50 SMART THINKING: SKILLS FOR CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING & WRITING
that country do not object to any religious practices, then freedom of
religious expression exists in that country.©
As we can see here, the very fact that you could probably guess what was missing
is a sign that the pattern of interconnections in premises and conclusions is impor-
tant: we are able, often, to see what is missing but should, always, make sure that it
is written in explicitly when we are constructing these claim/diagram structures.Making a real connection
There are times when people make the mistake of circular reasoning, that is, they
provide a premise or premises that are, effectively, the same as the conclusion. A very
obvious example is 'I have failed my exams because I have failed my exams'. No one
is foolish enough to actually use such an example. However, we can use different
words to say the same thing. Hence, sometimes, people argue in ways that are
circular because they present as their conclusion a claim that is the same, logically,
as their premise, even though the wording is different. For example 'Socialism is not
a workable economic system, because an economic system in which the means of
production is collectively owned cannot work' is circular because the claim
'Socialism is not a workable economic system' means the same thing as 'an economic
system in which the means of production is collectively owned cannot work'—you
can substitute the word 'socialism' for 'an economic system in which the means of
production is collectively owned' and not change the meaning of the second claim.
When making your link from premise to conclusion you are relying upon the
internal connection between subject and the predicate in the conclusion claim, but
you must not have the same connection in a single premise. Instead, you must have
the separate elements of the conclusion (the subject; and the predicate) each
appearing in different claims that serve as premises. Basically, you can only use a
claim once within its own argument, not twice; but the constituent components of
each claim can appear (and indeed should appear) more than once.
Covering scope and certainty
We also know that claims always imply or state their scope and certainty and
attention to this point will permit us to avoid one of the great errors in reasoning: