Chapter # 3

Recognizing Arguments
Recognizing Arguments
When people hear the word argument, they usually think of some kind of quarrel or
shouting match. In critical thinking, however, an argument is simply a claim defended
with reasons.
Cousins example fastivals.
Arguments are composed of one or more premises and a conclusion. Premises are
statements in an argument offered as evidence or reasons why we should accept
another statement, the conclusion. The conclusion is the statement in an argument that
the premises are intended to prove or support. An argument, accordingly, is a group of
statements, one or more of which (called the premises) are intended to prove or
support another statement (called the conclusion).
Imagine you're trying to convince someone of something. To do that, you provide
reasons or evidence, right? Those reasons or evidence you present are called premises.
They're like the building blocks of your argument.
Arguments
A statement is a sentence that can be viewed as either true or false. Here are some examples
of statements:
Red is a color.
Canada is in South America. This statement is factually incorrect because Canada is located in
North America." Conclusion: "Therefore, any argument relying on the premise that Canada is
in South America is flawed or inaccurate."
Education is important for personal development
Some of these statements are clearly true, some are clearly false. Each of them is a statement,
however, because each can be prefaced with the phrase “It is true that” or “It is false that.”
• Prefacing with "It is true that" or "It is false that": This technique is a way to emphasize that
a sentence can be evaluated as true or false. For example:
• "It is true that the Earth orbits the Sun."
• "It is false that elephants can fly."
• Regular exercise promotes physical health
• The Earth is flat
• Early childhood education improves cognitive development.
• I'm feeling hungry because I skipped breakfast
• "My phone battery is low because I forgot to charge it last night.
The term "cognitive" refers to mental processes related to understanding,
thinking, learning, and remembering. It encompasses various aspects of mental
function, including perception, attention, memory, reasoning, problem-solving,
and language comprehension children who participate in high-quality early
childhood education programs often show significant improvements in cognitive
skills such as language development, problem-solving abilities, and memory
retention.
Sentence explanation
• sentence may be used to express more than one statement.
Example:
• Roses are red and violets are blue
• expresses two distinct statements (“roses are red” and “violets are blue”). Each of these is a
statement because each is capable of standing alone as a declarative sentence. :
• Declarative sentences express facts, opinions, descriptions, or other statements of truth. They
convey information or provide an assertion about the world. ‫دعوی‬
• Example: "The sky is blue."
"Violets" typically refers to small flowering plants in the genus Viola, characterized by delicate
purple, blue, or white flowers
• The heart pumps blood throughout the body and circulates oxygen.
• Plants use sunlight for photosynthesis and produce oxygen.
• The sun rises in the east and sets in the west
Not all sentences are statements, that is, sentences that either assert or deny
that something is the case. Here are some examples of sentences that are
not statements:
What time is it? (question)
Hi, Dad! (greeting)
Close the window! (command)
Please send me your current catalog. (request)
Let’s go to Paris for our anniversary. (proposal)
Insert tab A into slot B. (instruction)
Oh, my goodness! (exclamation)
None of these is a statement because none of them asserts or denies
that anything is the case. None says, in effect, “This is a fact. Accept
this; it is true.” Consequently, sentences like these are not parts of
arguments.
• How are you feeling today
• Clean your room!
• Could you pass the salt, please
• Let's have pizza for dinner tonight.
• Press the power button to turn on the device
• Good morning, everyone
• "I'm planning to visit my parents this weekend.
• Interrogative (Question): "How are you feeling today?"
• This sentence asks a question and does not assert or deny anything as a
statement would.
• Imperative (Command): "Clean your room!"
• This sentence gives a command or instruction rather than making a statement
of fact.
• Request: "Could you pass the salt, please?"
• This sentence is a polite request and does not assert or deny anything as a
statement would.
• Proposal: "Let's have pizza for dinner tonight."
• This sentence suggests an idea or plan but does not assert or deny a fact.
• Instruction: "Press the power button to turn on the device."
• This sentence provides guidance or direction but does not assert or deny
anything as a statement would.
• Exclamation: "Wow, that's amazing!"
• This sentence expresses strong emotion or surprise but does not assert or
deny a fact.
• Greeting: "Good morning, everyone!"
• This sentence is a form of greeting and does not make a statement of fact.
• Expression of Intent: "I'm planning to visit my parents this weekend."
WHAT IS NOT AN ARGUMENT?
We encounter arguments everywhere in daily life —at school, at work,
in magazine ads, in newspaper editorials, in political discussions, in
television documentaries, and on radio talk shows. Of course, people
don’t use language only to offer arguments: they also use it to tell
jokes, sing songs, recite poetry, express feelings, report events, ask
questions, offer explanations, say prayers, give orders, and exchange
wedding vows. How, then, can we distinguish arguments from non
arguments?
The basic test is quite simple. Something counts as an argument when (1) it is a
group of two or more statements and
(2) one of those statements (the conclusion) is claimed or intended to be
supported by the others (the premises). By applying this simple test, we can usually
tell whether a given passage is or is not an argument. Now let’s look at five types of
non argumentative discourse that are sometimes confused with arguments:
• reports
• unsupported assertions
• conditional statements
• illustrations
• explanations
Reports
The purpose of a report is simply to convey information about a subject.
• Title: "Report on Customer Satisfaction Survey Results"
• Introduction: This report presents the findings of a customer satisfaction
survey conducted by nestle.
• Key Findings: The survey indicates high levels of satisfaction with product
quality and customer service, but highlights areas for improvement in times.
• Conclusion: Addressing shipping efficiency can enhance overall customer
experience and loyalty to the brand.
This is not an argument because the author is merely reporting another
person’s argument, not endorsing it or putting it forward as his own.
Unsupported assertions
• Unsupported assertions are statements that someone makes based
on their personal beliefs or opinions, without providing any evidence
or reasons to back them up. These statements can be true or false,
sensible or not, but they're not really part of an argument unless the
person says they're connected to other statements or are supporting
something else.
• For example, if someone says,
• I think chocolate ice cream is the best
Because there is no claim that any of these statements follow from, or
imply, any other statements, this is not an argument.
Conditional Statements
A conditional statement is an if-then statement. Here are several
example:
If it rains, then the picnic will be canceled.
Conditional statements are made up of two basic parts. The first part,
the statement(s) following the word if, is called the antecedent. The
second part, the statement(s) following the word then, is called the
consequent.
Illustrations
Illustrations are intended to provide examples of a claim, rather than
prove or support the claim
• claim: "Reading enhances vocabulary."
• Illustration: "Consider a child who reads regularly. Over time, they
encounter a variety of words in books, magazines, and newspapers.
As they encounter new words in different contexts, their vocabulary
naturally expands.
Explanations
Explanations Consider the statement:
Titanic sank because it struck an iceberg.
an explanation tries to show why something is the case, not to prove
that it is the case. In the first example, for instance, it is clear that the
speaker isn’t trying to argue that Titanic sank—everybody already
knows that it sank. Instead, he is trying to explain why it sank. Of
course, you can argue about whether a given explanation is or is not
correct.
‫ٹائی ٹینک ڈوب گیا کیونکہ اس نے ایک برفانی تولہ سے ٹکرایا تھا۔‬