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

68 SMART THINKING: SKILLS FOR CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING & WRITING

audiences will believe it to be true. Well-founded claims are not just 'true'; they

are accepted as true. There are three types of well-founded claims: those that are

'self-evident' (and, in that sense, are their own foundation); those that are

founded on a reference to authority or expertise (including one's own 'authority');

and those that are founded (like the conclusion to any argument or explanation)

via further reasoning.

CONCEPT CHECK

The following terms and concepts are introduced in this chapter. Before checking

in the Glossary, write a short definition of each term:

appeal to authority

effective reasoning

implied premise

modes of analysis

self-evident claim

well-formed claim

well-founded claim

Review exercise 5

Answer briefly the following questions, giving, where possible, an example in your

answer that is different from those used in this book:

a. Why are well-formed claims essential?

b. What is the role of connotations in thinking about well-formed claims?

c. What is the difference between claiming 'X happened' and 'Jones has

argued that X happened'?

d. What roles do scope and certainty play in well-formed claims?

e. Which claims are least likely to be 'self-evident'?

f. What is the similarity between premise-claims supporting a conclusion

and other claims supporting those premises?

g. How might we 'found' claims so that they are more acceptable?

h. How can we judge the 'truth' of a claim in trying to communicate our

reasoning effectively?

NOTES

1 See Tony Schirato and Susan Yell, Communication and culture: an introduction, Sage,

London, 2000 for an in-depth treatment of this important issue.