the building blocks of a critical thinking method 8/17

#2

issue

a question or controversy responsible for the conversation or discussion. ; Simply: whatever provokes what is being said (ALWAYS QUESTIONS!!)

descriptive issue

those that raise questions about the accuracy of descriptions of the past, present, or future.

prescriptive issue

those that raise questions about what we should do or what is right or wrong, good or bad.

conclusions

the answers discovered by our posing issue questions in order to satisfy our curiosity (like a thesis or claim)

reasons

explanations or rationales for why we should believe a particular conclusion.

ambiguity

the existence of multiple possible meanings for a word or phrase. (ambiguous terms = terms u cant be sure what they mean and is a pillar of the argument)

evidence

explicit information shared by the communicator that is used to back up or to justify the dependability of a factual claim. (reasons:support conclusion as evidence:support reasons

assumptions

a belief, usually unstated, that is taken for granted and supports the explicit reasoning.

descriptive assumptions

invisible glue that connects a reason with the conclusion. ; simply: assuming things without even describing anything why

value assumptions

Value Assumptions: implicit preferences for one value over another in a particular context. ; simply: assuming something bc of ur values ($, etc)

more to consider when evaluating an argument:

• logical fallacies

• significant info omitted (Info you need in order to accept the argument presented as valid)