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Evaluating Claims: Evidence and Intuition

Chapter 7 discusses the challenges of establishing the truth of claims and emphasizes the importance of evaluating their dependability through evidence and reasoning. It highlights various forms of evidence, including intuition, personal experience, case studies, and testimonials, while also addressing their limitations and potential biases. The chapter encourages critical questioning of claims to assess their validity and reliability.

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7 views2 pages

Evaluating Claims: Evidence and Intuition

Chapter 7 discusses the challenges of establishing the truth of claims and emphasizes the importance of evaluating their dependability through evidence and reasoning. It highlights various forms of evidence, including intuition, personal experience, case studies, and testimonials, while also addressing their limitations and potential biases. The chapter encourages critical questioning of claims to assess their validity and reliability.

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sbs62827
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Shayla Selon

Dr. Finn
CMSD 3070
25 March 2024
Chapter 7

1. Browne and Keeley make some very important statements related to how difficult it is,
if not impossible, to establish absolute truth or falsity of a claim. Because of this, we
need to ask questions about the dependability of the claim. What two factors will
influence how much we can depend on a claim?
a. when the claim is the conclusion from a well-reasoned argument
b. when the claim appears to be undisputed common knowledge,
such as the claim “weight lifting increases muscular body mass”
2. What questions do we ask to determine the dependability of a claim?
a. What is your proof?
b. What’s the evidence?
3. Browne and Keeley helpfully remind us what they mean by “evidence.” What is their
definition?
a. Evidence is explicit information shared by the communicator that
is used to back up or to justify the dependability of a factual
claim.
4. Browne and Keeley don’t mention intuition as a form of evidence in this edition.
Nonetheless, we will look at it because oftentimes people will claim a “gut feeling” as a
source of evidence. What is intuition, as defined by the dictionary? Presumably, you
have personally experienced intuition. Can you describe what the experience is like or
provide a recent example of when you used your intuition? Was your intuition correct or
incorrect? If it was correct, why do you suppose that was the case?
a.
5. Based on your experience, what is a major problem with intuition as evidence?
a. It is subjective and can be difficult to verify
6. What is personal experience as evidence? What does it mean to you? Can you provide
an example of when you pointed to your personal experience as evidence?
a.
7. What are the dangers of appealing to personal experience, according to Browne and
Keeley?
a. Your personal experience may be valid but limited
8. What is a case example (also known as a case study) as evidence?
9. What are some important caveats to consider when evaluating case studies as
evidence? Does this remind you of a bug in the reasoning process, as discussed in class?
What is it?
10. What is a testimonial as evidence? Provide a specific example that you have seen of a
testimonial being provided as evidence.
a.
11. What are 4 problems with testimonials as evidence?
a. wishful thinking, experiences of others
b. conflict of interest
c. quality, personal experiences, left out
d. stories, abstract, quantitative info
12. What is the definition of authority?
a.
13.

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