Below is a list of claims and the sources which are supposed to justify them. Do the sources warrant their claims? Why is their use appropriate or inappropriate?
It may be helpful to ask the following questions.
Model answers are given at the end.
1) The official Whitehouse website reports that Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States of America.
2) The website www.BeastObama.com reports that Barack Obama is the Antichrist.
3) The New York Times reports that there have been a number of instances where lobbyists have drafted bills for politicians.
4) A New York Time column claims that Vladimir Putin has some serious dirt on Donald Trump.
5) The red jungle fowl is an evolutionary ancestor to the barnyard chicken according to the journal Science.
6) The government isn’t investing enough money into vaccines for bird flu according to the journal Science
7) Vitamin C tablets prevent colds according to www.buyhealthyvitimins.com
8) The rash on my face is nothing to worry about according to my doctor.
9) As everyone knows Cricket was invented in England.
10) Aristotle said that “in women the deliberative capacity of the rational element is without authority – it is easily overruled by the irrational element.”
11) People with moustaches make terrible drivers. I have personally seen many of them.
12) Some insurgents were pleased that Saddam Hussein had been toppled. The insurgent Akram said that the members of his group were glad to be rid of Saddam.
13) When renting a room in a share house, unless your room has its own lock on the door you are not classified as a tenant according to the Victorian rental Act
14) Some parts of Colombia are dangerous places to visit according to www.Smarttraveler.gov.au
1) The official Whitehouse website reports that Barack Obama is the 44th president of the United States of America.
Model answer
We can accept the claim given the source. The claim is one that the authors of the website could easily verify, there is no reason for them not to tell the truth, and if they got it wrong it would soon be discovered and be very embarrassing for the authors.
2) The website www.BeastObama.com reports that Barack Obama is the Antichrist.
Model answer
We cannot accept this claim just based on this source. Without looking at the website it sounds like it could be written by people who have a bias against Obama and might say such things about him regardless of the evidence for or against the claim. More importantly the claim is bold, contentious, and hard to verify, so you couldn’t just accept it based on someone’s say-so, we would need to look for evidence for and against it.
3) The New York Times reports that there have been a number of instances where lobbyists have drafted bills for politicians.
Model answer
This claim is probably something we can trust the NYT to assert truthfully. It sounds like it is the sort of claim that they could back up with verifiable examples if need be, and there is no real reason to lie about it given the damage that would be down to their reputation if they were found out to have lied about it.
4) A New York Time column claims that Vladimir Putin has some serious dirt on Donald Trump.
Model answer
This type of contentious claim is probably not something anyone should accept without checking the details, and so probably not something that the NYT would claim with the expectation that you should just trust them on it. We would need to look at the reliability of the source the NYT relies upon before accepting this claim, as there would be many people motivated to provide misleading information about this type of claim to the press.
5) The red jungle fowl is an evolutionary ancestor to the barnyard chicken according to the journal Science.
Model answer
This sounds like a straightforward scientific claim that you wouldn’t expect a scientific journal to get wrong.
6) The government isn’t investing enough money into vaccines for bird flu according to the journal Science
Model answer
If you trust the journal that this claim is published in because you have knowledge of their track record when it comes to making such claims then it would be rational to increase the probability that you assign to the claim somewhat. But we shouldn’t accept the claim without first reading the argument the journal makes for it, because it is a contentious claim for which there must be things to be said for and against the conclusion.
7) Vitamin C tablets prevent colds according to www.buyhealthyvitimins.com
Model answer
If this website belongs to a company that is trying to sell you vitamins, then it is the type of claim that they might make even if it wasn’t true.
8) The rash on my face is nothing to worry about according to my doctor.
Model answer
Your local GP is probably a reliable source on many conditions like this, and they will generally pass all three of source reliability questions, but in some cases it might be worth trying to work out what the GP’s track record is with the symptoms you have, or at least try to establish how rigorous and reflective their general diagnostic process is.
9) As everyone knows Cricket was invented in England.
Model answer
This is not really a source, but an appeal to common knowledge. Sometimes it is fine to accept a claim because most people who have some awareness of the topic think it is true.
10) Aristotle said that “in women the deliberative capacity of the rational element is without authority – it is easily overruled by the irrational element.”
Model answer
Aristotle may have said lots of insightful things over his life, but we have no reason to think he has any special expertise on how rational different people are.
11) People with moustaches make terrible drivers. I have personally seen many of them.
Model answer
This is too hasty a generalisation to make based merely on personal experience; for one thing if you have a bias against moustaches then you may only notice people with moustaches who are bad drivers and fail to notice all the people with moustaches who are good drivers.
12) Some insurgents were pleased that Saddam Hussein had been toppled. The insurgent Akram said that the members of his group were glad to be rid of Saddam.
Model answer
This is a modest claim about some insurgents, so it is probably fine to accept it based on the testimony of one insurgent.
13) When renting a room in a share house, unless your room has its own lock on the door you are not classified as a tenant according to the Victorian rental Act
Model answer
This act is the authoritative source and it defines what a tenant is.
14) Some parts of Colombia are dangerous places to visit according to www.Smarttraveler.gov.au
Model answer
I have no idea what the track record of this government website is, but they would be highly motivated to give good advice and I bet they are well funded for the task.