TFY Glossary

Glossary
Chapter 1
Accommodation	Accommodation is achieved when we can do the thinking needed to create a new schema or modify an old schema in order to explain a new experience.
Assimilation	Assimilation is achieved when we can integrate new experiences into existing schemas.
Disequilibrium	The confusion and discomfort felt when a new experience cannot be integrated into existing schemas.
Equilibrium	A stable inner feeling of well being that we feel when our thinking enables us to modify or create a new schema that better explains our world.
Hypothesis	Hypothesis is a trial idea, tentative explanation, or theory that can be tested and used to further an investigation.
Observe	To watch with attentive awareness.
Perceiving	To regard and interpret what the senses tell us.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Schema	Schemas are the mental files in which we store our explanations of experiences.
Sensing	To make use of such senses as sight, hearing, and touch.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Glossary
Chapter 2
Critical reading	Critical reading is analytical and evaluative reading based on accurate neutral comprehension of the material.
Definition	A concise explanation of the meaning of a word that shows us its boundaries.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Term and class	Term refers to the word defined and class refers to the largest family to which the term is related.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Word	Word is a sound or group of sounds that communicate meaning. These sounds are also translatable into written symbols.
Word concept	A concept is a abstract idea or principle conveyed in a word.
Word connotation	Word connotation refers to the additional shades of meaning and emotional associations that a word may carry.
Glossary
Chapter 3
Absolute	An absolute is something that is perfect, complete, always true, something never to be doubted or questioned.
Certain	Certain is a characteristic of something fixed, assured, or inevitable.
Fact	A fact is something proven to be true, real, existing or to have existed.
Fiction	Fiction is an idea or story based on imagination rather than reality.
Objective/subjective	Objective is to be impartial, free of bias or prejudice. Subjective is to be swayed by bias or prejudice rather than facts and evidence.
Plausibility	This standard weighs the reasonability of a event or explanation.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Probability	This standard estimates the likelihood that an event occurred or will occur.
Reliability	This is another standard: that the data was confirmed to be fact by a reputable independent source. Reliability also means that the confirmation proved dependable over time.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Verifiability	This is a standard for determining facts; that they can be tested and confirmed to be either true and/or in existence or past existence or not.
Verify	To verify is to test and confirm the truth, accuracy, or existence of something.
Glossary
Chapter 4
Description versus Interpretation	Pure description provides factual details that convey an accurate objective depiction of a subject. Interpretation makes inferences and judgments about the subject.
Evidence	Evidence is a sign or proof that something is true or that it has or had existence.
Generalization	A generalization is a statement derived from the study of a number of cases that summarizes something characteristic about these cases.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Justify	To justify a claim means to defend and support a claim.
Obvious	The obvious is something that is unconcealed and easy to see. Yet we may neglect to pay close attention to the obvious because it is so familiar.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Glossary
Chapter 5
Accommodation	Accommodation is achieved when we can do the thinking needed to create a new schema or modify an old schema in order to explain a new experience.
Assimilation	Assimilation is achieved when we can integrate new experiences into existing schemas.
Assumption	Assumption is an idea whose truth can be taken for granted.
Assumption Layers	Assumption layers can appear beneath simple assertions. Such layers consist of multiple hidden and unexamined assumptions influenced in turn by one or more value assumptions beneath the whole.
Counter claim	Counter claim is a response to a claim with a defense or with another claim.
Disequilibrium	The confusion and discomfort felt when a new experience cannot be integrated into existing schemas.
Equilibrium	A stable inner feeling of well being that we feel when our thinking enables us to modify or create a new schema that better explains our world.
Hidden Assumption	A hidden assumption is an unclear and unstated idea assumed to be true that is integral to a line of reasoning. In an argument, it is a hidden premise that cannot be examined for truth and validity. Blind acceptance of a hidden premise can lead to the acceptance of a false or invalid conclusion.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Lateral thinking	Lateral thinking solves problems by reviewing options, overcoming assumptions, and inventing new solutions. Vertical thinking follows more conventional step-by-step logic.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Schema	Schemas are the mental files in which we store our explanations of experiences.
