Page 175 - Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing, 2nd Ed

162 ANSWERS, DISCUSSION, AND FURTHER ADVICE

c Studying critical thinking is not the same as studying moral reasoning,
d Studying critical thinking means, for example, reading a book like this
one.

Exercise 4.5

The first argument is 2+3 —» 4. Claims 2 and 4 are identical, except that 'assault'
is replaced with 'threaten to attack'. Claim 3 does the work of making this equiva-
lence. It might seem foolish but it is an important point: you do not actually have
to touch someone to be charged with assault—the threat is sufficient. In this case,
one might assume the audience did not know this point and the arguer was making
it clear to them.
The second argument is 5 —> 6. In a way claim 5 is actually saying a very similar
thing to claim 6. However 5 relates to a specific survey; 6 concludes a general posi-
tion on the basis of that survey. For example, the link is made in the consistency
between 5 and 6; 150 out of 200 becomes the generalisation 'most' (which is
reasonable).
The third argument is 8+9+10 —» 11. This is a very good example of a framing
premise (which in fact is concerned with establishing the causal relationship—see
chapter 7). Claim 10 ensures that the change in state reported in 8 and 9 does
therefore support 11. Note how, in 9, it is not saying the assault caused... (which
would be circular), rather, it is simply identifying a time period in which Michael
became depressed. The causal chain is asserted in the conclusion, 11.
The fourth argument is 4+6 —> 7. Michael is the predicate of claim 4, but
becomes the subject of claim 7 because 'victims' in claim 6 is a category to which
Michael belongs.
The fifth argument is 7+12+13+11 —» 1. Note how super-claim 12 contains
something very similar to the claim 11 in the 'if position, and that the conclusion
1 looks very similar to the 'then' sub-claim in 12. This would be sufficient on its
own, except that the conclusion provides a specific time of imprisonment and thus
claim 7 does the work of supporting that part of the concluding claim. Had you
not included 7, it would be hard to argue why three to six months and not (say) a
year or a day!

Chapter 5

Exercise 5.1

a Some years ago, the Northern Territory passed legislation allowing some
people to commit voluntary euthanasia.
There is no explicit value judgment. The claim is only about the Northern
Territory, and some time ago, so in that respect, its scope is limited. The claim also
reports the limited scope of the legislation itself: 'some people'. Implicitly, this claim