Page 70 - Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing, 2nd Ed

MORE EFFECTIVE REASONING I: BETTER CLAIMS 57

Cuba is a democracy). An American would probably regard Cuba as undemo-
cratic in that it only has one political party—the Communist Party—whereas the
USA has two major parties. A Cuban might respond by pointing out that the
Democrat and Republican parties in the USA are so similar that there is little
choice between them. Obviously our hypothetical American and Cuban debaters
have different definitions of democracy. Yet, if we asked them to spell out their
definition, they might both respond by saying the same things: 'all people have
the right to vote'; 'all people are equal'; and so on. The meaning of the word
'democracy' simply depends on more words, which themselves require définition.
(What do we mean by 'all people', for example? In the USA, most poor African-
American and Hispanic citizens do not vote because they believe it will not
change the system that, by and large, has failed to benefit them. Do they fall
within the definition 'all people'?)
Hence, writing well-formed claims will always require some consideration of
both the surface and hidden meanings of the words from which these claims are
constructed—meanings that are created differently in different contexts.
Connotations can never be controlled completely. We could try to use
'definitions', but definitions themselves give rise to even more connotations
(since they, too, are made up of words). One trick is to align your choice of
words with the understanding of the intended audience so that you can be
confident that what you mean will be reasonably similar to what your audience
might think. And, to be even safer, you can actually discuss possible conflicts of
connotations. Alternatively, you can establish (to a large extent) the interpretive
context within which you want the meaning of your words to emerge. Either
way, you need to consider the possible interpretive contexts that affect your
choice of words.

Controlling the key properties of claims

Because a claim makes an internal connection between two ideas, we need to make
sure that this connection is expressed as we want it to be. Again, by writing
carefully, we also improve our 'analysis' of the issues. Look at the following claims:
a. Many colonial Australian settlers took part in military-style operations
against indigenous Australians throughout the nineteenth century, in
different parts of the country.
b. The violent conflict between white settlers and indigenous Australians
was wrong.
c. Some Australian political and religious leaders in the nineteenth
century wrote at the time that the violent conflict between white
settlers and indigenous Australians was wrong.
d. Historians should continue to debate the extent to which
indigenous Australians fought back against the process of
European settlement.
e If Australians do not come to terms with the violent events associated