Asking the Right Questions, A Guide to Critical Thinking, 8th Ed

What Are the Descriptive Assumptions? 75
What ideas must be taken for granted for this reason to be acceptable?
We must assume:
(a) The performance will be well done and reflective of what Shakespeare would
encourage, and
(b) students will understand the play and be able to relate it to Shakespeare.
Both (a) and (b) are ideas that have to be taken for granted for the reasons
to be acceptable and, thus, supportive of the conclusion.
Identify with the writer or speaker. Locating someone's assumptions is often
made easier by imagining that you were asked to defend the conclusion. If you
can, crawl into the skin of a person who would reach such a conclusion.
Discover his background. Whether the person whose conclusion you are evaluating
is a corporate executive, a labor leader, a boxing promoter, or a judge,
try to play the role of such a person and plan in your mind what he would be
thinking as he moves toward the conclusion. WTien an executive for a coal
company argues that strip mining does not significantly harm the beauty of
our natural environment, he has probably begun with a belief that strip
mining is beneficial to our nation. Thus, he may assume a definition of beauty
that would be consistent with his arguments, while other definitions of beauty
would lead to a condemnation of strip mining.
Identify with the opposition. If you are unable to locate assumptions by taking
the role of the speaker or writer, try to reverse roles. Ask yourself why anyone
might disagree with the conclusion. What type of reasoning would
prompt someone to disagree with the conclusion you are evaluating? If you
can play the role of a person who would not accept the conclusion, you can
more readily see assumptions in the explicit structure of the argument.
Recognize the potential existence of other means of attaining the advantages
referred to in the reasons. Frequently, a conclusion is supported by reasons
that indicate the various advantages of acting on the author's conclusion.
When there are many ways to reach the same advantages, one important
assumption linking the reasons to the conclusion is that the best way to attain
the advantages is through the one advocated by the communicator.
Let's try this technique with one brief example. Experts disagree about how
a person should establish financial stability. Many times young people are
encouraged to establish credit with a credit card. But aren't there many ways to
establish financial stability? Might not some of these alternatives have less serious