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Quiz 6 – Handouts – Critical Thinking
1. In order to adequately evaluate an argument, we must first analyze that
argument.
a. True
b. False
2. A premise provides independent support for a conclusion when the support it
provides would not be canceled or weakened by the removal of any other premise
in the argument.
a. True
b. False
3. A premise provides linked support for a conclusion when the premises could not
be true if the conclusion is false.
a. True
b. False
4. When diagramming an argument, conditional statements should treated as
containing two statements, where the antecedent and consequent are each given a
separate number.
a. True
b. False
5. When diagramming an argument, you should not number or diagram anything
that is not a statement.
a. True
b. False
6. A quality paraphrase must be accurate, clear, concise, and charitable.
a. True
b. False
7. Any time an arguer intentionally leaves a premise or conclusion unstated, it is safe
to assume that the omission was intended to conceal a weak or questionable step
in the argument.
a. True
b. False
8. Standardizing is a method used or analyzing longer arguments.
a. True
b. False
9. When an argument is standardized, the conclusion is placed above the premises.
a. True
b. False
10. An enthymeme is an argument with a missing premise or conclusion.
a. True
b. False
Analyzing Argument
You will recognize the syllogism as the old "fluffy is a mammal" argument. It goes like
this:
All cats are mammals.
Fluffy is a cat.
Therefore, fluffy is a mammal.
The enthymeme is the rhetorical syllogism, in which part of the logical sequence is left
unstated. For example:
Some politicians are corrupt.
Therefore, Senator Jones could be corrupt.
The difference between syllogism and enthymeme:
The syllogism leads to a necessary conclusion from universally true premises but the
enthymeme leads to a tentative conclusion from probable premises. In dealing contingent
human affairs, we cannot always discover or confirm what truth is.
Summarizing Longer Arguments
Diagramming works well with relatively short arguments, but with longer arguments it
quickly becomes tedious and confusing. Consequently, it is usually better to summarize
lengthy arguments rather than diagram them.
Instead, the goal of an argument summary is to provide a brief synopsis of the argument
that accurately restates the main points in the summarizer’s own words.
Standardization is a method for summarizing longer arguments that involves
paraphrasing and finding missing premises and conclusions.
So, to analyze longer arguments, we use a method called standardizing. There are five
basic steps in standardizing arguments:
a. Read through the argument carefully. Identify the main conclusion (it may be
only implied) and any major premises and subconclusions. Paraphrase as needed
to clarify meaning. (A paraphrase is restatement of a passage using different
words and phrases. A good paraphrase is clear, concise, accurate, and charitable.)
b. Omit any unnecessary or irrelevant material.
c. Number the steps in the argument and list them in correct logical order (i.e., with
the premises placed above the conclusions they are intended to support).
d. Fill in any missing premises and conclusions.
e. Add justifications for each conclusion in the argument. In other words, for each
conclusion or subconclusion, indicate in parentheses form which previous lines in
the argument the conclusion or subconclusion is claimed to directly follow.
By the way, to analyze short arguments we use a method called diagramming, which
involves six basic steps:
a. Read through the argument carefully, circling any premise or conclusion
indicators you see.
b. Number the statements consecutively as they appear in the argument. (Don’t
number any sentences that are not statements.)
c. Arrange the numbers spatially on a page with the premises placed above the
conclusion(s) they are alleged to support.
d. Using arrows to mean “is evidence for,” create a kind of flowchart that shows
which premises are intended to support which conclusions.
e. Indicate independent premises by drawing arrows directly from the premises to
the conclusions they are claimed to support. Indicate linked premises by placing a
plus sign between each of the linked premises, underlining the premises, and
drawing an arrow from the underlining premises to the conclusions they are
claimed to support.
f. Put the argument’s main conclusion last.
Two premises are independent if neither premise would provide less support for the
conclusion if the other premise were removed. Two premises are linked if at least one of
the other premises would provide less support for the conclusion if the other premise
were removed.
An argument with a missing premise or conclusion is called an enthymeme.