Page 50 - Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing, 2nd Ed

LINKING: THE KEY PROCESS IN REASONING 3 7

I believe the government's current approach to the UN over human rights
is incorrect.

Review
In this chapter we have looked at the key process of reasoning: linking. When
developing arguments and explanations, we link information expressed as
claims. In naturally expressed reasoning, the evidence for this process can be
found in certain words and phrases, or even in the arrangement of the claims.
But, to understand and control reasoning better, this natural expression is
inadequate. It is better to work with a format that shows the analytical
structure of reasoning more accurately and consistently. This format may not
be suitable for communicating, but it is a tremendous tool for understanding
and controlling reasoning in our minds.
The analytical structure of reasoning can be shown by separating an
argument or explanation into a list of claims, the interrelationships of
which are represented in a diagram using standardised symbols. We can
combine a number of simple structures into complex, overlapping, and
more effective reasoning. All the intricacies of reasoning can be reduced
to a much simpler format. Our initial puzzlement results, not from the
complexity of the structured format, but from our unfamiliarity with it. The
analytical structure of other people's arguments and explanations can, if
we wish, be recovered by 'casting' them into the structured format.
However, the analytical structure format is more useful as a tool for plan-
ning and thinking about our own reasoning than as a means of direct
communication.

CONCEPT CHECK

The following terms and concepts are introduced in this chapter. Before checking
in the Glossary, write a short definition of each term:
analytical structure
casting

complex structure
link words
list of claims
narrative flow
simple structure