Sunday, November 22nd, 2020
Let’s talk about one of the trickiest parts of critical reasoning- Identifying strong and weak arguments. Sounds tricky? Well, it’s also one of the most scoring and time-saving parts of CAT. So, how can you ace this section of exam? You just need to learn a few fundamental concepts and invest sufficient amount of time in practice. Eventually, you will be able to tackle these questions with more confidence and a good degree of accuracy. But, what exactly is an argument?
An argument is basically a combination of three things:
Generally, argument-based questions consist of certain propositions/statements/premises followed by two/more arguments. As you would guess, the given arguments may be in favour of or against the statement. The purpose of such questions is to assess your decision making ability. You are supposed to analyse the arguments to select the appropriate answer option. So, firstly, you need to determine the strength and relevancy of the argument. How do you go about identifying whether it is a strong argument or a weak argument?
Let’s discuss the some important things to keep in mind while assessing the strength of an argument:
There are some arguments that you will be able to reject at the first reading itself. What kind of arguments are these? Let’s see:
Now, you know what kind of arguments to reject at the first go. Let’s explore some more points to simplify the task further.
While evaluating the strength of arguments, you need to check:
Firstly, check whether the argument is deductive or inductive. Once you have identified this, the next step is to see whether the argument is deductively valid or inductively strong. Sounds confusing? Let’s understand the meaning of these first.
A deductive argument need to be valid so as to be taken into consideration. Simply stating, it should guarantee the truth of the conclusion if the given premises are true. The premises are required to provide strong support for the conclusion such that, if the premises are true, then it should be impossible for the conclusion to be false. So, now you must have understood the meaning of deductively valid argument (An argument in which the given premises/statements succeed in guaranteeing the conclusion).
A deductive argument that is invalid is considered to be a weak argument.
An inductive argument needs to be strong enough such that if the premises are true, then it is unlikely that the conclusion is false. So, you must have observed something about inductive arguments that differentiates it from deductive arguments. Well, an inductive argument’s strength is a matter of degree. Inductive arguments that are not strong are called weak arguments. A weak argument fails to provide the probable support for the given conclusion. There is no well-defined or sharp line between strong and weak inductive arguments.
Another important point is that the inductive argument may be weakened/ strengthened because of a new premise while a deductive argument remains unaffected. Let’s understand the difference better with help of some examples:
Clearly, this is a deductively valid argument.
This is an invalid argument. The argument is deductive but premises do not provide any support for the conclusion.
So, the next time he walks by her dog, it won’t try to bite him.
Do you think the argument is strong enough? Well, you may feel doubtful. Indeed, it’s a mildly strong inductive argument. Putting it other ways, it does not count as a ‘strong enough’ argument.
So, she likes John today.
This is a strong inductive argument. But, what if there is another premise like: Reema told Sheena today that she didn’t really like John.
As you can see, the strength of the argument reduces. So, make sure to go through all the premises before deciding your answer choice.
The argument is strong, but may not be valid. Putting it other ways, it is a strong inductive argument. So the conclusion is ‘most likely’, even though it is not definitely true. Now, let’s consider a variation of the above example:
This is a weak argument.
In a nutshell, the procedure to tackle such questions is:
Identify the argument -> Evaluate it with deductive and inductive standards -> If it is not deductively valid, what premises would ensure the validity of the arguments -> Whether these premises are implicit? -> Â Go on to assess whether it is inductively strong -> If not, what premises are needed to improve the strength of the argument -> Reevaluate your decision about the answer choice.
By now, you must have understood that validity applies to deductive arguments and strength applies to inductive arguments.
Since you are well familiarized with the essential concepts of strong and weak arguments, let’s explore some more tips to spot the correct answer:
1. Do not let your personal opinion bias your judgement regarding the answer choice. Also, personal beliefs often form the part of weak arguments. This way, you will be able to reject the weak arguments in the first go.
2. Sometimes the given arguments seem absurd and not in line with the real facts. But if such arguments are strong enough in the given context, they need to be considered as strong arguments.
3. You need to be able to differentiate facts from conclusions. While checking your answer choice, combine the assumptions and facts given in the argument. If you reach at the same conclusion as given in the argument, then you have made the right choice else it’s a wrong one.
4. If you see carefully, the conclusions are implicitly stated in the given premises, provided the favourable arguments are valid/strong enough.
5. Deductive arguments generally have a logical structure and sequence. So, it will be easy to figure out the correct option in such cases. The deductive validity of the argument can be verified in a number of alternative ways. An argument is valid if:
6. Some hints for selecting the favorable/supporting or opposing/ unfavorable argument are:
In either case, the argument should be ‘strong enough’. It should either strongly support or strongly weaken the propositions.
Finally, you are well acquainted with the tricks and strategy to arrive at the right answer choice. It can greatly enhance your score and accuracy in Verbal section of CAT. The last task is to implement the learnings and invest a good amount of time in practicing such questions from mock tests and previous year papers.
Critical Reasoning Tips – Strengthening and Weakening Arguments
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Suppose i have a weak inductive argument,how can i make it stronger