DIRECTIONS: What would you have to SEE to finish each claim? An observation, not an argument.
Ask it of yourself first. Asked of someone losing an argument,
it is a weapon.
A phone case is sold with the line this case protects your phone from any drop. Write one thing you could watch happen that would finish the claim.
You show the seller a cracked phone in their case. They say: it only fails if you drop it wrong. Is there anything left that could finish the claim? Say what happened to it.
A claim about people: children who eat breakfast do better at school. What would you have to be shown before you dropped it?
Your friend says his lucky socks make him play better. He loses wearing them — I was tired. He wins without them — they were in my bag. Copy out the sentence after which the claim stopped being about socks.
What Would Change Your Mind? — continued
How do you know? · Page 2 of 2
Now yourself. Write down one thing you believe that other people argue with you about. Then finish the sentence underneath it: I would drop this if I saw …
Read the box below, then write one belief of yours that belongs in it — and one sentence saying how you can tell it apart from the one you wrote in question 5.
“Nothing would change my mind” is a fair answer for a value, like
it is wrong to be cruel to animals. It is not fair for a belief about what happens in the
world.