Lecture Notes by Christopher Lay

Los Angeles Pierce College

Department of History, Philosophy, and Sociology

Supplemental Notes on Guarding in Essays

Accuracy in the presentation of what others have to say is important.  One way to achieve that accuracy involves properly guard claims that are otherwise too strong.  From Mathew Van Cleave's 2016 Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking: 

"[G]uarding involves taking a stronger claim and making it weaker so there is less room to object to the claim."

"Guarding involves weakening a claim so that it is easier to make that claim true."

"A weak claim is more likely to be true whereas a strong claim is less likely to be true."

"We can also guard a claim by introducing a probability clause ... ."