Critical Thinking Study Question Collaboration Page
Contents
- 1 Chapter 1: Thinking about Thinking
- 1.1 What are some of the opportunities and obstacles of trying to become a better critical thinking in the information age?
- 1.2 How has the progress of research and "knowledge work" contributed to and complicated the pursuit of truth?
- 1.3 What is epistemology? What are some of the values and limitations of logic in becoming a better thinker?
- 1.4 What does it mean to make your thought an object of thought?
- 1.5 How can we describe thinking in ways that seem compatible with what we are learning from research on cognition and social conflict?
- 1.6 What is a persona and how does your persona affect the quality of your deliberations?
- 1.7 What are the three main critical thinking virtues?
- 2 Chapter 2: Making Reflective Moves
- 2.1 Understand and explicate terms and phrases such as: presumption, conversational implicature, burden of proof, rationales, claims, and logic chopping
- 2.2 Explain and be prepared to distinguish arguments from explanations.
- 2.3 Review the key features of basic reconstructions and be prepared to give a basic reconstruction of a short argument.
- 2.4 Review the principles of fair interpretation.
- 2.5 Understand the difference between Conversational Interpretive Strategies and Rationale Engagement Strategies and be prepared to apply them in particular cases.
- 3 Chapter 3: Sherlock’s Logic – Deductive and Inductive Inferences in Everyday Reflection
- 3.1 Understand and explicate the terms and phrases such as:
- 3.2 Within categorical logic, understand and apply terms such as: contradictories, contraries, subcontraries, subalterns.
- 3.3 Within propositional logic, understand the main components of the logical system (claims or propositions, connectives, parentheses, brackets, and braces), the five main valid argument patterns, and how the valid argument patterns determine validity.
- 3.4 In propositional logic, apply the valid argument patterns to simple formalized arguments to determine validity.
- 3.5 From the part of the chapter on induction, describe the difference between inductive argument structures and deductive ones. In what situations would one choose inductive reasoning over deductive? What is a hasty generalization?
- 3.6 Explain the nature and structure of analogical arguments. How do they persuade?
- 4 Chapter 4: Tell me Why . . .Or How . . . Explanation and Causation in Reflective Practice
- 4.1 Give examples of the wide range of types of explanatory questions.
- 4.2 What are the main features of good explanations?
- 4.3 What are the competing explanatory accounts of the redness of Mars?
- 4.4 What’s the difference between a “why” question and a “how” question?
- 4.5 Do explanations need to connect to “ultimate purposes”? Be prepared to present both points of view.
- 4.6 Can you see “causation”?
- 4.7 What’s the difference between a necessary and sufficient condition?
- 4.8 Identify four of Mill’s methods and be prepared to explain each.
- 4.9 What is “inverse” and “direct” variation?
- 4.10 What is a “correlation coefficient”?
- 4.11 What is the fallacy of “complex cause”? “common cause”?
- 5 Chapter 5: “We Don’t Get Fooled Again” – Uses and Misuses of Numerical and Statistical Information
- 5.1 What are some of the difficulties that people face when trying to use and discuss numeric and statistical information?
- 5.2 What is “innumeracy”?
- 5.3 Idenify the main kinds of problems understanding and thinking about numeric and statistical information, including problems of context, large numbers, compounding, linearity, baseline, surveys and sampling, odds, probability, correlation, and cause.
- 5.4 Why is it that wasting a billion dollars might not be such a big deal for the Federal Government?
- 5.5 Identify and explain these terms: representative sample, depressive realism, sample space, sampling error, the law of large numbers, gambler’s fallacy, bell curve, multiple regression analysis,
- 5.6 What is the Sports Illustrated jinx? Do you think it’s real? Why or why not?
- 6 Chapter 6 – The Way Up is the Way Down – Thinking Through Complexity.
- 6.1 Give an example of how sciences simplify things to build models and be prepared to say something about the limits of a simple model of causality.
- 6.2 What is network theory?
- 6.3 What does “six degrees of separation” mean?
- 6.4 Complex systems: inerrelatedness, 1965 New York City power outage (sig. of), coupling/decoupling.
- 6.5 Be prepared to give your own examples of complex networks.
- 6.6 Buffering, redundant systems, pos/neg feedback (examples of).
- 6.7 The Beer Game (sig. of), Partner system for police (sig. of).
- 6.8 Political ideologies as clusters in a political network.
- 6.9 Gottman’s work, significance, critical variables, Intransparency.
- 6.10 Dorner’s work. Characteristics of good managers
- 6.11 Chaos vs. Complexity. Characteristics of chaotic system. The weather.
- 6.12 Practical lessons from chaos theory for critical thinking.
- 6.13 Thin-slicing. Sig. of.
- 6.14 Intuition, sig. and problems of.
Chapter 1: Thinking about Thinking
What are some of the opportunities and obstacles of trying to become a better critical thinking in the information age?
The information age is overwhelming precisely because the growth of research knowledge gives us both more good reliable knowledge and more apparent or questionable findings and theories.
How has the progress of research and "knowledge work" contributed to and complicated the pursuit of truth?
What is epistemology? What are some of the values and limitations of logic in becoming a better thinker?
Epistemology is the study of the orgins and grounds for knowledge.
What does it mean to make your thought an object of thought?
An object of thought could be an issue, topic, or problem in your life. You are thinking about a topic, focused on that topic, until there is a resolution or something that that distracts you from that topic.
How can we describe thinking in ways that seem compatible with what we are learning from research on cognition and social conflict?
What is a persona and how does your persona affect the quality of your deliberations?
