Concept and Strategy Summary

Domains of Discourse

• The natural domain corresponds to objects, events, and experiences—everything that can be found in the world around us.
• The textual domain corresponds to words, sentences, and paragraphs—everything that directly faces you in an MCAT passage.
• The conceptual domain corresponds to concepts, claims, and arguments—everything that underlies logic.

Concepts: The Basic Elements of Logic

• Concepts are ideas that have meanings (definitions or connotations).

• Ideas can be related through various relations, which are often indicated with Relation keywords in a passage.

  • Similarity and Difference are very common Relation keywords.
  • Opposition, Sequence, and Comparison keywords are less common, but they are significant when they occur in a passage.
  • The relation between the whole and its parts can be important in some CARS passages.

Claims: The Bearers of Truth Value

• Claims can also be called assertions, statements, propositions, beliefs, or contentions.
• Claims are made up of combinations of concepts and relationships of ideas.
• They possess truth value and can thus be true or false.

• Claims can also be related through various relationships.

  • If two claims are consistent (compatible or in agreement) with one another, then both can be true simultaneously.
  • If two claims are inconsistent (contradictory or conflicting) with one another, then it is impossible for both to be true simultaneously.
  • If one claim supports another, then this claim being true would make the other claim more likely to be true as well.
  • If one claim challenges (refutes or objects to) another, then this claim being true would make the other claim more likely to be false.

Arguments: Conclusions and Evidence

• At a minimum, arguments contain three parts: a conclusion, its evidence, and the one-way path of support between them.
• Counterarguments, also called refutations, objections, or challenges, are the opposite of evidence because they go against the conclusion.

• Inferences are unstated parts of arguments.

  • Assumptions are unstated pieces of evidence.
  • Implications are unstated conclusions.
  • Inferences are claims that must be true or—at the very least—must be highly probable.

• There are three main ways of strengthening an argument:

  • One could provide a new piece of evidence that supports the conclusion.
  • One could support evidence that already exists to support the conclusion.
  • One could challenge refutations against the conclusion.

• There are three main ways of weakening an argument:

  • One could provide a new refutation that goes against the conclusion.
  • One could support refutations that already exist.
  • One could challenge evidence for the conclusion.