Critical thinking a concise guide by Tracy Bowell & Gary Kemp, fourth edition – Summary chapter 2

There are several problems with linguistic phenomena that makes an argument difficult to understand. The set of things a word is about is called the extension.

Ambiguity occurs if a sentence can be interpreted in more than one way and should be avoided when trying to persuade using an argument. There are two types of ambiguity:

1. Lexical ambiguity
   This can occur if certain words have more than one meaning. This means that a word can be lexical ambiguous if it has more extensions. Lexical ambiguous words are not ambiguous in every context. There are words that can be ambiguous in speech but not in written text, as it is written differently, but sounds the same.
2. Syntactic ambiguity
   This can occur if the arrangement of words in a sentence is such that it can be understood in multiple ways. Syntactic ambiguity is more difficult to understand using the context.

Vagueness occurs if the meaning of a word is indefinite or unclear (e.g. rights). Vagueness can also refer to words of which the meaning is clear, but there is no precise demarcation between that word and another (e.g. orange and yellow).

The primary connotation of a word are the necessary and sufficient conditions for something to count as part of that term’s extension (e.g. ram: male, sheep). The secondary connotation of a word are characteristics of the word but are not necessary for something to count as part of that term’s extension (e.g. ram: woolly, horns). Words that are vague often have an unclear primary connotation and a rich secondary connotation.

Metaphors function by only using the secondary connotation of a word. Rhetorical questions are questions that indirectly assert a proposition. Irony refers to making a statement that, taken literally, conveys the opposite of the message people are trying to convey (e.g. ‘very tasteful’).

Implicitly relative sentences make a comparison with some group of things but that comparison is not explicitly mentioned. Quantifiers are words and phrases that tell us how many/much there are/is or how often something happens (e.g. all). There are three potential problems of using quantifiers:

1. Quantifiers are not always used with sufficient proposition.
2. Quantifier-words and phrases can be vague (e.g. some).
3. Quantifiers are sometimes omitted from an uttering.

Counterexamples are cases that are used to challenge the truth of a generalising claim. Soft generalizations are used to make a statement of how things typically or normally are. Hard generalizations are used to make a statement of how things always are.

ASPECTS OF MEANING
A sentence’s meaning has different aspects:

1. Rhetorical force
   This is the rhetorical aspect of a sentence’s meaning and it is not part of the propositional content that it expresses.
2. Implicature
   This is a non-stated meaning but which one can reasonably take to be intended given the context. Implicature requires context.
3. Definitions
   This tells us when to qualify something as a particular type of thing. It is the primary connotation of a word.

RHETORICAL PLOYS
Fallacies are argumentative, but include bad reasoning. It is also called pseudo-reasoning. Rhetorical ploys are non-argumentative. There are several rhetorical ploys:

1. Appeals to specific feelings
   This includes rhetorical ploys that attempts to tap into specific feelings in order to influence our behaviour and opinion.
2. Appeal to novelty
   This is an attempt to persuade based on novelty.
3. Appeal to popularity
   This is an attempt to persuade based on popularity.
4. Appeal to compassion, pity or guilt
   This is an attempt to persuade based on evoking compassion, pity or guilt towards the recipients of the suggested act.
5. Appeal to cuteness
   This is an attempt to persuade based on cuteness.
6. Appeal to sexiness
   This is an attempt to persuade based on sexiness.
7. Appeal to fear (scare tactics)
   This is an attempt to persuade by trying to instil fear in the listener. It is different from a warning, as scare tactics provide no good reason to be scared.
8. Appeal to ridicule
   This is attacking the opponent’s position or claim by ridiculing it.
9. The direct attack and hard sell
   The direct attack is a simple claim “say no to statistics”. The hard sell is a direct attack repeated very often.
10. Scare quotes
    The use of scare quotes is used to make statements look more suspicious or scary (e.g. “almost all ‘asylum seekers’ are economic migrants”). The scare quotes could be replaced by the words: “so-called”.
11. Trading on an equivocation
    This is making use of ambiguity or vagueness in order to mislead people. It can evoke guilt by association. The ploy bases itself on using the same word in more than one sense in order to interpret a message in the way that favours the speaker / writer.
12. Trading on implicature
    This is using a statement’s implicature to mislead the audience.
13. Many questions (leading question or complex question)
    This is asking a question to mislead the audience. It poses a question that appears to seek an explanation for a proposition, implying that the proposition is true. Push polling uses misleading questions to sway opinions and poll results in a particular direction.
14. Smokescreen (changing the subject)
    This is avoiding discussion of an issue by diverting or distracting one’s opponent from the issue at hand by addressing a different issue.
15. Buzzwords
    This is making use of currently ‘hot’ words or phrases that are loaded with rhetorical power due to their rich secondary connotations. These words can be extremely provocative.
16. Jargon
    This is making use of words or phrases that are likely to be unfamiliar to most of the audience or it is using familiar words in an unfamiliar way. The use of jargon can imply some sort of exclusivity.
17. Acronyms
    This is using a series of initials as though they are a word to provide an abbreviation for a name or phrase. It tends to obscure what is being conveyed and it provides a sense of exclusivity.
18. Spin
    This refers to techniques that employ rhetorical ploys to good effect in influencing people’s opinions.