72 SMART THINKING: SKILLS FOR CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING & WRITING
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Claims that argue for or explain another claim are always placed above them;
claims that work together to form one reason are placed alongside one another, as a
chain of dependent premises. Getting the diagram right doesn't make this happen,
it is a way of representing—in a structured format—what is happening in our
minds.
We tend to imagine that strong reasoning involves understanding and using a
number of different reasons for our conclusion, giving our arguments and
explanations intellectual breadth. This view has considerable merit (and we
examine it in more detail in the next section), but it does not mean that we can
ignore the requirement to argue and explain in depth. Learning to 'unpack' what we
initially think of as a straightforward, simple reason and to express it as a number
of distinct, but dependent, premises is the only way to make sure our reasoning is
not too shallow.
For example, in relation to higher education, deep reasoning will bring out the
current debate about whether education is vocational (training for employment) or
liberal (education for the individual's own life). It would engage with the complex
issues of who pays, against a background of reduced government spending and
increased personal wealth for some Australians. It would engage with the social
purposes of education (education for individual benefit or for social improvement).
Each of these issues is worthy of significant argument and explanation in its own
right. Such an approach ensures that our reasoning addresses all the issues raised by
the conclusion: the meaning of certain words, the values that we are seeking to
express, the exact way in which certain situations come about, and so on.Avoiding implied premises
If, in unpacking our reason and turning it into premises, we leave out a premise that
should (analytically speaking) be there, then we have made a serious error. Such a
claim would not be 'missing' exactly, but rather would be implied by the connection
between the claims that are explicitly stated. That we do often 'leave out' some of