CRCB - Chapter 12 - Identifying and Evaluating Arguments Summary

“CRCB” Chapter 12 - Identifying and Evaluating Arguments Summary

In this chapter I learned that you need to analyze and evaluate an argument. You need to look at the argument in more detail. You need to pin point the reasons and the conclusion. I also learned there are two main types of arguments. There are deductive and inductive arguments. Deductive arguments begin with a general statement and then show the supporting details. An inductive argument begins with a series of observations and then concludes with a generalization that was logically pulled from the observations. Inductive arguments are mostly what type of arguments occur in our every day lives.
You need to determine dependability by asking questions like, who wrote what you are reading, is the source reliable, when was the article published, and what is the author’s credentials? You also need to distinguish fact from opinion and detect fallacies. I learned there are several types of fallacies to look out for. These types of fallacies are: either/ or thinking, hasty generalization or overgeneralization, red herring, false cause, slippery slope, ad hominem, and circular reasoning. All of these fallacies can lead to error in the reasoning of an argument. They can cause you to limit your answers to a problem, have too weak of supporting reason to too broad of a conclusion. They can cause or consist of author assumption, reader distraction or exclude the proper reasoning. Reading this chapter was interesting to me. I feel that I learned some helpful tips on how to evaluate arguments. Especially some ways that an author of an article would try to “trick” me into believing what they want without properly making up my own mind.