Critical Thinking

Education Is
Dead

Cognitive Domain

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking includes a variety of
deliberative processes aimed at making
wise decisions about what to believe
and do, processes that center on
evaluation of arguments but include
much more.

Basic Critical Thinking Skills

When we take a position on an issue,

we assert or claim something. The
claim and thinking on which it is based
are subject to rational evaluation. When
we do that evaluating, we are thinking
critically. To think critically, then, we
need to know five things:

To think critically, then, we

need to know:

1. When someone (including ourselves)

is taking a position on an issue, what
that issue is, and what the person is
claiming their position is on that issue.

To think critically, then, we

need to know:

2. What considerations are relevant to

that issue
3. Whether the reasoning underlying
the persons claim is good reasoning
4. And whether, everything considered,
we should accept, reject, or suspend
judgment on what the person has
claimed

To think critically, then, we

need to know:

Finally, 5. Doing all this requires us to

be levelheaded and objective and not
influenced by extraneous factors.

Issues: What is an issue?

It is something we have a question

about.
A key word is whether.
An issue is what is raised when you
consider whether a claim is true.

Arguments: What is an
argument?

Let us define an argument as an

attempt to support a claim or assertion
by providing a reason or reasons for
accepting it.

What is a claim?

A claim is a statement that is either true

or false. The claim that is supported is
called the conclusion of the argument,
and the claim or claims that provide
support are called the premises.

Arguments and Explanations

An argument attempts to prove that

some claim is true, while an explanation
attempts to specify how something
works or what caused it or brought it
about. Arguing that a dog has fleas is
quite different from explaining how it
came to have fleas. Explanations and
arguments are different things.

Recognizing Arguments

An argument always has a conclusion.

Always. Without a conclusion, a bunch
of words isnt an argument. But an
argument also needs at least one
premise. Without a premise you have
no support for the conclusion and so
you dont have an argument.

An Explanation

An explanation is a claim or set of

claims intended to make another claim,
object, event, or state of affairs
intelligible (but not true or false).

A premise

A premise is the claim or claims in an

argument that provide the reasons for
believing the conclusion.

Identifying Issues

Before you can really recognize an

argument you have to know what the
issues are.

An important clue to what the issue is

will be to look for the conclusions. The
conclusion that is presented refers to
the issue being addressed.

Factual Issues Versus

Nonfactual Issues

Is your dad or uncle older? That is a

factual issue.
Asking whether it is better to be your
dads age or your uncles age is a
nonfactual issue.

Factual Claims

A factual claim is simply a claim,

whether true or false, that states a
position on a factual issue. But this is
where it can be confusing.

Saying a claim is factual is not

equivalent to saying it is true!

Factual Claims

An issue is factual if there are

established methods for settling it.

Factual claims can be determined,

while opinions cannot be determined.

Facts and Factual Matters

A fact is a true claim. A factual issue is

an issue concerning a fact. The right
answer about a factual issue will be a
fact, whether we know that fact yet or
not.

Subjectivism and Relativism

Subjectivism is the idea that, just as two

people can disagree and yet both be correct
on a nonfactual issue, they can both be
correct in their differing opinions on the same
factual issues.
Relativism is the parallel idea that two
different cultures can be correct in their
differing opinions on the same factual issues.

Opinion and Pure Opinion

An opinion is someones belief on an issue, or

someones belief about a specific claim. That issue
may well be a matter of fact. For the issue to be a
matter of pure opinion, there must be no factual
matter involved in it. For example, someones age is
a factual issue. It can be determined. But you can still
have an opinion on whether it is a good age or not.
But you cant have a pure opinion about it as if they
were any age you decide they should be.

Relevance, Rhetoric, and

Keeping a Clear Head

One of the most serious and difficult

obstacles to clear thinking is the tendency to
confuse extraneous and irrelevant
considerations with the merits of a claim.

Another obstacle to clear thinking is paying

more attention to the psychological force of
an argument than its logical force.

Relevance, Rhetoric, and

Keeping a Clear Head

Some politicians, for example, rely on

the emotional associations of words to
scare us, flatter us, and amuse us; to
arose jealousy, desire, and disgust; to
make good things sound bad and bad
things sound good; and to confuse,
mislead, and misinform us.

Relevance, Rhetoric, and

Keeping a Clear Head

Critical thinking involves recognizing the

rhetorical force of language and trying
not to be influenced by it.

Conclusion

It helps you know what considerations

are relevant to that issue

And whether the reasoning underlying

the persons claim is good reasoning.

Conclusion

It helps you know what considerations are

relevant to that issue
And whether the reasoning underlying the
persons claim is good reasoning.
It helps you determine whether, everything
considered, you should accept, reject, or
suspend judgment on what the person claims.
These skills require you to be levelheaded and
objective and uninfluenced by extraneous factors

Common Mistakes

Mistakes: Ambiguity

Secretaries make more money than

physicians. What does this mean?
She saw the farmer with binoculars.
Who had the binoculars?

Mistakes: Fallacies

Fallacy of composition: We dont spend

that much on military salaries. After all,
who ever heard of anyone getting rich in
the Army? In other words, we dont
spend that much on service personnel
individually; therefore we dont spend
much on them as a group.

Mistakes: Fallacies

Fallacy of division: House Members

are incompetent. Therefore, House
Member Ruhut is incompetent. What
holds true of a group does not
necessarily hold true for all the
individuals in that group.

Mistakes: Vague Claims

He is old. Compared to what? Old is a

matter of context. Old for first grade?
Old in general? The vagueness of a
claim is a matter of degree.

Mistakes: A Red Herring

When a person brings a topic into a

conversation that distracts from the
original point, especially if the new topic
is introduced in order to distract, the
person is said to have introduced a red
herring

Mistakes: Ad Hominem

We commit the ad hominem fallacy

when we think that considerations about
a person refute his or her assertions.

Example: A proposal made by an

oddball is an oddballs proposal, but it
does not follow that it is an oddball
proposal! See?

Mistakes: Straw Man

The straw man fallacy happens when you

refute a position or claim by distorting or
oversimplifying or misrepresenting it. Lets
say Mrs. Yahya announces it is time to clean
the attic. Mr. Yahya groans and says, What,
again? Do we have to clean it out everyday?
She responds: Just because you think we
should keep every last piece of junk forever
doesnt mean I do.

Conclusion

Critical thinking helps you to know when

someone is taking a position on an
issue
What that issue is
And what the person is claiming relative
to that issue-that is, what the persons
position is.