Exam 8: Evaluating Arguments and Truth Claims

From the standpoint of critical thinking, an argument can be a good argument even if it lacks literary or rhetorical merit.

Attempting to show that a statement is false by proving that it logically implies something that is clearly false or absurd is known as _____.

In general, it is reasonable to accept an unsupported claim as true when the claim does not conflict with personal experiences that we have no good reason to doubt.

Attempting to show that a general claim is false by producing one or more examples or exceptions that demonstrate that the claim is false is known as _____.

According to the text, the general principle we should use in deciding whether to accept an unsupported claim is _____.

One can show that an argument is poorly reasoned by showing that it is _____.

An individual can demonstrate that a premise is false or dubious by _____.