SOCI 2P00 Chapter 4: Chapter 4.docx
Document Summary
Identifying the precise meaning of key words or phrases is an essential step in deciding whether to agree with someone"s opinion. If you fail to check for the meaning of crucial terms and phrases, you may react to an opinion the author never intended. You cannot react to an argument unless you understand the meanings (explicit or implied) of crucial terms and phrases -> how these are interpreted will often affect the acceptability of the reasoning. Before you can determine the extent to which you wish to accept one conclusion or another, you must first attempt to discover the precise meaning of the conclusion and the reasons. We often misunderstand what we read or hear because we presume that the meaning of words is obvious. A term or phrase is ambiguous when its meaning is so uncertain in the context of the argument we are examining that we need further clarification before we can judge the adequacy of the reasoning.
