What is the difference between a claim and an argument?
Dr. Sadler, Critical Thinking Professor at Fayetteville University has a fantastic lecture series on Critical thinking. This week I will be going through his series on fallacies, but I started today by watching two of his other videos:
Critical Thinking: Issues, Claims, Arguments
Critical Thinking: Arguments and non-Arguments
He brings a lot of clarity to some ideas that may be initially hard to grasp. I highly recommend the videos and am myself looking forward to watching more this week.
One of my favorite things that he talks about in the second video is the difference between a claim and an argument. He states that a claim by itself is not an argument because an argument must be made up of multiple claims.
An example of this: The claim “The Patriots are the greatest football team in history” is not an argument by itself. It is only a claim. However, if I were to say “The Patriots have been to more Super Bowls than any other team in the NFL, therefore, they are the greatest football team in history, now I have an argument.
To make an argument, you must have a conclusion that you are trying to get people to come to (Pat’s being the best). And at least one claim supporting that conclusion (more Super Bowl appearances than anyone). You can have as many claims as you want, but you must have at least one supporting claim to your main claim to have an argument.
Many people on social media believe they have an argument when in reality, all they truly have is a claim. It is wise to understand the difference.
An equally wise practice would be to look up the arguments for a claim before you state it as being true. Conclusions without claims supporting them are meaningless.