Basic Critical Thinking Skills

Essentials of Clear Thinking:

Claims and Issues
Notes on Claims

• A claim is a statement that is either true or

false, though this cannot always be
determined at any particular time.
Notes on Claims

• A claim is a statement that is either true or

false, though this cannot always be
determined at any particular time.
Claim: Al Gore received a majority of the popular vote
in the 2000 election.
Claim: Unprotected sex will kill you.
Claim: God loves us.
Not a claim: Got milk?
Notes on Claims

• A claim is a statement that is either true or false,

though this cannot always be determined at any
particular time.
• Claims about matters of opinion are either truthful
or not.
– A claim in Subjective if it depends on what someone
thinks, believes, or feels.
• Subjective claims use personal standards.
– Objective claims are not subjective
• Objective claims use impersonal standards
Notes on Claims

• A claim is a statement that is either true or

false, though this cannot always be
determined at any particular time.
• Claims about matters of opinion are either
truthful or not.
That color looks really good on you.
One should always tell the truth.
Notes on Claims

• A claim is a statement that is either true or

false, though this cannot always be
determined at any particular time.
• Claims about matters of opinion are either
truthful or not.
• Accepting a claim means taking it as true.
Notes on Claims

• A claim is a statement that is either true or

false, though this cannot always be
determined at any particular time.
• Claims about matters of opinion are either
truthful or not.
• Accepting a claim means taking it as true.
• Rejecting a claim and suspending judgment
both evaluate logically to FALSE.
About claims and issues...
• Vague Sentence

Girls are just as good as boys.

It is cold outside.
A vague sentence is ambiguous if there are
just two or very few ways to understand a
sentence.
Zoe saw the waiter with the glasses.