Argument Mapping and Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is about making good judgments. Much of critical thinking involves dealing with arguments.To be a good critical thinker you must be skilled at articulating and evaluating arguments.
Argument mapping helps us carry out these tasks. Argument maps are box-and-line diagrams laying out the arguments for and against some claim.
Rationale™ is software for argument mapping. It was designed to support Critical Thinking skills by helping us
- build,
- modify,
- evaluate, and
- communicate arguments.
A sample argument map from Rationale™, in "Reasoning" mode.