Two Elements Of Reasoning Inferences And Assumptions example essay topic

Critical Thinking: Distinguishing Between Inferences and Assumptions In order to critically think, one must distinguish between Inferences and assumptions. Though both words appear to be quite similar, these two words allow the reader to formulate an opinion of their own. The awareness of our inferences based on our assumptions would help one to become open-minded. This article talks about two of the elements of reasoning: inference and assumptions and discusses further how these two are interrelated in critical thinking. Inferences are a step of the mind, an intellectual act, by which one concludes that something is true in light of something else's being true, or seeming to be true. Assumptions, on the other, are something we take for granted or presuppose.

They are usually something we previously learned and do not question. (Browne 1) Assumptions and inferences permeate our lives precisely because we cannot act without them. We make judgment, form interpretations, and come to conclusions based on the beliefs we have formed. People automatically make inferences to gain a basis for understanding and action.

We listen to what people say and make a series of inferences as to what they mean. Many of our inferences are justified and reasonable, but some are not. Inferences we make are heavily influenced by our point of view and the assumptions we have made about people and situations. (Browne 1) Apparently, different people make different inferences because they bring to situations different point of view.

To put in another way, they make different assumptions about what they see. They make hundreds of assumptions without knowing it, without thinking about it. Many assumptions are sound and justifiable. Many, however, are not. We all make assumptions as we go about our daily life and we ought to be able to recognize and questions them. The important part of critical thinking is the art of bringing subconscious things in our thought to the level of conscious realization.

The perception of the authors is about interpreting the way people formulate assumptions based on beliefs from experience and acquiring those assumptions to generate inferences for decision-making. The authors organize the two elements of reasoning - inferences and assumptions - by defining each term, incorporating their relations in the thinking process, and recognizing the inferences people make, and assumptions on which people based their inferences. The assumption of the authors explicitly states that readers of this article are critical thinking students. They mention in the last part of the article the ways on how to foster student awareness of inferences and assumptions, how to recognize the inferences they make, how to analyze their assumptions, and how to broaden their point of view and perspectives on the world.

The emotion on this article involves the feedback from readers like me, a critical thinking student. As mentioned before, the authors made an assumption that their readers would be generally critical thinking students. This assumption has been fulfilled. The language of this article is primarily clear and concise.

Ambiguity is not always an accident. (Elder 45) This article is not ambiguous. On the contrary, it helps us realize the interrelations of inferences and assumptions in our lives. The communication of knowledge from the authors in writing this article is being clearly stated in writing. The reasons, assumption, and conclusions are explicitly stated on this article, which makes a perfect argument to the readers.

The reasons are to identify the element of reasoning and distinguish inferences and assumptions. The assumption is all about the intended readers -students. The conclusion is recognition of our inferences and analyzing our assumptions. There are no fallacies involved in this article. Everything are based on facts and theories and proven by studies they made. The logic is deductive.

The two perfectly accurate ideas or terms - inferences and assumptions are being evaluated to generate conclusions. By distinguishing the relations between the two, the authors conclude that both are essential in the critical thinking. The issue or problem resolution used to write up this article is by gathering facts and observation. Extended studies and sampling are being held in order to come up with conclusions and valid reasoning. Browne, M Neil, Keeley, Stuart M, Jr., McCall, Morgan W., Kaplan, Robert E. Readings in Critical Thinking, Pearson Custom Publishing, 1998 Elder, L. & Paul, R. Critical thinking: Distinguishing between inferences and assumptions Journal of Development Education, 2002.