The following are the main learning objectives for this chapter. To help you coordinate your studies, these objectives are organized into sub-sections (1-1, 1-2, etc.).
Objective 1-1
Recognize the skills and practices that go into deciding whether to accept a claim.
Understand the definition of "issue" and the role of issues in debates.
Objective 1-2
Understand the role of arguments in critical thinking.
Learn the definitions of argument, premise, and conclusion.
Recognize the difference between an argument and means of persuasion, or between an argument and an explanation.
Become familiar with the linguistic cues that help to identify an argument and its parts.
Objective 1-3
Understand the nature and role of issues in critical thinking.
Be able to identify the issue at stake in an argument.
Understand the difference between a value judgment and an issue for which it is theoretically possible to find a solution independent of what anyone thinks or feels about it.
Realize that value-laden issues must be approached differently from value-free ones (but that they do not have to be given up on entirely).
Objective 1-4
Begin to get familiar with critical thinking's attention to clarity and rationality.
Acquire some sensitivity to the psychological impact of language in arguments and in the description of issues.
Be prepared to use certain terms like "issue," "argument," and "truth" with greater specificity than one usually does in ordinary language.
