[Appendix]
Categories of Legitimate Reservation
Clarity

A Clarity reservation is the first step in a check of logical validity. A Clarity reservation is not concerned with the content of the statement but rather the meaning.

Reasons to invoke a Clarity reservation

You don’t understand the meaning of the statement.

You don’t see the significance of the statement.

You don’t understand the meaning or context of specific words or phrases used in the statement.

You don’t recognize a reasonable connection between a stated cause and a stated effect.

You don’t see some intermediate steps implied but not explicitly stated.

 Entity Existence

Reasons to invoke an Entity Existence reservation

The statement is an incomplete idea. (Not a grammatically correct sentence)

The statement is not structurally sound. (It expresses multiple ideas in a single entity)

The statement at "face value" does not seem valid.

 Causality Existence

A Causality Existence reservation is raised when there is a doubt that the stated cause does, in fact, lead to the stated effect. Entity Existence focuses on the validity of entity statements, while Causality Existence addresses the validity of the relationship connections between entities.

Reasons to invoke a Causality Existence reservation

Does the cause really result in the effect? (Does and IF-THEN connection really exist?)

Is the cause intangible? (A tangible cause can be measured or observed)

 

Cause Insufficiency

Cause Insufficiency is the most common deficiency found in logic trees. In complex interactions, relatively few effects are likely to have a single unequivocal cause. Most of the time, a given effect will have either multiple dependent causes or more than one independent cause.

A Cause Insufficiency reservation is raised when the stated cause is not enough, by itself, to produce the stated result.

Additional Cause

Sometimes more than one completely independent cause can produce a similar effect. The Cause Insufficiency reservation is testing for a logical "AND" condition. The Additional Cause reservation is testing for a logical "OR" condition.

The Additional Cause reservation is not raised to contest a stated cause, but to suggest that there is something else that, by itself, might generate the same effect.

In order for an Additional Cause reservation to be valid, the suggested additional cause must produce the stated effect in at least as much magnitude as the originally stated cause.
Cause-Effect Reversal

A Cause-Effect Reversal reservation addresses the question " Is the stated cause the source of the effect, or is the effect really the source of the cause?"

 Tautology

Tautology is another name for circular logic. The effect is offered as a rationale for the cause. Tautology can never stand-alone. It must be preceded by another causality reservation usually Causality Existence.

Tautology will usually surface when Causality Existence is questioned and the cause is intangible.

To avoid the Tautology trap, ask the following questions:

Is the cause intangible?

Is the effect offered as a rationale for the existence of the cause?

Are there any additional predicted effects that could substantiate the intangible cause?
Predicted Effect Existence

Predicted Effect Existence means that if the stated cause-effect relationship were valid then another unstated effect would also be expected. The Predicted Effect Existence reservation does not stand-alone. It is always invoked to substantiate a reservation for Causality Existence, Cause Insufficiency, Additional Cause, or Cause-Effect Reversal. Predicted Effect Existence becomes the proof that one of the other causality reservations is -or is not- valid.

To avoid confusion, verbalize a Predicted Effect Existence reservation this way:

If we accept that [CAUSE] is the reason for [ORIGINAL EFFECT], then it must also lead to [PREDICTED EFFECT(s)], which [do/do not] exist.
 [Appendix]

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