Chapter 7

While reading Chapter 7, I learned a number of techniques about how to counter-argue. One of the first concepts I read about was explaining the three possible ways to refute an argument. The first one is to prove that at least one of the premises is false. If one of the premises is false, the argument has a slim chance of being strong or valid. The second method is to prove that the argument is weak; usually this is done because the claim is following false premises. The last step is to prove that the conclusion is false. This chapter also explains how to indirectly refute an argument. To indirectly refute an argument, you need to “reduce to the absurd,” which means to first prove that a premise is false, or to prove that all of the premises are false. If all of the premises are false, the claim is obviously false, and under this method, absurd.