Tutorial 3
Understanding
Arguments
24 August 2015
Make a ______!
I _____ that
 Engineering is the best major.
 The government should raise taxes on the rich.
 KL is the capital of Malaysia.
 The lottery is a tax on the poor.
What do these four statements have in common?
Make a claim!
I claim that
 Engineering is the best major.
 The government should raise taxes on the rich.
 KL is the capital of Malaysia.
 The lottery is a tax on the poor.
What do these four statements have in common?
 I was born in Singapore.
 The sky is blue.
 Bigfoot does not exist on earth.
 There are more than four billion grains of sand in the
Sahara Desert.
Q: What do these claims have in common?
Factual Claims
 I was born in Singapore.
 The sky is blue.
 Bigfoot does not exist on earth.
 There are more than four billion grains of sand in the
Sahara Desert.
Q: What do these claims have in common?
A: They can all be tested (in principle).
____Claims
 NUS is the best university.
 Reading is good for children.
 Monet is a talented painter.
 Brazil’s football team is better than Spain’s.
Q: What do these claims have in common?
Value Claims
 NUS is the best university.
 Reading is good for children.
 Monet is a talented painter.
 Brazil’s football team is better than Spain’s.
Q: What do these claims have in common?
____Claims
 Singapore should make health care free.
 To be a better student, you should spend more time
sleeping.
 You should travel to Australia for your next holiday.
Q: What do these claims have in common?
Policy Claims
 Singapore should make health care free.
 To be a better student, you should spend more time
sleeping.
 You should travel to Australia for your next holiday.
Q: What do these claims have in common?
Definitional Claims
 Claim: x is y where y is a larger category
 Examples:
 Lin is a true Singaporean.
 Drinking coffee is a harmful behaviour.
 The lottery is really a tax on the unintelligent.
 http://www.uky.edu/~tlthom01/defclaim.htm
Definitional Claims
 How do prove a definitional claim?
 First look at the criteria of the definition:
 “true Singaporean” 1) speaks Singlish 2) eats chicken
rice 3) lives in Singapore
 Are these acceptable criteria?
 Second, does Lin match these criteria?
Activity A
 Look at the four claims with a partner.
 What kind of claim is it?
 What evidence might support this claim?
An argument requires two things:
An argument requires two things:
1) Claim (conclusion)
An argument requires two things:
1) Claim (conclusion)
2) Reason(s) / Premise(s)
Activity B
Is it an argument? Discuss in groups of four.
Can you find the main claim and supporting reasons?
Assumptions (page 6)
 In this text it seems to be assumed that soi dogs may
bite or scratch (therefore don’t wear shorts) and that
they carry disease (so wash your hands if you touch
them). However, this is not stated explicitly in the text.
 This explanation may not be correct. Can you think of
a different assumption to explain the previous
paragraph?
 Activity D.
Activity D -- assumptions
Consider the argument
 We must go to Red Iguana.
 Red Iguana is open until 10 pm.
 Café Trang is open until 9 pm.
 It is now 9:05 pm.
Identify the premises and conclusion.
Identify the form of the argument.
http://dgibbs.faculty.arizona.edu/sites/dgibbs.faculty
.arizona.edu/files/assign5.pdf
Deductive Arguments
 All engineers are good mathematicians…
Deductive Arguments
 In deductive arguments if
 the premises are true and
 The argument is logical (VALID)
 Then the conclusion must be true.
 This is called a SOUND argument (VALID and true).
 In a valid deductive argument
 If the premises are true, the conclusion must be true.
 If one of the premises is false, the conclusion must be
false.
Deductive Practice
 In a small group, identify the logical structure of the
penguin and beer arguments.
 Is the argument valid?
 Are the premises true?
 Is the argument sound?
Susan B. Anthony
 Activity F.
 Try to fit this argument into a valid or invalid argument
form.
Inductive Arguments
 White swan
 White swan
 White swan
 White swan
 White swan
 Therefore, all swans are white.
 Discuss Activity G (only first paragraph).
Inductive Arguments
 An inductive argument consists of specific examples
(the premises) that lead to a general conclusion (the
claim)
 Regarding the black bird, we can ask: Is this a “true example”
(secure)? Is this a specific example of the general
conclusion? i.e.:________
 Cf. Problems with induction
Inductive Arguments
 Tom likes the food at Mr Prata.
 When I had an egg prata at Mr Prata yesterday, it was
really good.
 The Straits Times printed a review of Mr Prata last
week declaring it to be the best restaurant in the area.
 Therefore, the food at Mr Prata is good.
For next class
 Review what we have learned in tutorial 3
 To review tutorial 3, watch this presentation by Dr Zhou:
http://courses.nus.edu.sg/celc/Arguments/index.htm (also in
the weblinks)
 Look at tutorial 4
 Complete steps 1-3
 Do an initial reading of the article
 We will be annotating and discussing the article in class.
 Continue looking at the library assignments and reading
about energy in Asia (look at the weblinks in ILVE).