As I was reading through the concealed claims section of Epstein’s Critical Thinking, I realized that proof substitutes and shifting the burden were a bit more confusing to me than I had originally anticipated. A proof substitute is when the person presenting the argument pretends to have proof or statistics on the topic they are presenting, when in fact, they really have no clue themselves. A site I found for Bellevue Community College also states, “If the speaker does not actually cite any study, and does not give any supporting evidence, then they have not offered any evidence for the claim.” Looking into this topic a bit further helped me understand the idea of proof substitutes more.
Another topic I wanted to research further was shifting the burden. Shifting the burden is when a speaker turns their argument over to the audience in such a way that the audience feels obligated to complete their debate with evidence. The Kennesaw University website states, “If someone claims to know a fact, always look at its source. If the arguer cannot validate or justify his own remarks, then they probably are not valid (and cannot be considered valid anyway until proven otherwise).” Understanding these argument tricks is important when evaluating whether or not someone is making a strong argument in the future.
Proof substitutes sound simple but the explanation is confusing like you had mentioned. Proof substitute sounds like someone trying to sound smart when they are really not. Kind of like a 15 year old using big words to a five year old to explain why the five year old should listen to them. I think this is common when speaking in public when you do not have enough material. You are in front of a live audience so you have to say something.
ReplyDeleteI do not really understand shifting the burden. I don’t really know how an audience can be burdened with an argument.
I also had trouble understanding shifting the burden in the text when I read it, but the definition you use might it a bit easier to understand. Its really hard to shift the burden to the audience or your opponent having to use significant evidence to prove your point. I mean if one is able to prove their argument and shift the burden to the audience then will this means the audience has to show evidence to prove their point. I am also a bit confused on how the audience can burdened with an argument. But nice example on researching more about shifting the burden because it is a hard concept to understand.
ReplyDeletei enjoyed this topic but i think i need more practice on it. i find it hard to fully capture a lesson by just reading an example and when i still do not understand, blogs do not fully explain. this was a very good blog though, i was not able to provide a link for this post i could not find a good example. your post was very orderly and provided with good examples. proof substitution was not as clearly explained as other topics were so i see where the confusion would be. overall this was a great post though! keep it up.
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