lOMoARcPSD|3708932

Cheat sheet

Critical Thinking (Georgia State University)

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Argument: Premises (Accepted Facts) -> Conclusion (Claimed to prove)

Explanation: Explanans -> (Claimed to shed light on) Explanandum (Accepted Fact)
Statement: a sentence that makes a true or false claim||Conclusion: statement that the argument is intended to
support||Premises: statements that are intended to support the conclusion||Unstated Conclusion: occurs when the
author doesn’t explicitly state the argument’s conclusion||Unstated Premises: premise that you add to an argument to
make it clearer||Description: intended to give a mental image of something||Questions and instructions cannot be
true or false||Two kinds of explanations: how to do something and why something is true||Explanandum: statement
of what’s to be explained||Explanans: statements that do the explaining||Sub arguments: arguments that are used to
support premises of the main argument||Deductive Arguments: argument that claims that the truth of the premises
shows that the conclusion must be true|| Inductive Argument: argument that claims that the truth of the premises
shows that the conclusion is likely to be true||Independent Premises: premise that’s intended to provide some support
for the conclusion even when the rest of the premises are removed||Dependent Premises: premise that’s intended to
provide support only when combined with another premise||Empirical Statements: statements that report what
people observe through their senses(Direct: your senses; Indirect: Other people or instruments)||Testimonial
Statements: the reports of what others have experienced||Definitional Premises: report about how a word is used

Red Herring: (1) R2 is a true statement or good argument. Therefore, (2) R1 is a bad argument.
Easy Target: (1) S2, a distorted version of S1, is false. Therefore, (2) S1 is false.
Appeal to Fear: (1) If you don’t do A or don’t believe S, then something bad will happen to you. Therefore, (2) You
should do A or believe S.
Appeal to Pity: (1) If you don’t do A or don’t believe S, then something bad will happen to someone else. Therefore, (2)
You should do A or believe S.
Appeal to Popularity: (1) Most people approve of or believe S. Therefore, (2) S is true.
Appeal to Novelty or Tradition: (1) S has been believed by people for a short/long time. Therefore, (2) S is true.
Appeal to Ignorance: (1) It has not been shown that S is false. Therefore, (2) S is true.
Ad Hominem: (1) H asserts statement S. (2) There is something objectionable about H. Therefore, (3) Statement S is
false or (3’) H’s arguments for S are bad arguments. (Attacks the person)

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