Statements of Verification, Evaluation, and Advocacy
Fact and Opinion. In critical thinking, the difference between what are commonly called "facts"
and "opinions" is not great--if, in fact, it exists at all. Both "facts" and "opinions" can be used to support arguments,
and sometimes strong expert "opinions" can outweigh weak or inconsistent "facts." Indeed, considering that much of what we
know about the physical sciences is based on hypotheses--that is, opinions that cannot be confirmed--you might wonder why
we bother distinguishing between "fact" and "opinion" at all.
Verification and Evaluation. A more important
distinction for critical thinking is between claims that are thought to be verifiable, and those that are presented as evaluative.
In this sense, verifiable claims are those that can be confirmed either by observation or by reference to established
sources, such as books. Evaluations are statements of taste and interpretation. Notice that opinions can be expressed sometimes as statements
of verification and sometimes as statements of evaluation. Consider the following claims:
- "Willa thinks that's a
shade of blue."
- "Willa thinks that's a
lovely shade of blue."
- "That's a shade of blue."
- "That a lovely shade of
blue."
The first two are clearly
opinions, but they are expressed as statements of verification, because the issue is whether that is what Willa thinks,
not what the color is. The third one is also a statement of verification, because (for most people) "blue" is something
ascertainable by observation. But the fourth claim is a statement of evaluation, because what is "lovely" is a matter
of taste. And it doesn't matter whether the claim is true or false--that is, a false statement of verification is not
a statement of evaluation. All four of our examples can be false--Willa might think otherwise, for the first two, and the
color might be red, for the second two--but they are nevertheless three statements of verification, followed by a statement
of evaluation.
Advocatory claims are
a little different from verifiable or evaluative claims, in that the latter discusses what was, is, or will be, while the
former describes what ought to have been or ought to be. Thus, "Ike is a free man" is a claim of verification,
"Ike is a good man" is a claim of evaluation, and "Ike ought to be a free man" and "Ike should be a good man" are both
advocatory statements. Advocatory claims usually include the word "should" or "ought" (though not all claims with "should"
or "ought" in them are advocatory). The advocatory form is used for statements about morality, ethics, duty, and so on.
The point of categorizing
statements into specific and qualified, on one hand, and verifiable, evaluative, and advocatory, on the other, is to understand
better the arguments in which they appear. We have already seen that specific claims are the most persuasive but also the
most easily refuted. Correctly identifying such statements helps to indicate what needs to be done to attack and defend an
argument. Knowing if a statement is one of verification, evaluation, or advocacy helps ensure a consistency of argument, because
if the conclusion is a statement of verification, it must be supported by at least one premise that is a verifiable
claim; and so too with conclusions of evaluation and advocacy.
Distinguish between the
following statements: fact vs. opinion
1. Many
soldiers in Iraq are there because they are forced to go there by the government.
2. The price of gasoline went up the
past few months.
3. Most Americans want to buy new cars
every year.
4. Many companies in the United States
have relocated to China.
5. Tourism is the most importrant source
of income for Florida.
6. Many Floridians have lost homes because
of the hurricanes that affected the state.
7. Many people think that Bush has improved
the lives of the people.
8. The war in Iraq is based on the premise
that Saddam is developing weapons of mass destruction.
9. The Aamerican troops should withdraw from
Iraq to avoid more casualties.
10. Bombing the rebels in Iraq will give the
American soldiers victory.
IDENTIFY THE FOLLOWING
STATEMENTS. verification, evaluation and advocacy.
1. The United States is
a powerful country militarily.
2. Other nations
think that the people of the United States are all rich.
3. Olympics in 2004
was held in Athens, the original place of the games.
4. The United States government
should provide more services to the people by providing houses and insurance to the poor.
5. More than 40 million
Americans do not have health insurance in the year 2004.
6. President Bush
thinks that the war in Iraq is good for the United States.
7. More than 1,000 American
soldiers have died in the war in Iraw.
8. The West Nile virus
is spreading all throughout the United States.
9. The economy of the
United States has suffered due to the war in Iraq.
10. The US government
should spend more money for research in finding a cure for cancer.