Week 6 — Language and Meaning

Welcome to your Week 6 Start Here page.

Why this matters

A nursing student reading what counts as a safe dose and a business major reading a job ad both need to notice how a word is defined, how it can shift, and how it can carry a verdict.

In plain language

This week is about the words inside an argument, not its shape. You will learn four kinds of definition (a statement of what a word means or will mean) and tell a vague word (one with fuzzy edges, like "tall") from an ambiguous word (one with two separate meanings, like "fine"). You will catch equivocation (an argument that quietly lets one word change its meaning halfway through) and two mistakes about parts and wholes. You will also hear how loaded language (words chosen for their emotional push) can carry a verdict while every fact stays true. Reading words carefully keeps you from accepting a conclusion that the words, and not the reasons, delivered.

• Already covered: Weeks 3 to 5 tested the shape of arguments.
• This week: definitions, vague and ambiguous words, equivocation, composition and division, and loaded language.
• How they connect: a word that shifts meaning can make an invalid argument look valid.
• Where we're going next: Week 7, Fallacies of Relevance.

Focus

When do the words in an argument do the arguing, and how do you catch them?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] sort a definition as reporting, stipulative, precising, or persuasive
• [ ] tell a vague word from an ambiguous one and fix each
• [ ] name equivocation, composition, and division in a short passage
• [ ] rewrite loaded wording in neutral words

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 6 (about 40 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes) and the practice set (about 20 minutes).
3. Do the Argument Workshop (about 90 minutes), the discussion, and the assignment.
4. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: explain what "fine" means in each line of the parking-sign passage and why that makes it equivocation.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor if a step snags.

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