Page 35 - Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing, 2nd Ed

22 SMART THINKING: SKILLS FOR CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING & WRITING

Review

Words combine to form statements, which in turn combine to form texts. No
text can be understood outside its context of use and interpretation. The most
important statements for us to consider are claims. When properly linked
together, they form a text, which is either an argument or an explanation.
Claims state, in language, the events, ideas, and things that make up our
world, asserting that what they represent is true. Claims are the key elements
from which we build our arguments and explanations. The analytical function
of claims is, however, often obscured by their mode of expression.
By understanding what claims are and what their properties are, we can
better understand how to use claims as premises and conclusions in our
reasoning. Claims have three significant properties. First, a claim always
contains an internal connection between two or more components. One or both
of these components can be a claim in its own right, but functioning differ-
ently—as an element within a claim. Second, claims always include some indi-
cation of scope and certainty, though often they are implied. Third, claims are
either descriptive (what is) or are value judgments (what ought to be). Many
claims appear to be descriptive but either contain implicit value judgments or
become value-laden when read in combination with other claims.
Claims are used as either premises or conclusions; the difference
between them is determined by how we use them in any particular act of
reasoning. Any claim can serve as a premise or conclusion. That said, we can
see how conclusion-claims must relate to the particular purposes of the
reasoning: predicting, establishing, or appealing for action, and explaining or
justifying. In the last case, the reasoning involves an explanation, whereas
the other purposes require an argument.

CONCEPT CHECK
The following terms and concepts are introduced in this chapter. Before checking
in the Glossary, write a short definition of each term:
argument
assumption

audience
certainty
claim
conclusion

connotation