Claims Critical Thinking PDF

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Summary

This document gathers all the information included in the course of Critical Thinking and Discourse Analysis presented by Dr. Nachit to students of the English Department....

Description

Claims An argument consists of claims, evidence and reasoning. The claim is the end point of an argument; it is an expressed opinion or a conclusion that the arguer wants accepted. The word claim comes from the Latin word clamare, which means “to cry out, shout.” Thus, the definition of claim comes from this idea of crying out a proposition, which can then be argued, verified, or disproved. We all make claims on a nearly daily basis, if not daily. We make claims when stating our opinions or sharing facts with others.

Examples: •

4 out of 5 dentists recommend Trident.

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An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

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Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.

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—Winston Churchill, “We shall fight on the beaches” speech

 Classification of claims:  Factual claims, Value claims and Policy claims

Factual claims:

Factual claims assert that a condition has, does, or will exist. These claim are called factual claims since they are supported (are proven) by factual, verifiable information such as statistics, specific examples, and personal testimony. Many factual

claims do not make interesting claims because they are too easily verified by our senses. Factual claims are relatively easy to prove because the needed information is generally available and clear. Example: Sunshine is warm. Some factual claims require clear definitions and strong supporting material because they include terms that may be ambiguous. Example: Capital punishment deters crime •

Factual claims are generally one of three types: relational, predictive and historical.

a) Relational claims attempt to establish a causal relation between one condition or event and another. Example: A diet high in fat harm your health. b) Predictive claims are based on the assumption that past relationships and conditions will be repeated in the future. Example: Every home in Morocco will have an Internet connection by 2025. c) Hidtorical claims rest on the strength of probable evidence to which we have access. Example: There was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Value claims :

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Value claims assert a writer's sense of values, a writer's sense of right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust, the beautiful and the ugly. Value claims make judgments, and like all claims readers need to evaluate the evidence and assumptions supporting such claims. Value claims try to prove that some idea, action, or condition is good or bad, right or wrong, worthwhile or worthless.

 Democracy offers the greatest chance for people to realize their full potential.

Policy claims :

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Policy claims argue that a certain condition should exist. They express a writer's sense of obligation or necessity. Consequently, we can recognize policy claims fairly easily since a specific class of verbs, the modal verbs, convey the meanings of obligation or necessity. The modal verbs that convey a sense of obligation and

necessity are should, must, need, ought to, got to, and have to. Some examples of policy claims are.

 We should legalize drugs.  Drivers under the age of 25 with even the slightest amount of alcohol in their blood should have their licenses revoked for 5 years....