Thesis	A thesis is a short summary statement of an idea that an essay intends to prove. It is also called the thesis statement and controlling idea.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Value or Belief Assumption	Value assumption is a belief that we take for granted, one that rarely questioned or even articulated. Remaining hidden and unexpressed, a value assumption can nevertheless shape a chain of reasoning.
Working Assumption	A working assumption is a trial idea, theory, strategy, or hypothesis assumed to be true in order to further an investigation. It is a conscious assumption.
Glossary
Chapter 6
Advice	Advice is to recommend an opinion to someone else.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Judgment	Judgment is a final opinion, decision, conclusion or evaluation about something.
Opinion	Opinion is a word used to include an unsupported belief, a supported argument, an expert’s judgment, prevailing public sentiment, and a formal statement by a court.
Personal taste or preference	Personal taste or preferences are forms of opinions that express likes or dislikes. They can be irrational and need not be supported with reasons.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Glossary
Chapter 7
Evaluate	To determine the value or worth of something.
Evaluations in word connotations	Highly connotative words can be chosen to convey a person’s likes and dislikes under the guise of offering facts.
Expectations	Mental constructs that anticipate the way things will be or should be.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Opinion	Opinion is a word used to include an unsupported belief, a supported argument, an expert’s judgment, prevailing public sentiment, and a formal statement by a court.
Premature evaluation	To judge something before one has finished examining it.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Propaganda	Propaganda is the manipulation of public opinion for the benefit of the propagator.
Relativism	Relativism is the belief that concepts such as right and wrong are not absolutes but depend on situations and the cultures.
Skilled Evaluations	Skilled evaluations are opinions formed by experts after a careful and impartial study.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Glossary
Chapter 8
An unconscious viewpoint	An unconscious viewpoint is a perspective unidentified by the viewer.
Egocentrism	Egocentrism is the assumption that one’s perspective is the only perspective.
Ethnocentrism	Ethnocentrism is the assumption that one’s own social or cultural group is superior to all others.
Exterior	To be exterior to one’s own viewpoint is to have a detached awareness of one’s viewpoint.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
News framing	News framing describes the way relative importance can be implied about a news item by layout design, page placement, photos, and the wording of headlines.
Opinion	Opinion is a word used to include an unsupported belief, a supported argument, an expert’s judgment, prevailing public sentiment, and a formal statement by a court.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Religiocentrism	Religiocentrism is the assumption that one’s own religion is superior to all others.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Viewpoint	A viewpoint is a personal or collective perspective consisting of memories, beliefs, and associations from which events are observed and evaluated.
Glossary
Chapter 9
Argument	An argument offers reasons to support a conclusion with the intent to persuade.
Conclusion	A clear statement of what an argument intends to prove or has proven.
Consistency	Consistency refers to standards of logical coherence as well as constancy.
Contradiction	A contradiction refers to a part or parts inconsistent with, or illogical to, other parts.
Debate question	A debate question is a neutrally stated question designed to provide a focus for pro and con positions on an issue.
Discrepancy	A discrepancy, like an incongruity, is something that diverges from an expected standard.
False Information	False information refers to information that can be proven to be untrue.
Implied conclusion	A conclusion understood but not explicitly stated.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Irreconcilable	Irreconcilable are conflicting ideas, beliefs, or information that cannot coexist, such as contradictions.
Issue	An issue is a matter of dispute.
Missing Information	Missing information refers to essential information purposefully or inadvertently omitted from an argument or report.
Opinion	Opinion is a word used to include an unsupported belief, a supported argument, an expert’s judgment, prevailing public sentiment, and a formal statement by a court.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Reason	A statement offered to explain, justify, or support the conclusion.
Report	A report offers objective accounts of events and objective information.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Topic	A topic is a subject that is written or spoken about.
Glossary
Chapter 10
Appeal to Bandwagon	This fallacy seeks to persuade by appealing to the wisdom of the momentum of a popular opinion.
Appeal to False Authority	This fallacy seeks to persuade by citing fake, questionable, or inappropriate authority.
Appeal to Fear	This fallacy seeks to persuade by arousing fear that clouds rationality.
Appeal to Pity	This fallacy seeks to persuade by arousing pity.
Circular Reasoning	This fallacy assumes what it is supposed to prove by reasserting the conclusion, sometimes in different words, as though this conclusion needed no supporting reasons.
