Critical Thinking: Arguments and non-Arguments

In this lecture and discussion from his Fayetteville State University's Critical Thinking class, Dr. Sadler discusses what sort of structure sets of claims must have in order to be arguments. He distinguishes arguments from other non-argument sets of claims, including narratives and explanations. Portions of President Barack Obama's 2011 State of the Union speech are used to provide examples for the class.

[anonuser]

Thank you so much. Even after 13 years this is still helping people out (like me)

[zmartkooky]

You are a real teacher. One who actually cares. More of you!

[Warrior-iujf]

Man.. i feel sorry for this wonderful teacher.

[GregoryBSadler]

Quite simply, I taught the textbook. Actually, though, its very common in CT to distinguish between explanations and arguments.

Not all explanations are "conclusions regarding causation". I suppose for those that are, your objection would hold good. Generally, explanations do something different than argument

[knuckleberrie]

The book he referred to is Moore and Parker's Critical Thinking, 8th ed, he has provided the link in the comments of the previous (first) video of the series.

[andreajean]

Great lecture! It is actually making sense to me now! The way you explain it makes it seem so simple. My professor just told us to read the textbook and the textbook didn't make any sense at all. I think I will actually do well in my class because of your videos! Thank you!!!!

[productions]

This guy is a great teacher. Thank you.

[GregoryBSadler]

@Sulatanov you're quite welcome -- much more is now available on my personal channel

[thevikingwarrior]

Politicians don't have arguments, they just rant about what they want to happen and try and make you think it is good to agree with them.

[technicalenglish]

thank you so much Dr. Sadler, you make it simple to understand. Don´t mind the "haters" on the comments, haha I´m enjoying your videos and even better applying this to my way of communicating and thinking. All the way from Mexico. Keep up the good work Dr.

[mjw]

Hi Gregory. Great lecture, thanks. I'm in the UK and while your examples are US specific, the gist of the content is still very relevant.

[GregoryBSadler]

Very true -- all of that. My family is mostly people in the trades

[beautifulbieya]

i like your teaching style. Thank you so much :)

[sgt]

This is a good video because you stuck to the point. For example, even when you were talking about 'explanations' at 15:00 you showed how they are NOT arguments.

[sanremy]

about his statement : "any american can go to college, but not in France or Germany, where you must be cleaver enought to be selected"
Exact ! but Wrong on the financial aspect.
In France, College costs nothing, and in USA ( if my informations are right )
you must be rich enought to pay for your college studies.
So, selection by intellectual capability in France,
versus selection by financial means in USA.

[MsHussainMD]

Followup question: Why did you choose to make a dichotomy between explanations and arguments? Explanations are conclusions regarding causation. (I typed this because I had a question). Conclusions are parts of arguments. Therefore, explanations are parts of arguments as well.

[rogeliobautista]

I can’t believe i just watched your first class and I’m alreading spotting bullshtters on the internet. Hope to learn some more

[nerminfadel]

Thanks for this lecture. Could I ask about this book . Or reference that you referred in lecture

[exo]

Understand this much more than when my professor lectured.

[mikiylmorris]

thank you for pointing that out... I say it all the time.