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Something I came across recently and found slightly confusing was the difference between a claim and an assumption. Can someone help me understand the difference between these two categorizations specifically as it relates to logical reasoning?
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Trolling test-takers for a living sounds fun. I do over-complicate things, though, as some ppl here would agree. But I realize I'm an insignificant windbag. Admitting it makes it all okay, obviously.
No reason to make the LSAT more complicated than it already is. Q.E.D- if being a lawyer doesn't work out, you would make a great LSAT question writer.
I think "left out of the argument" I can agree with on some level. I still think an assumption can be stated in the discussion though, since the key to assumption-hood for a proposition is how it's viewed. Of courses, what matters for the LSAT is a stipulative definition that serves your needs. For that purpose, I have no disagreement at all.
And perhaps others...
"WHAT ARE ASSUMPTIONS?
Simply put, they are premises that the author has left out of the argument. That is all assumptions are, period." - JY Ping
http://classic.7sage.com/lesson/assumptions/
I would differ with you about that, but it would be a petty difference.
....by definition....
Oh yes, it seems quite right that the assumptions you're asked about won't be stated. Thanks @jaredj229628
To clarify the above comment,on the LSAT assumptions will never be explicitly stated. Any premise, conclusion, or contextual information that is explicitly stated in the stimulus is a claim.
It might help to think about a claim as an act, namely the act of assertion.
If I claim that your cat is on the blue mat, I'm actively telling you, the audience, that the proposition 'your cat is on the blue mat' is true, and I'm deliberately trying to persuade you to believe it.
Assumptions are things that claims logically imply or are implied by. Take the former: Certain things must be true in order for my statement to be true, even if I don't assert them; e.g., you own at least one cat, and not all mats are not blue. The distinction of 'claim' as opposed to 'assumption' is roughly what's being explicitly asserted.
As a side note, remember assumptions might also be explicitly stated. In that case, though, they'll still lack an air of contention. If the contextual tone of the author suggests he/she isn't trying to persuade the audience, then the explicit statement in question is prob an assumption - context, background, reportage, whatever - and not a claim.
Best of luck to you
An assumption is an unstated premise that is necessary to a claim.