Study Guide Critical Thinking

Arguments

Claims supported by premises/reasons.

Premise

A statement/reason offered to support a conclusion.

Conclusion

The statement an argument tries to establish.

Deductive argument

An argument intended to guarantee its conclusion.

Inductive argument

An argument that supports its conclusion with probability.

Valid argument

A deductive argument whose conclusion follows necessarily.

Invalid argument

A deductive argument whose conclusion does not follow necessarily.

Sound argument

A valid deductive argument with true premises.

Inductively stronger argument

An inductive argument with stronger support for its conclusion.

Inductively weaker argument

An inductive argument with weaker support for its conclusion.

Counterexample

An example that shows an argument or claim does not hold.

Conditional statement

An if-then statement.

Antecedent

The “if” part of a conditional.

Precedent

A judicial decision that can be applied to later cases.

Modus Ponens

A valid argument form using a conditional and affirming its antecedent.

Modus Tollens

A valid argument form using a conditional and denying its consequent.

Affirming the Consequent

An invalid argument form that affirms the consequent.

Denying the Antecedent

An invalid argument form that denies the antecedent.

Hypothetical Syllogism

An argument form connecting conditional statements.

Disjunctive Syllogism

An argument form using a disjunction and eliminating one option.

Tilde (~)

Negation symbol.

Wedge (˅)

Disjunction symbol.

Horseshoe (⊃)

Conditional/if-then symbol.

Analogy

A comparison used to support a conclusion.

Analogical argument

An argument that reasons from similarities between cases.

Disanalogy

A relevant difference between things being compared.

Counter-analogy

An analogy used to challenge or weaken another analogy.

Unintended consequences

Effects that result from an action but were not intended.

Citizens United v. FEC

A Supreme Court case involving campaign spending and free speech.

BCRA

The campaign-finance law involved in Citizens United.

First Amendment free speech

A constitutional free-speech issue in Citizens United.

Dark money

Political spending where the original funding source is difficult to identify.

Lobbyists

People who seek to influence government officials or policy.

Ad hominem

Attacking the person instead of addressing the argument.

Tu quoque

Responding to criticism by accusing the critic of similar behavior.

Appeal to the people

Using popularity or public approval as support.

Appeal to pity

Using sympathy or pity instead of relevant evidence.

Appeal to force

Using threats or force instead of relevant reasoning.

Appeal to ignorance

Claiming something is true because it has not been proven false, or vice versa.

Unqualified authority

Using an authority who is not qualified on the issue.

Begging the question

Reasoning that assumes the conclusion it is supposed to prove.

Circular reasoning

Using the conclusion as support for itself.

Complex/loaded question

A question containing an unsupported or questionable assumption.

Biased sample

A sample that does not fairly represent the population.

Hasty generalization

Drawing a broad conclusion from insufficient evidence.

False dichotomy

Presenting two options as if they are the only possibilities.

Post hoc

Assuming one event caused another because it happened first.

Slippery slope

Claiming one step will lead to extreme consequences without enough support.

Equivocation

Using a word or phrase with different meanings in the same argument.

Composition

Assuming what is true of parts must be true of the whole.

Division

Assuming what is true of the whole must be true of each part.

Strawman

Misrepresenting an argument to make it easier to attack.

Red herring

Introducing an irrelevant issue to distract from the point.

Misleading precision

Giving an unjustifiably exact number or measurement.

Missing the point

Giving an argument that does not support the issue or conclusion at hand.