The persona is essentially the facade or character one tends to adopt within reflective discussions. As noted in the text one could be a "gadfly," which would entail "listening carefully for much of the discussion but then interjecting a particularly insightful or disarming question or series of questions." In short, one's persona is the general personality one develops within the context of the discussion, which would pertain to one's behavior towards others, the matter at hand, and other aspects of the conversation. Other examples provided include someone that "holds forth," one that "holds the fort," or someone that is a "synthesizer." Depending on one's persona, the quality of the deliberation will vary. The individual personas allow for different levels of quality based on what one takes out of the discussion, in addition to other variables.
What are the three main critical thinking virtues?
The three mail critical thinking virtues are sympathetic understanding, seeking knowledge, and inviting appraisal. Sympathetic Understanding is to be able to enter into a sypathetic unsderstanding of the views being offered. This requires you to understand the meaning of what has been said and the perspective from which it makes sense. Seeking Knowledge involves the following three questions about any view or argument: What is known? What is knowable? Who knows it? Inviting Appraisal is your openness to appraisal, both to giving ctitical appraisals and to receiving them.
Chapter 2: Making Reflective Moves
Understand and explicate terms and phrases such as: presumption, conversational implicature, burden of proof, rationales, claims, and logic chopping
Presumptions: Claims that are generally taken to be true or implied to be true within the context (not from the actual content) of the deliberation. All communication must take certain truths (presumptions) for granted. We presume what we do not question. Presumptions are the claims/ideas that are not "in play" in the discussion. Presumptions are good things to question, but not too early. They are partly determined by the interests of parties to the conversation, but also by the social and historical context of the discussion. They are one of the "structures" underlying spoken/written communication that help organize our thinking and exchanges. Specific presumptions that are made depend on the speaker's personalities, cultural values, and historical context. They are "non-logical" and pragmatic aspects of communication
Conversational implicature: A nonlogical inference constituting part of what is conveyed by a speaker in making an utterance in a context, without being part of what is actually said in the utterance.
Burden of proof: An obligation that is normally attributed to a speaker/writer to provide credible/plausible reasons for his/her major claims. This shifts as more compelling reasons are offered for different claims. In a discussion, it depends upon what is already presumed. One way to shift this is to undermine/question a presumption.
Rationales: Any set of premises or reasons which imply a conclusion when the truth of those premises is somehow a basis for accepting or understanding the conclusion (when on thing is said for the basis of another)
Claim: A statement about the world that is either true or false. They become conclusions of a thought process when we think we have support for them.
VICTORIA MANKILLER
Explain and be prepared to distinguish arguments from explanations.
Review the key features of basic reconstructions and be prepared to give a basic reconstruction of a short argument.
Review the principles of fair interpretation.
Understand the difference between Conversational Interpretive Strategies and Rationale Engagement Strategies and be prepared to apply them in particular cases.
Chapter 3: Sherlock’s Logic – Deductive and Inductive Inferences in Everyday Reflection
Understand and explicate the terms and phrases such as:
Within categorical logic, understand and apply terms such as: contradictories, contraries, subcontraries, subalterns.
Within propositional logic, understand the main components of the logical system (claims or propositions, connectives, parentheses, brackets, and braces), the five main valid argument patterns, and how the valid argument patterns determine validity.
In propositional logic, apply the valid argument patterns to simple formalized arguments to determine validity.
From the part of the chapter on induction, describe the difference between inductive argument structures and deductive ones. In what situations would one choose inductive reasoning over deductive? What is a hasty generalization?
Explain the nature and structure of analogical arguments. How do they persuade?
Chapter 4: Tell me Why . . .Or How . . . Explanation and Causation in Reflective Practice
Give examples of the wide range of types of explanatory questions.
What are the main features of good explanations?
What are the competing explanatory accounts of the redness of Mars?
What’s the difference between a “why” question and a “how” question?
Do explanations need to connect to “ultimate purposes”? Be prepared to present both points of view.
Can you see “causation”?
What’s the difference between a necessary and sufficient condition?
Identify four of Mill’s methods and be prepared to explain each.
What is “inverse” and “direct” variation?
What is a “correlation coefficient”?
What is the fallacy of “complex cause”? “common cause”?
Chapter 5: “We Don’t Get Fooled Again” – Uses and Misuses of Numerical and Statistical Information
What are some of the difficulties that people face when trying to use and discuss numeric and statistical information?
What is “innumeracy”?
Idenify the main kinds of problems understanding and thinking about numeric and statistical information, including problems of context, large numbers, compounding, linearity, baseline, surveys and sampling, odds, probability, correlation, and cause.
Why is it that wasting a billion dollars might not be such a big deal for the Federal Government?
Identify and explain these terms: representative sample, depressive realism, sample space, sampling error, the law of large numbers, gambler’s fallacy, bell curve, multiple regression analysis,
What is the Sports Illustrated jinx? Do you think it’s real? Why or why not?
Chapter 6 – The Way Up is the Way Down – Thinking Through Complexity.
Give an example of how sciences simplify things to build models and be prepared to say something about the limits of a simple model of causality.
What is network theory?
What does “six degrees of separation” mean?
Be prepared to give your own examples of complex networks.
Buffering, redundant systems, pos/neg feedback (examples of).
The Beer Game (sig. of), Partner system for police (sig. of).
Political ideologies as clusters in a political network.
Gottman’s work, significance, critical variables, Intransparency.
Dorner’s work. Characteristics of good managers
Chaos vs. Complexity. Characteristics of chaotic system. The weather.
Practical lessons from chaos theory for critical thinking.
Thin-slicing. Sig. of.
Intuition, sig. and problems of.
What do researchers on socio-linguistics and conflict tell us about the role of gender in deliberative communication?
