What Are the Reasons?
Reasons or arguments are explanations or rationales for why we should believe a particular conclusion, providing answers for human curiosity about different decisions or opinions. They are often beliefs, evidence, metaphors, analogies, and statements. Before identifying the reasons, rarely is it wise to determine the worth of a conclusion.
Several characteristics of arguments grab our attention:
• They have intent.
• Their quality varies.
• They have two essential visible components—a conclusion and reasons.
The idea we learnt in this chapter is to ask 'why' when we encounter a conclusion. That's how we initiate the question process. Some reasons may appear with certain words as follows:
Much reasoning is long and poor-organized. One conclusion supported by some reasons may function as the main reason for another conclusion. And reasons may be supported by other reasons. When it is difficult to keep the structure straight in our mind to evaluate our reading critically, we can try to develop our own organizing procedure for keeping the reasons and conclusions separate and in a logical pattern.
The author indicates three tips for our critical thinking and your own writing and speaking.
Exploring possible reasons before reaching a conclusion
Identify major publications that cover your issue
Helping your readers identify your reasons
Thought
前一张讲论题和结论，这一章开始讲论证（reason-原因），书中反复强调每遇到一个结论都要提问原因，我认为这也是辩证思考的核心。成年人和孩童相比，不喜问为什么，但我们真的已经不需要问为什么了吗？读完这三章后我最大的感悟就是：无论何时何地，在阅读和聆听时，既不要不懂装懂，也不要一味接受。不断问为什么，为什么他说出这样的观点？为什么他的观点和我的不同？我的观点为什么正确？我们的观点是否有问题？像孩童一样询问，像孩童一样聆听，像孩童一样好奇。
