An objection is a special kind of reason – one that provides evidence against a claim.

    An objection is a group of claims, known as premises, treated as

    jointly providing evidence that another claim is false.

We talk about the special relationship between an objection and the other claim in a variety of ways:

  - An objection provides evidence against a claim, i.e., evidence that it is false.

  - An objection opposes a claim.

  - An objection undermines a contention.

Objections and Reasons

Since objections provide evidence that a claim is false, you can often treat an objection as a reason to think that the opposite of the claim is true. In other words, an objection to claim C is a positive reason for ‘It is not the case that C’ (technically known as the negation of C).

Generally, it is easier to deal with reasons rather than objections, so we prefer the ‘reason’ form to the ‘objection’ form. In many cases, however, it is important to use the ‘objection’ form. For example, in critical evaluation we are trying to represent and evaluate reasoning presented by somebody else. If that person presented their reasoning in the form of an objection, we should evaluate it as such.

Objections to Reasons

Often a person appears to be objecting not to a claim directly, but to a reason. The objection says, in effect, ‘that reason is no good.’

Upon closer inspection, such an objection may take one of two forms. First, it may be providing evidence against the truth of the premise (or one of the premises). In this case it can be described as a ‘premise objection’ – an objection to a premise. Second, it may be providing evidence that the premise does not support the main contention. In this case, it is known as an inference objection. Every inference objection can, however, be shown to be an objection to an as-yet-unstated premise.

Rebuttals – Objections to Objections

Just as there can be objections to reasons, there can be objections to objections, known as rebuttals. A rebuttal provides evidence that the original objection is no good. As with objections to reasons, there are two kinds: premise rebuttals, and inference rebuttals.

Figure 2.8  Premise Rebuttal                                                 Figure 2.9  Inference Rebuttal

Objections versus (mere) Denials

A proper objection provides evidence against a claim; it is not just rejecting it. For example, if you say ‘Money is the path to happiness,’ and I say ‘That’s absurd!’ I have not made an objection in the current sense. I have merely denied the truth of your claim.

To raise an objection I must provide some further information which might rationally persuade you that your claim is false. For example, I could say ‘There is considerable statistical evidence that beyond a certain minimum level, wealthier people are not happier than less wealthy people.’

Mere denials can be quite blatant, but people often disguise them. They try to act as if they have provided a genuine reason to reject the contention, but when you look carefully, they have not provided any distinct evidence.

See also: Topics Reason and Inference Objection