through snow.

I can’t be completely responsible for my life. After all, there are

many factors outside my control, people and forces that create
obstacle and undermine my efforts. And we are subject to pressures
and influences from within ourselves: feelings of greed, fear of
death, altruistic impulses, need for social acceptance, and so on.
HELPFUL HINTS
To find the conclusion of an argument when the argument contains no indicator words:
1.Find the main issue and ask yourself what position the writer or speaker is taking on
that issue.
2.Look at the beginning or end of the passage; the conclusion is often (but not always)
found in one of those places.
3.Ask yourself, “what is the writer or speaker trying to prove?” That will be the
conclusion.
4.Try putting the word therefore before one of the statements. If it fits, that statement is
probably the conclusion.
5.Try the “because trick.” That is, try to find the most appropriate way to fill in the blanks
in the following statement: The writer or speaker believes ______ (conclusion) because
______ (premise). The conclusion will naturally come before the word because.
VAGUE & AMBIGUOUS SENTENCES
 DEFINITIONS
Vague = uncertain, indefinite, or unclear character or meaning.
A sentence is said to be vague if its meaning is not clear in context.
For example, if you write or say, “He didn't live up to my expectations”
this vague statement would beg the question, “Well, what were your
expectations?”

Example: He was prone to worse behaviour than that,”

LIKE WHAT??
Ambiguous = Open to more than one interpretation; having
a double meaning.
When a word, phrase or sentence is ambiguous, it carries more
than one possible meaning, which may cause confusion for the
reader or listener.
A sentence is said to be ambiguous if it has at least two
specific meanings that make sense in context.
For example: “I know more talented teachers than John Smith,”
this could mean that you know teachers who are more talented
than John Smith or that you know a greater number of talented
teachers than John Smith does
 “Theresa kissed her husband,
and so did Betsy”
you could mean that Betsy also kissed Theresa's husband or that she kissed her
own husband.
The difference between the 2 sentences:
If Adi does not know what is meant by the
sentence, then the sentence is vague to him.
If Adi does not know which of two or more
specific meanings is intended in the sentence,
then it is ambiguous to him.
 VAGUE SENTENCES
Vague statements or situations can lead to misunderstandings because people can
draw different conclusions based on the sparse/unclear information provided.
For example, “Nurse needed for pre-school” is vague because there are many kinds
of nurses, and the same job is certainly not open to them all: registered nurses,
practical nurses, nannies, etc. The problem lies in the word “nurse” which has many
different types so the ad’s usage is vague.
The more details that are supplied, the less vague a phrase will be: “Registered
nurse needed for pre-school”.
A word is vague when its meaning is fuzzy, blurry or inexact.
Some term is vague because there are borderline areas in a continuum, where it is
unclear whether or not the term applies. For example: words like “little,” “close,”
“new,” “young,” “fat,” “wealthy,” “thick”
EXAMPLES
Hot, bald, tall, unhappy, attractive, young, old,
good, sad, gross, etc. We might ask: How hot?
How bald? How tall? etc…..
“I’ll be back. My paper will be done soon”.
 AMBIGUOUS SENTENCES
Ambiguous sentences can lead to confusion as they can have/describe
two or more different meanings/situations.
For example, the word “star” can mean a twinkling celestial object or a
famous celebrity.
Consider this sentence: “Sherlock saw the man using binoculars.”
This sentence can describe two entirely different situations.
Situation 1: Sherlock has binoculars, sees a man by using them.
Situation 2: Sherlock sees a man who is in possession of and using a pair
of binoculars.
He fed her cat food.
1. He fed a woman’s cat some food.
2. He fed a woman some food that was intended for cats.
3. He somehow encouraged some cat food to eat something.
We saw her duck.
1. We looked at a duck that belonged to her.
2. We looked at her quickly squat down to avoid
something.
3. We use a saw to cut her duck.
TYPES OF AMBIGUOUS SENTENCES
1. Semantic ambiguities
2. Syntactical ambiguities
 SEMANTIC AMBIGUITIES
Semantic ambiguities result from uncertainty about the
meaning of an individual word or phrase.
Example 1: As a young girl, her grandfather often told her stories about the Wild
West. [Her grandfather was never a young girl.]
Example 2: One morning, John shot an elephant in his pajamas. [Those must have been
big pajamas!]

In 2 minutes, give ONE (1) example of semantic

ambiguities.
SYNTACTICAL AMBIGUITIES
Ambiguities that result from faulty grammar or word order are called syntactical
ambiguities.
Example: “The guard and prisoners who refused to join in the prison break were tied.”
[This sounds as if there were guards who refused to break out of prison.]
To avoid this type of ambiguity, you should put commas or modifiers properly. In this
case, you should put commas like this:
“The guard, and prisoners who refused to join in the prison break, were tied.”
OR
“The guard tied prisoners who refused to join in the prison break.”