invitation to critical thinking chapter 2 lecture notes chapter 2

Invitation to Critical Thinking Chapter 2

Lecture Notes

Chapter 2


Overview

• Functions of Language

• Meaning in Language

• Definitions


Functions of Language

• Informative Function

• Expressive Function

• Directive Function– Persuasion


Informative Function

• Language used to make claims• Claims

– Can be true – Can be false

• Examples– United States presidential elections are held

every four years.– One out of ten Americans has herpes.


Expressive Function

• Language used to vent or arouse emotional energy

• Emotional energy– Can overwhelm common sense– Can reinforce and enhance rational deliberation

• Examples– Mean people suck!– Question authority!


Directive Function

• Language that influences the behavior of another person

• Persuasive language– Influences beliefs and motivations– Incorporates claims and arouses emotional energy

• Example: Hippocrates– Speaking generally, all parts of the body which have a

function, if used in moderation and exercised in labors to which each is accustomed, become healthy and age slowly. But if unused and left idle, they come liable to disease, defective in growth, and age quickly.


Meaning in Language

• Labels and patterns

• Conventions of language

• Communication breakdown


Labels and Patterns• Labels

– Verbal handles– Arbitrary

• Examples– Please pass the butter.– Where is the restroom?

• Syntax– Patterns or ways of organizing words into sentences– Structural regularities

• Subject—verb —indirect object—object• He made me a cup of coffee


Conventions of Language

• A behavioral regularity that we maintain and follow in order to solve the problems of coordination

• The rules of the communication game that we agree upon in order to get things done together

• We agree upon– The meaning of words (definitions)

– The order in which we use words (syntax)


Communication Breakdown

• Language rules – Are arbitrary– Can and often do change– Can be flexible– Can be informal– Can be creative

• Departing from the rules without signaling our audience – Causes breakdowns in communication– Causes confusion


Dimensions of meaning: Precision and Clarity

– Ambiguity– Vagueness– Denotation– Connotation– Extension– Intension


Definitions

• Ambiguity• Vagueness• Definitions

– Dictionary definitions– Essential definitions– Stipulation– Abstract words– Necessary and sufficient conditions– Genus and differentia


Ambiguity• A term with more than one conventional meaning• Examples (extensions of the term “bank”)

– Bank – a noun• any piled up mass, such as snow or clouds• the slope of land adjoining a body of water• the cushion of a billiard or pool table• a business establishment authorized to receive and safeguard

money, lend money at interest, etc.

– Bank – a verb• to strike a billiard shot off the cushion• to tilt an aircraft in flight


Vagueness

• A term is vague when we are not clear which definition of the term the writer intends us to understand

• Example: She left her things near the bank.– Did she leave them near the cushion of the billiard

table? – Near the business establishment authorized to receive

and safeguard money, lend money at interest, etc.? – Near the edge of the snow piled up near the wall?– Things is also vague. What did she leave?


Dictionary Definitions

• A definition is an explanation of the meaning of a word or term.

• Dictionaries– Give word histories or etymologies– Give definitions of new words– Give the conventional definitions– Give examples and synonyms– Do not give unconventional uses of a word


Essential Definitions: Dialogic Approach • Step 1

– Formulate a definition

• Step 2– Develop an example to test your definition

• Step 3– Revise the original definition to make it more precise

• Step 4– Repeat Steps 2 and 3


Stipulative Definitions

Where conventional usage and understanding are inadequate or unsuitable in some way,

• Definitions of words are stipulated – To establish a precise meaning for readers– To lay down the terms of an agreement about how a

word is to be used and understood in the context of some discourse

• Example: a “full time employee” shall be defined as an “employee working 25 hours or more per week”


Abstract Words

• Words that refer to ideas, concepts, thoughts, emotions, and concepts

Concrete

Watch

Flag

Can of tuna

Abstract

Time

Patriotism

Food


Necessary and Sufficient Conditions• rule things in • rule other things out • A necessary condition is a characteristic or set of

characteristics required for membership in the word's extension.

• A sufficient condition is a characteristic or set of characteristics which is by itself adequate for membership in the word's extension.


Genus and Differentia

spoon utensil A small, shallow bowl with a handle used in eating or stirring

watch machine Portable or wearable device for telling time

Genus DifferentiaTerm

invitation to critical thinking chapter 2 lecture notes chapter 2

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