Lesson: Challenging Critical/Logical Reasoning - 02t01

Review The Basics

The church forbids its members to drink anything containing alcohol. Mr. Wright is a member of the church. Therefore, Mr. Wright does not knowingly drink anything containing alcohol.

To refresh your Reasoning skills, read the argument above, and identify the evidence, conclusion, and assumption.

The first two sentences are the evidence: The church forbids members from drinking alcohol, and Mr. Wright is a member of the church.

The last sentence is the conclusion: Mr. Wright doesn't knowingly drink alcohol. This conclusion is clearly signaled by the Keyword therefore.

In order to strengthen or weaken an argument, we must first find its assumption. The assumption here is that Mr. Wright follows the dictates of his church.

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