{"id":358,"date":"2025-02-07T20:51:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T20:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/chapter\/arguments\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T17:17:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T17:17:33","slug":"arguments","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/chapter\/arguments\/","title":{"raw":"Arguments","rendered":"Arguments"},"content":{"raw":"You can never totally prove an opinion is true, but you can sometimes use facts to show that one opinion is more convincing than another. This is called making an [pb_glossary id=\"736\"]argument[\/pb_glossary].\r\n\r\nFor instance: \u201cWe should build a base on the moon\u201d (opinion)\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Because<\/strong> \u201cthere are many minerals on the moon that we could use on Earth\u201d (a fact).<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nHow good an argument is that?\r\n\r\nIt depends on two things:\r\n\r\nFirst, <strong>are the facts correct?<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Are there really valuable minerals on the moon? We\u2019ll need to find out.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nNext, <strong>do the facts really support the opinion?<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>To answer that, we\u2019d have to ask questions like:<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>How hard would it be to mine the minerals on the moon?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How hard would it be to get them back to Earth?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How hard would it be to build and maintain a moon base?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What could go wrong?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nWe\u2019ll probably need to find a lot more <strong>facts<\/strong> to answer those questions!\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Building Arguments<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\nTake a look at the facts below.\r\n\r\nWhich of those could you use to support the opinion that \u201c<em>Going to the moon was humanity\u2019s greatest achievement?\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nWhich could you use to support the idea that <em>\u201cGoing to the moon was a waste of money?\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nWhich wouldn\u2019t support <em>either<\/em> opinion?\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The first moon landing cost about two and a half billion dollars.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The moon\u2019s gravity is one-sixth as strong as the Earth\u2019s.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Photos of the Earth, taken from the moon, made many people more aware how fragile the Earth\u2019s environment is.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Many technologies we use today were developed as part of the space program.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Chemicals in the rockets that sent astronauts to the moon contributed to climate change.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>400,000 people were involved in the space program and the moon landing.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>People have been imagining trips to the moon since at least the 2nd Century CE.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Spending time in space is bad for astronauts. It weakens their bones and increases the risks of several diseases.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;","rendered":"<p>You can never totally prove an opinion is true, but you can sometimes use facts to show that one opinion is more convincing than another. This is called making an <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_358_736\">argument<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For instance: \u201cWe should build a base on the moon\u201d (opinion)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Because<\/strong> \u201cthere are many minerals on the moon that we could use on Earth\u201d (a fact).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How good an argument is that?<\/p>\n<p>It depends on two things:<\/p>\n<p>First, <strong>are the facts correct?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are there really valuable minerals on the moon? We\u2019ll need to find out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Next, <strong>do the facts really support the opinion?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To answer that, we\u2019d have to ask questions like:<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>\n<li>How hard would it be to mine the minerals on the moon?<\/li>\n<li>How hard would it be to get them back to Earth?<\/li>\n<li>How hard would it be to build and maintain a moon base?<\/li>\n<li>What could go wrong?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We\u2019ll probably need to find a lot more <strong>facts<\/strong> to answer those questions!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Building Arguments<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>Take a look at the facts below.<\/p>\n<p>Which of those could you use to support the opinion that \u201c<em>Going to the moon was humanity\u2019s greatest achievement?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Which could you use to support the idea that <em>\u201cGoing to the moon was a waste of money?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Which wouldn\u2019t support <em>either<\/em> opinion?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The first moon landing cost about two and a half billion dollars.<\/li>\n<li>The moon\u2019s gravity is one-sixth as strong as the Earth\u2019s.<\/li>\n<li>Photos of the Earth, taken from the moon, made many people more aware how fragile the Earth\u2019s environment is.<\/li>\n<li>Many technologies we use today were developed as part of the space program.<\/li>\n<li>Chemicals in the rockets that sent astronauts to the moon contributed to climate change.<\/li>\n<li>400,000 people were involved in the space program and the moon landing.<\/li>\n<li>People have been imagining trips to the moon since at least the 2nd Century CE.<\/li>\n<li>Spending time in space is bad for astronauts. It weakens their bones and increases the risks of several diseases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"glossary\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\" id=\"definition\">definition<\/span><template id=\"term_358_736\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_358_736\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>An opinion that is supported by relevant facts.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-358","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":355,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1153,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/358\/revisions\/1153"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/355"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/358\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=358"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=358"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/discovering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}