102_Reasoning

Welcome Back

In this lesson we will breakdown statements to see what they're made of. Explore what kind of evidence helps a claim sound reasonable and follow the flow of good logic.

What is a Statement ?

A statement can be one sentence or more than a couple of sentences put together in a paragraph.

All statements have a Main Claim as the main point. And the rest is supporting facts and details to draw a reasonable conclusion.

Different evidence is useful depending on the intention of the main claim, for example :

• An informative claim will state a point of view and use definitions or descriptions to test it.
• An essay or long-form written answer will state a topic, issue or thesis statement and give three examples to illustrate it.
• An evaluation or critique will review a system, process or perspective to find success, concede flaws and compare or contrast alternatives.
• An opinion, argument or debate will make a claim and support it with one premise, or more, to prove that point.

In the next lesson we will learn about common errors in logic. But for now, let's take a closer look at the parts of an argument.

Argument = Premise + Conclusion

To analyze an argument let's take an example down to parts.

"You should present our pitch to the panel of judges. The judges trust you because they have worked with you before and you know our slide-deck better than anyone."

• The main claim is : "You should present our pitch to the panel of judges."
• Supporting the main claim is the premise : "you know our slide-deck better than anyone."
• The second claim is : "The judges trust you"
• Supporting the second claim is the second premise : "they have worked with you before"

From the example above, the argument seems reasonable because the main claim is supported by three parts.

The premise, the second claim, and the second premise strengthen the argument. To make a point, evidence needs to support the main claim.

Now, what kind of point are you trying to make ? Let's look at different types of arguments.

Types of Arguments

The purpose of an argument determines how it will be organized.

• Deductive Arguments have a premise that necessitates the conclusion.
• Inductive Arguments have a premise that is probable but does not cause the conclusion.
• Causal Arguments prove a choice and assume "H specifically affects A" while exploring other influences like L or the mere coincidence of R.
• An argument by example draws a conclusion from the explanation of specific experiences.
• An argument by analogy compares similarities to infer what is true in one is true in the other.

Now you know the structure of an argument, you could debate any topic !

While it may seem simple enough, good logic is sometimes hard to follow. And drawing a relevant conclusion from an argument with bad logic is impossible.

Next Lesson

In the next lesson, 103_Bad Logic, we will look at common errors used in arguments. This way, we can find the logical fallacies and edit them or avoid their use altogether.

Until next time, happy learning ??

? Hilary