20 Essential Distinctions for Clear Thinking and Writing

Useful distinctions for both analytical and creative writers

20 Distinctions for Critical Thinkers and Writers

The purpose of a liberal arts education is to instill in each student, the life-long critical thinking skills necessary and sufficient to develop and appreciate all their cultural skills, global abilities, scientific interests and artistic temperaments through a rigorous presentation of the existing body of human knowledge. One of the critical thinking skills necessary to accomplish this is the skill in making reasonable and useful conceptual distinctions. This list is offered as a minimal starting point rather than an exhaustive syllabus.

As a beginning exercise in critical thinking, each student would be well served by contemplating the distinctions listed below and then give their own reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with them. This will serve to begin a student's journal of a life of ideas.

Twenty Basic Distinctions for Critical Thinking

1. Knowledge / Belief: Truth claims accepted based on reliable, testable evidence by analysis or observation constitutes knowledge, whereas truth claims accepted without such evidence constitutes belief.

2. Sentence / Proposition: Any syntactically and grammatically correct group of words is a sentence, whereas only those sentences that state a claim is either true or false are propositions.

3. Syntax / Grammar: The general rules for ordering words in a language constitutes syntax, whereas the specific rules for proper usage of words in a language constitutes grammar.

4. Assumption / Presumption: Any claim accepted as true in reasoning to another claim is an assumption, whereas a presumption is using an assumption in the process of reasoning.

5. Connotation / Denotation: In logic, the unique qualities or attributes common to all referred to by a term is its connotation, whereas a list of only those individual things having those unique qualities or attributes constitutes a term's denotation. (Note: Other linguistic studies ascribe broader associative meaning to "connotation.")

6. Subjective claim / Objective claim: Any truth claim that cannot be independently verified as true or false is a subjective claim, whereas any truth claim that can be independently verified as true or false is an objective claim.

7. Imply / Infer: To leave conclusions that may be drawn by others is to imply. To draw conclusions from what is implied is to infer.

8. Explanation / Argument: Explanations provide information about who, what, how, when, where, and even why a statement is either true or false; whereas arguments provide reasons for accepting that the statement is either true or false.

9. Premise / Conclusion: A premise is a proposition offered as a reason for accepting the truth or falsity of another proposition called a conclusion.
10. Formal / Informal Argument: A formal argument is any argument that has all stated premises and a stated conclusion according to an established pattern of inference. An informal argument may have missing premises that are thought to be reasonable assumptions in a pattern of reasoning.

11. Logic / Rhetoric: Logic is the study of making inferences in the process of reasoning. By contrast, Rhetoric is the art of evoking desired responses by any linguistic means available.

12. Logical possibility / Empirical Probability: Any claim that does not contradict itself is a logically possible claim. However, only logically possible claims that can, in fact, be verified by observable, testable evidence, are empirically probable claims.

13. Fallacy / Error: Fallacies, whether formal or informal, are conclusions arrived at by some mistake in the process or pattern of reasoning itself. Errors are merely cognitive miscalculations or misperceptions.

14. Valid / Sound: A deductive argument is valid if the conclusion follows from the premises by necessity, i.e., on the assumption that the premises are true, then the conclusion would also have to be true. A deductive argument is sound if, and only if a) it is valid, and b) the premises of the argument are true according to best available evidence either analytically or empirically.

15. Deductive / Inductive: When it is claimed that a necessary conclusion is drawn out of premises given as reasons to accept it, then that phase of the reasoning process is called deductive. When a "probable" or "likely" conclusion is projected from verification of instances cited, then that phase of the reasoning process is called inductive. Inductive probability can range anywhere from "weak" to "strong".

16. Necessary Conditions / Sufficient Conditions: Any elements required for events to take place are known as necessary conditions. Any elements that are enough for something to take place are known as the sufficient conditions.

17. Causes / Effects: Those necessary and sufficient conditions thought to be required in order for another event to take place are called causes. Any events that result from those necessary and sufficient conditions actually taking place are called effects.

18. Analytic / Synthetic: Propositions derived from a purely mental examination of ideas and their elements are analytic. Propositions determined as true or false from observations or facts are synthetic.

19. a priori / a posteriori: Knowledge independent of observation is a priori knowledge (Latin: a priori, before the fact). Knowledge after observation is a posteriori knowledge (Latin: a posteriori, after the fact).

20. Ethical Principles / Moral Codes: Any set of general rules or laws thought to govern human conduct constitutes ethical principles. Any set of maxims, guides, or precepts that apply ethical principles to particular human conduct constitutes moral codes.


All Rights Reserved: Mark McIntire

 

Author's Note

Intended to help thinkers get clear analytically and creatively.

Reviews

[Shannon Carinne Sparks]

This is a very interesting lecture, and I can see the importance in the order of the pages as it is neccessary to understand the first set of definitions in order to understand the concepts on this page. However, I do have a question; is it not possible that at least some of the words defined on the previous page have alternate definitions or that the boundaries placed on the definitions might be quite fluid?

[J. Marc]

Thank you Mr Professor! This is certainly a very efficient piece of writing and witty too.....Your students must be flocking to the classroom to be taught things like this....I particularly liked the observations about men/women nature. One can never have enough of such thoughts. Thanks again!

[Beatrice Boyle (Grandm..]

Thank you for clarifying what I was taught a thousand years or so ago...can't remember the specifics of English 101, but DO remember I only learned them by rote.

Thank you for a succinct and totally understandable review! Now the challenge remains to put these rules to good use!!!

Bea (Grandma Bea)

[deeps]

Hmm! thank you for this, I will keep this in sight and read on it more

[Cleotis Cullen Bryant]

Personally, I can't wait to see this here drama performed...I'm thinkin' Alan Rickman in the dual role of logic/rhetoric.

[talulu love]

its good i think it does kind of help...THX keep it up