Today’s notes for week two. The focus for this week is on critical thinking.
Issues, claims, and arguments – what are the differences?
- Be able to distinguish issues, claims, and arguments
- It’s a common mistake to blur the three together to manipulate arguments
- Claim
-a statement that asserts something to be the case or not the case.
-opinions are claims - Not claims
-questions
-exclamations, i.e. Ouch! or Hey!
-commands - Issue
-i.e. whether or not tuition increase is necessary
-questions that involve “whether or not” scenarios - Argument
-claims you’re trying to get others to accept