The following are the main learning objectives from this chapter. To help you coordinate your studies, these objectives are organized into sub-sections (1-1, 1-2, etc.) and listed with the relevant page numbers from the textbook.
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 subjective and nonsubjective issue.
Realize that subjective issues must be approached differently from nonsubjective ones (but that they do not have to be given up on entirely).
Understand the shortcomings of both relativism and subjectivism.
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" and "truth" with greater specificity than one usually does in ordinary language.
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