Page 58 - Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing, 2nd Ed

UNDERSTANDING THE LINKS BETWEEN CLAIMS 45

2. Australia's education system is vital to the future well-being of the
nation.
3. If something is vital to the future well-being of the nation, then it
should be properly funded by the government.
The premises, claims 2 and 3, are dependent on one another. But each
performs a different function as they work together to establish the conclusion.
Claim 2 is about a specific item ('Australia's education system'); claim 3, in
contrast, is much more general ('something vital to the future well-being of the
nation').
I could change the specific focus of the argument, and yet this general claim
would remain the same:
1. Australia's defence forces should be properly funded by the
government.
2. Australia's defence forces are vital to the future well-being of the
nation.
3. If something is vital to the future well-being of the nation, then it
should be properly funded by the government.
Although the substance of the argument has changed, claim 3 remains the
same. This situation prompts us to ask what task claim 3 is performing in each of
these arguments. Through the cross-linking of ideas within each claim, claim 3 is
showing why it is that the specific premise stated should give rise to the particular
conclusion. In effect, claim 3 answers the implicit question 'why does the first
premise lead me to the conclusion?'. We can call claims that function like claim 3
'framingpremises.
A framing premise shows how or why a particular case or piece of evidence
relates to the conclusion, usually by claiming that there is some 'general rule'
guiding what to do in the sort of case raised by the other premise(s). A 'reason'
will, almost always, consist of at least two premises performing two different
functions. One or more premises function to give some important information or
evidence that, on its own, is not necessarily related to the conclusion; another
premise gives the framework that shows why the information given does indeed
lead to the conclusion. The precise function of a framing premise, however,
cannot be determined in isolation. It is always dependent on the way in which the
other premises are trying to establish the conclusion. The relationship between a
premise and another premise, then, can only be made by also thinking about the
relationship between all the premises and the conclusion. Smart thinking is only
possible when we recognise the frameworks on which we and others rely.
Exercise 4.3

Identify the framing premises in the following natural arguments (the conclusion
is italicised, but you will need to identify the premises and think about how they
relate to one another and to the conclusion). Then go back to the arguments you