Module 3: Arguments Part 1

Do You Agree? Why?

The Student in 2007
Lacks confidence Lacks communication skills Lacks leadership skills May not be able to speak proper English Too dependent on tuition Does not mix freely with students of other races Studies in a very exam-oriented environment Not IT-savvy Not creative and innovative May not take part in co-curricular activities

You must unlearn what you have learned.

The National Education Blueprint is aimed at bringing about a major change in the education system. Below we compare the characteristics of a student today and what the blueprint promises in 2010 (NST, 18/01-2007).

The Student in 2010

Self-confident Able to communicate well Has leadership skills Able to speak good English Wont be dependent on tuition Mixes freely with students of other races Studies in an environment that is not too exam-oriented Is IT-savvy Is creative and innovative Takes part in more co-curricular activities

May not know how to read, write and count

Is not very marketable

Has no problems with reading, writing or counting

More marketable

Arguments
PART I 1. What is an Argument? PART I 2. Identifying Premises & Conclusions
Masuk exam

PART I 3. Distinguishing Fact & Opinion

PART III 8. Writing Arguments

PART I 4. What Is Not an Argument?

PART III 7. Evaluating Arguments

PART II 5. Deduction & Induction PART II 6. Analyzing Arguments

3.1 Distinguishing Fact & Opinion

Vince Carter is a Basketball Player. He plays in the NBA and represented USA in the Sydney Olympic Games 2000. He is currently the best player in the NBA.
Facts and Opinions, please identify.

What facts are Have a verifiable truth value. Can be quantified and specific Are supported by evidence

Example
News reporter the reporter must ensure that they provide readers with facts. Someone says that he or she weighs 90kg. Car-pooling will help reduce traffic jam. The government promoted the campaign of car-pooling to reduce traffic congestion.

(Source: The Oxford American Dictionary of Current English in English Dictionaries and Thesauruses; 2003)

Some Opinion Clues

3.1 Opinions

Judging Good, Better, Best, Bad, Worse, Worst, Should, Must

Predicting Will Shall

An opinion is a view about a particular issue. It is what the person believes or thinks, and is not necessarily the truth.
Tend to be vague. Are personal beliefs or value judgments. Fact
KL is the capital of Malaysia. UNITAR is a University in Malaysia. Yao Ming is more than 7 feet tall.

Opinion
KL is the best city in the world. I love studying at UNITAR. Yao Ming is very good looking.

3.1 Distinguishing Fact & Opinion

Fact = Can be proved or disproved Opinion = Personal Belief

Gubra starts at 9.00 pm. Its a great movie!

BEUTY LIES IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER Is it Fact or Opinion ?

3.1 Exercise I: iPhone

Facts and Opinions, please identify.

Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything It's the ultimate digital device. It's like having your life in your pocket. The iPhone will be ultra-slim - less than half-an-inch (1.3cm) thick - boasting a phone, Internet capability and an MP3 player as well as featuring a two megapixel digital camera

I am Steve Jobs, so you can trust me.

3.1 Exercise I: iPhone

Facts and Opinions, please identify.

This is a leapfrog product with a revolutionary new interface with software five years ahead of any other phone and desktop class applications, not those crippled applications you find on those other phones

"Most advanced phones are called smart phone. But they are actually not so smart, and really not so easy to use. When you get a chance to get your hands on it, I think you'll agree, we've reinvented the phone.
I am Steve Jobs, so you can trust me.

3.1 Exercise II: Read the Article

Making of the Creative Student

Facts and Opinions, please identify.

3.2 What Is an Argument? A Claim Defended with Reasons.

Argument - A form of thinking in which certain statements (reasons) are offered in support of another statement (a conclusion). Premises (Reasons) - Statements that support another statement (known as a conclusion), justify it, or make it Masuk exam kena more probable. ingat Conclusion - A statement that explains, asserts, or predicts on the basis of statements (known as reasons) that are offered as evidence for it.

3.2 Example A Simple Argument

1. Lawyers earn a lot of money. (Premise)

2. I want to earn a lot of money. (Premise)

3. I should become a Lawyer. (Conclusion)

3.3 Identifying Premises & Conclusions TIPS

Look for premise indicators that provide clues when premises are being offered. Examples: because, since, for, given that, as, judging from, and seeing that.

Look for conclusion indicators that provide clues when conclusions are being offered. Examples: therefore, thus, hence, so, as a result, accordingly, consequently, and which shows that.

3.3 Identifying Premises & Conclusions TIPS

If the passage contains no indicator words, try these two strategies:

Ask yourself, "What claim is the writer or speaker trying to prove?" That claim will be the conclusion. Try putting the word "therefore" before each of the statements in turn. If it fits that statement is probably the conclusion.

3.3 Exercise 1

Make a will. Otherwise, the state will determine who gets your stuff.
(Andrew Tobias, "Isn't It Time You Faced the Future?" 2001)

3.3 Exercise 2
Research universities also must aggressively support teaching. After all, a significant percentage of their students are undergraduates, and such institutions are clearly obligated to provide them a quality education.
Ernest L. Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered, 1990)
Identify the premise(s) and conclusion of this argument.

3.3 Exercise 3
No one who observes people can pretend that in fact they always seek anything like their own long-run advantage. If this were the case only stupidity could explain how frequently and obviously they act contrary to their own long-run advantage. People are not that stupid!
(Charles Hartshorne and Creighton Peden, Whitehead's View of Reality, 1981)

Identify the premise(s) and conclusion of this argument.

3.3 Exercise 4
We have good reason to believe that people will exist in the future and that they will be similar enough to us that we can have a good idea of what their well-being requires. Knowing this and knowing that our present actions can influence their future well-being, it is reasonable to conclude that future people must be given some ethical consideration by presently living human beings.
(Joseph R. DesJardins, Environmental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy, 3rd ed., 2001)

Identify the premise(s) and conclusion of this argument.

