Tham khảo tài liệu 'evaluating fact 10', ngoại ngữ, anh ngữ phổ thông phục vụ nhu cầu học tập, nghiên cứu và làm việc hiệu quả | EXPLANATION OR ARGUMENT masquerades as an explanation or an explanation looks like an argument. Practice How could you revise the following weak explanations to make them strong 1. Everyone on our street does not have electricity because our power went out. 2. My new CD player is not working since I ate that ice cream sundae. Answer 1. A good explanation would give reasons or new information about the power outage. Responses might be because Hurricane Graham hit here yesterday or because the wiring is old and needs to be replaced. Any real reasons for a power outage would turn this weak explanation into a strong one. 2. In this case the explanans have nothing to do with the explanadum. To make a good explanation you would have to give relevant reasons as to why the CD player is not working such as since my brother dropped it or since the batteries went dead. Distinguishing an Explanation from an Argument An explanation helps you to understand a certain fact by giving reasons that are causes of the fact. It answers the question why An argument on the other hand tries to convince you of the truth of its conclusion by giving reasons premises that are evidence for the conclusion. Simply put an explanation provides causes and an argument provides evidence. Even when you understand this basic difference though it can sometimes be difficult to tell one from the other. Why is it important to be able to distinguish an explanation from an argument There are times when someone will label his or her explanation as an argument. That is they will try to convince you of something by telling you its causes as opposed to giving you evidence. There are three specific ways in which the two differ. They are 1. recommendations and value judgments 2. feelings and beliefs 3. future outcomes Each of these will be discussed in detail. Recommendations and Value Judgments Many arguments express a recommendation or value judgment. They then try to convince you of the goodness or rightness of
