Tests for Arguments from Sign

1. Tests for Arguments from Sign Jenna & Alex 4/6/08 8:00 Clesson

2. What is reasoning from signs? • Reasoning from signs is using signs, or clues, to determine a conclusion. • One of the most important parts of reasoning by sign is deciding whether or not it applies to certain things. This is not the kind of sign we are talking about…

3. What does this mean? • All of this means that it has to be decided whether or not you can draw more than one conclusion from the sign. • You also have to decide whether or not that sign would mean the same thing under other circumstances. • Finally, you must remember that if several signs are needed to draw your proposed conclusion, it’s important to show that all the signs are related to one another.

4. Paragraph’s Example • You enter a room, see a body on the floor and a man standing over it with a smoking gun. • All the signs point to the person with the gun being the murder, but…

5. Paragraph’s Example Cont. • You have to think about this like an investigator would. • Just because there was a person in the same room as a dead body with a smoking gun does not make them the killer. • Your evidence is purely circumstantial, but the police would want something concrete: • Ballistics from the gun and the bullet matching up • GSR on the suspect's hands • Etc. • What you saw doesn’t make that person a murderer.

6. Next Example • Your friend tells you that they tried to call you last night, but you didn’t answer. • You believe the friend is lying. • Upon reviewing your phone, and finding that you have no missed calls and no voicemail. • Where do the signs point. Is your friend a liar?

7. Quiz Time!!! • What is important when you need more than one sign to prove your conclusion? • Can you draw more than one ________ from a sign? • The major test for arguments based on sign is whether or not the sign applies in all _____.