3.4 What Is Not an Argument?

An argument is a claim defended with reasons.
More precisely, a passage is an argument if and only if:

It is a group of two or more statements. One of those statements (the conclusion) is claimed or intended to be supported by the other(s) (the premises).

3.4 What Is Not an Argument?

Notice three important things that follow from this definition: Arguments consist entirely of statements (sentences that it makes sense to regard as either true or false). Questions, commands, and other kinds of non-statements cannot be parts of arguments (Keep in mind, however, that rhetorical questions should be treated as statements.). No single statement is an argument. Arguments always consist of at least two statements. Nothing counts as an argument unless it is claimed or intended that one statement follows from one or more other statements in the passage. In other words, a passage is an argument only if the speaker or writer intends to offer evidence or reasons why another statement should be accepted as true.

3.4 What Is Not an Argument?

Five kinds of passages that are sometimes confused with arguments are:

Reports
Unsupported statements of belief or opinions Illustrations

A statement or group of statements intended simply to convey information about a subject.

Is a statement or set of statements in which the speaker or writer expresses his or her personal opinion, but offers no reasons or evidence to back up that opinion. Is a passage intended to provide examples that illustrate or support a claim, not to provide convincing evidence that the claim is true. and-such is true if something else is true.

Conditional Statements Is an if-then statement. It is an assertion that suchExplanations

Is a statement or set of statements that seeks to provide an account of why something has occurred or why something is the case.

3.4 Example: Report

Planet Earth was much drier in the Triassic than it is now, and there were large deserts in inland areas. There were no flowering plants or grasses--they evolved much later. The most common trees were conifers, similar to today's pines. Other large plants included yews, ginkgos, and the palmlike cycads. Moisture-loving ferns and horsetails thrived by lakes and rivers.
(Philip Whitfield, Simon & Schuster's Children's Guide to Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals, 1992)

3.4 Example: Unsupported statements of belief or opinion

For the person who called and said Larry Bird was better than Michael Jordan, wake up. No one was ever better than Michael Jordan, not even Kareem in his glory and not even Dr. J.
(From a newspaper call-in column)

3.4 Example: Illustration

Almost all groups agree in holding other groups to be inferior to themselves. The American Indians looked upon themselves as the chosen people, specially created by the Great Spirit as an uplifting example for mankind. One Indian tribe called itself "The Only Men"; another called itself "Men of Men"; the Caribs said, "We alone are people."
(Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, 1935)

3.4 Example: Conditional Statement

If Aida comes to the wedding then I will come to the wedding.

3.4 Example: Explanation

I speak good English because my parents encouraged me to practice it everyday.

Group Activity
Break into groups of 4 - 6, read the article provided (Title: Making of the Creative Student, NST, 18/01-2007) and then reflect, discuss and answer the following questions: Yes? Which of the The Student in 2007 characteristics do you have (your perception)? Why? Please discuss Why do you think that you lack this/these characteristic(s)? How? How can the education system (or student) encourage/facilitate The Student in 2010 characteristics? * Use the template provided by your lecturer.

20 min

Group discussion

5 min
15 min

Summarize discussion findings

Group presentation & discussion

The Group leader must submit their findings in hard or soft-copy format to the lecturer before or during the next class.

Summary
1. Distinguishing Fact & Opinion 2. What is an Argument? 3. Identifying Premises & Conclusions
Fact = Can be proved or disproved Opinion = Personal Belief An argument is a claim defended with reasons. Look for premise indicators that provide clues when premises are being offered (e.g. because, since, for). Look for conclusion indicators that provide clues when conclusions are being offered (e.g. therefore, thus, hence, so). If the passage contains no indicator words, try these two strategies: 1) Ask yourself, "What claim is the writer or speaker trying to prove?" That claim will be the conclusion. 2)Try putting the word "therefore" before each of the statements in turn. The statement it fits best will be the conclusion. Five kinds of passages that are sometimes confused with arguments are: Reports, Unsupported statements of belief or opinions, Illustrations, Conditional Statements, and Explanations

4. What Is Not an Argument?

Any Questions?

The End

Contact Details

Zaid Ali Alsagoff

UNIVERSITI TUN ABDUL RAZAK 16-5, Jalan SS 6/12 47301 Kelana Jaya Selangor Darul Ehsan Malaysia E-mail: zaid_a@unitar.edu.my
Tel: 603-7627 7238 Fax: 603-7627 7246

References
Online Resources Courseware Module 7: http://cw.unitar.edu.my/ugb2013/c7/index.htm Books Chapter 2: G Bassham, W Irwin, H Nardone, J M Wallace, Critical Thinking: A Student's Introduction, McGraw-Hill International Edition, 2007 Chapter 10: John Chaffee, Thinking Critically, 6th Edition, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2000 Graphics Rock Cartoon: http://www.homestead.com/jasonpaulhamus/files/wrestling/rock3.jpg Rock Bottom slam: http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/e/ee/250pxRockbottom.jpg John Cena: http://www.photosleeve.com/d/42473-1/cena.JPG Batista: http://sportsmedia.ign.com/sports/image/article/635/635699/batista-animalunleashed-20050721053017434.jpg Triple H: http://www.thestunner.4mg.com/images/cool%20triple%20h%20cut.gif Stone Cold: http://images.quizilla.com/A/AjLake/1074381314_sStoneCold.jpg Hulk Hogan: http://sportsmedia.ign.com/sports/image/article/630/630882/hulk-hoganinterview-20050701022156947.jpg Vince Carter Dunk: http://www.usabasketball.com/images/carter_dunk_france_220.jpg Yoda: http://swg.stratics.com/content/lore/personas/images/yoda.gif