SSH 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Critical Thinking, Descriptive Knowledge, Relativism

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Social Science and Humanities
• Course: SSH 105
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Statement: an assertion that something is or is not the case. Proposition: specific thought or idea the statement expresses. The same words can also express different propositions. Premise: a statement that is offered in support of a conclusion. Conclusion: a statement that is held to be supported by one or more premises. The conclusion is what the speaker wants you to accept/believe. Argument: a set of statements in which some (the premises) are intended to support another (the conclusion) Inference: process of reasoning from a premise to a conclusion based on those premises. Inferences will be identified and we will learn to detect common patterns of reasoning. Inferences will be evaluated and we will learn to distinguish good ones from bad ones. Steps of argument analysis: figure out if its an argument, reconstruct the argument, evaluate the argument. Step 0: not all texts are arguments.