Claim Issue s05

8/11/2019 Claim Issue s05

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Basic Critical Thinking Ski l ls

Essentials of Clear Thinking:

Claims and Issues


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Notes on Claims

A claim is a statement that is either true or

false, though this cannot always be

determined at any particular time.


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Notes on Claims



determined at any particular time.Claim: Al Gore received a majority of the popular vote

in the 2000 election.

Claim: Unprotected sex will kill you.

Claim: God loves us.

Not a claim: Got milk?


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Notes on Claims



determined at any particular time. Claims about matters of opinion are either

truthful or not.


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Notes on Claims




truthful or not.

That color looks really good on you.

One should always tell the truth.


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Notes on Claims




truthful or not.

Accepting a claim means taking it as true.


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Notes on Claims




truthful or not.

Accepting a claim means taking it as true. Rejecting a claim and suspending judgment

both evaluate logically to FALSE.


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About claims and issues...

Issues arise when a claim is in question.


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I wonder if I should register to vote.

The question is whether enforcement of the

noise ordinance is fair.


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Two kinds of questions: (1) What is the

position being taken?


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position being taken? (2) Is that positioncorrect?


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position being taken? (2) Is that positioncorrect?

The second question, in other words, is

whether a claim should be accepted orrejected, or whether the most responsible

position would be to suspend judgment.


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Key concept: Arguments present reasons to

decide an issue one way or another.

Arguments only make sense if the meaningsof claims are clear.

Even after an argument has been presented,

one can still suspend judgment about theacceptability (truth) of a claim.

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Claim Issue s05