Fallacy	A fallacy is an invalid, argument that can be deceptive or misleading.
Fallacy of Word Ambiguity	This fallacy seeks to gain an advantage in an argument by using vague undefined words that can be interpreted in more than one way.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Misleading Euphemisms	This fallacy hides meaning by creating words that make a less acceptable idea seem positive or unrecognizable.
Opinion	Opinion is a word used to include an unsupported belief, a supported argument, an expert’s judgment, prevailing public sentiment, and a formal statement by a court.
Personal Attack	This fallacy attacks a person’s character without addressing the issue.
Pointing to Another Wrong	This fallacy distracts attention from an admitted wrongdoing by claiming that similar actions went unnoticed and unpunished.
Poisoning the Well	This fallacy seeks to prejudice others against a person, group or idea so that their arguments cannot be heard on their own merits.
Prejudicial Language	This fallacy attempts to persuade through the use of loaded words that convey a bias.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Red Herring	This fallacy distracts attention away from the lack of proof for a claim by raising irrelevant issues.
Straw man	This fallacy misrepresents or caricatures an opponent’s position, then refutes the false replica created.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Glossary
Chapter 11
Analogical Reasoning	Analogical reasoning draws conclusions on the basis of observed correspondences.
Cause	A perceived source or consequence of an event.
Conclusion of an inductive study	To make a generalization about empirical findings that may or may not confirm the hypothesis tested. It also may not be totally certain.
Either-or Fallacy	This fallacy is an argument that oversimplifies a situation, asserting that there are only two choices when actually there are many.
Extrapolation	This is an inference based on an estimated projection of known information.
False Analogy	This fallacy compares two things that may have some similarities but also significant differences that are ignored for the sake of the argument.
Hasty Generalization	This fallacy is a conclusion based on insufficient evidence.
Hypothesis	Hypothesis is a trial idea, tentative explanation, or theory that can be tested and used to further an investigation.
Inconsistencies and Contradictions	This fallacy makes claims that are contradictory or offers evidence that contradicts the conclusion.
Induction	To reason about all members of a class on the basis of an examination of some members of a class.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Loaded Question	This fallacy uses a biased question that seeks to obtain a predetermined answer.
Opinion	Opinion is a word used to include an unsupported belief, a supported argument, an expert’s judgment, prevailing public sentiment, and a formal statement by a court.
Pattern	A perceived design or form.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Questionable Statistic	This fallacy backs up an argument with statistics that are either unknowable or unsound.
Reasoning through enumeration	This is reasoning through counting. Reasoning draws conclusions or inferences from facts or premises.
Reasoning through Statistics and Probability	This occurs in inductive reasoning. Statistics is the science of collecting, organizing, and interpreting numerical data. Probability in statistics estimates the ratio of the number of actual occurrences of a specific event to the total number of possible occurrences.
Reasoning with hypotheses	To conceive a trial idea and use it to implement an investigation.
Slippery Slope	This fallacy is an unwarranted claim that permitting one event to occur will lead to an inevitable and uncontrollable chain reaction.
The empirical or scientific method	The empirical or scientific method is based on observation and experiment.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Glossary
Chapter 12
Deduction	Deduction is to draw an inference about a specific instance from a general principle.
Hidden premise	Hidden premise is a made claim in support of a conclusion that is implied but not stated. When not exposed, it can lead to the acceptance of a false conclusion.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Logic	Logic is the science of good reasoning.
Opinion	Opinion is a word used to include an unsupported belief, a supported argument, an expert’s judgment, prevailing public sentiment, and a formal statement by a court.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Syllogism	A syllogism is the standardized form that makes the structure of a deductive argument visible. A syllogism consists of two premises or claims followed by a conclusion inferred from these premises.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Valid and sound	A valid deductive argument is one in which the conclusion is correctly inferred from the premises. An argument is sound when the conclusion cannot be false because the premises are true and the reasoning is valid.
Creative thinking	Creative thinking leads to the invention of something new. It makes use of imagination, challenges assumptions, and engages in problem solving.
Critical thinking	Critical thinking brings conscious awareness, skills, and standards to the process of observing, analyzing, reasoning, evaluating, reading, and communicating.
Critical thinking standards	Criteria used to attain, describe, and judge excellence in critical thinking.