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

LINKING: THE KEY PROCESS IN REASONING 35

Exercise 3.5

Choose an issue or topic about which you have some knowledge. If possible,

choose a topic that relates to something you are studying; alternatively, use as the

basis for your argument some topic that is important to you at the moment. Follow

the method outlined above, concentrating on writing clear, single claims and

using the diagram to show their interrelation. Then check the answers for a

discussion of common mistakes that people make. After you have checked for

mistakes, try again.

Complex analytical structures

A simple argument or explanation is one in which one 'layer' of claims (the
premises) links to another claim (the conclusion). In a simple argument the
premises are on one level and the conclusion on a second. There may be more than
one arrow in the diagram for a simple argument, but each arrow marks out a
separate reason that is directly connected to the conclusion. A complex argument or
explanation (such as that in exercise 3.3), on the other hand, has an analytical
structure with more than two levels of connection. The purpose of each layer of
claims is to show or explain the claim to which they lead via the arrow. As we will
see in chapter 5, such structures make our reasoning more effective.
A complex structure is easy to understand once we realise that it is 'built up'
from a group of simple arguments. Here are two simple arguments; the important
thing to note is that they share a common claim:

1. Australia is a multicultural society.


2. There are people from many different ethnic communities living in
   Australia.


3. Different ethnic and racial communities contribute different cultures
   to a society.


4. Government policies and widespread community attitudes encourage
   these different cultures to mix together and flourish.
   and


5. Australia is a tolerant and interesting nation.


6. Multicultural societies show more tolerance towards different groups.


7. Multicultural societies are more interesting than those in which one
   culture dominates at the expense of other possible cultures.


8. Australia is a multicultural society.
   Claim 1 appears twice. In the first example it is being used as the conclusion
   (and thus will come below claims 2—4 in the diagram). In the second example,
   claim 1 is functioning as a premise and, thus, goes with the other premises above
   claim 5. Because of the common claim, we can combine the two simple examples
   to produce a more complex structure, whose relationship would be easily