General Studies Key Terms

Facts are objective and can be verified and supported by evidence.

Opinions are subjective, not generally agreed, contain value judgements and may or may not be supported by evidence.

If a statement is believed by at least one person it is a belief - beliefs may be true or false and may or may not be supported by evidence.

In this type of argument which goes from particular observations to a general conclusion, even if the premises are true and the argument is good, the conclusion is still only more or less probable.

If the premises are true in this type of argument - in which a general premise leads to a specific conclusion - and the argument is a good one, the conclusion must be true.

This type of argument rests upon the premise that something is somehow similar to something else and the idea that things that are similar in one way will be similar in another.

This type of argument suggests that if one thing happens before another, the first must be the cause of the second - this is not necessarily true since sometimes correlations have nothing to do with causes.

This type of argument rests upon the claim of an individual who has expertise in the subject or area under consideration.

This refers to a pattern of reasoning which is mistaken but which people commonly use.