critical thinking

Philosophy 2020: Critical Thinking

Pascal’s Wager with Criticisms- is there a god? 50/50 not enough info to say yes or no

Acclimated Belief- having it told to you over and over/being born into a certain belief

8 Common Traits Found in Cults (see syllabus)- Men, usually white

Charismatic (people are drawn to them)

Highly manipulative

Often Sociopaths

Malignant Narcissists

Authoritarian

Pathological Liars

Constant Use of Scare Tactics (make followers feel afraid)

Offer Themselves as a Savior

Types of Cults (see syllabus)-

The Fixation of Belief and 4 Methods of Belief

Method of Tenacity (faith)- just go with it, belief will come- leads to dogma-holding on to it- not believing anyone else.

Method of Authority- believing something bc someone with authority told you to believe (I.E books, leaders, parents)

A Priori Method- belief that born on the reason alone (I.e 2+2=4)

Method of Science- reason/experience - we don’t have to guess about it ( like tech.)

Eugene Subbotsky’s Explanation of Magical Thinking- When denying magical beliefs is considered too costly, people will gladly give up their beliefs about scientific causation.

User Illusion (the illusion of control = a reduction in anxiety)- sense of control- feeling you have control over your life

Kevin Bellizzi on Beliefs- Once beliefs are established, people seek out information that supports their beliefs and ignore information that runs contrary to their beliefs.

E. Thomas Howell on Why People Resist Changing Their Beliefs- cognitive constructs- Asking a person to change his or her beliefs is viewed as a threat to one’s well-being and the greater the degree of change

William Clifford on the Ethics of Belief-  “It is wrong always for anyone to believe anything on insufficient evidence.”

Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit

Independent conformation of the facts

Debate on the state of the evidence by experts

Don't rely on a person or book as unchallenged authority

Do multiple working hypotheses, and devise test to determine if one hypotheses is able to withstand the investigation

Don't attach yourself to an idea because you’ll like it/ see it as yours.

Brodie, Virus of the Mind, chapters 1, 5, 8, and 10

Memes and Mind Viruses- Memes are any idea whatsoever is a meme. Mind viruses is a viral idea is a limited idea ( it’s a spreading thing that everyone is saying)

Good v Bad memes- Good= successful/popular, Bad= unsuccessful/ unpopular

Traits of Survival Value that Assist in Viral Success

Three Methods of Viral Infection

Conditioning- repetition , you repeat the Idea over and over and people will believe it

Cognitive Dissonance- A. Create tension/ make the person uncomfortable, B. Reward and punishment- manipulate them to a desired control/result. C. Once successful, remove tension and complement them. (Ex. Car dealership, they follow you, make you uncomfortable.)

Trojan Horse- A. Establish a common ground- find out hobbies and interest, B. Common ground+ mind virus- bundle it into a product. C. Sell it all back as one package.

Absolute v Indexical Truth

Absolute truth- true for everyone ( EX. Same president, or history)

Indexical truth- its not true for everyone (EX. Its 10 AM here but in NY or Spain is a different time its indexical only to here)

Meaningless Problems- a problem is meaningless if it has no solution- it can never be solved

Religion Memes (Know all 4)

Tradition- its been around a long time

Evangelism- go out and recruit new members, christianity ,islam- this helps make religion popular

Heresy- stay in the religion and don’t believe in what other people say

Making sense- ment to say NOT making sense- religion gives you answers that let you not think

Richard Dawkins, “Viruses of the Mind”

Two Requirements for Viral Transmission

Readiness to replicate information accurately

To obey instructions

Seven Symptoms of a Mind Virus

Faith- strong emotion based belief, no evidence, nor reason-logical argumentation

Less [no] evidence is good

Mystery is good, Devine mysteries

Intolerance- toward rival beliefs

Accident on birth

Guru effect- you met someone who influenced you/ conversion

It feels good you don’t have to think

Scientific Methodology versus Religious Methodology (Know all steps)- for an idea to be scientific it must be testable

Abduction (Hypothesis-Formation) – Deduction – Induction

1.hypothesis- educated guess possible explanation, 2. Deduction- scientific prediction, 3. Induction- testing phase

Hypotheses v. Theories

Religious Methodology & Circular Reasoning-

Vaughn, chapters 1, 4, 9

Claims and Arguments

Claims: any sentence that has truth value - factual: any claim where the truth value is determined by empirical evidence- Value: moral and personal preference- expressing “their” value- (better then, worse than)

Arguments: purspose- to settle disagreements- premise- reason/evidence “answers the why question” conclusion- main point answers the what question.

Conclusion Indicator Words- therefore, thus, which implies that, consequently, so, hence, which means that.

Experts and Reliability in Sources- someone who is meow knowledgable on a particular subject area or field than most

Education/ training- reputable sources

Level of experience

(Good) reputation among peers

Professional accomplishments

Anecdotal Evidence and Classic Problems

Anecdotal evidence- personal experience

Impairment-sensory-memory - were not perfect, we often can’t remember everything

Expectation bias- placebo effect- someone telling you something’s going to happen when it doesn’t actually happen

Innumeracy- misguiding coincidence- probability laws

Sensory and Memory Impairment-

Expectation Bias- Someone telling you somethings going to happen when it doesn't actually happen

Innumeracy- misguiding coincidence- probability laws

Confirmation Bias- you openly look at things that agree with you instead of everything

Availability Error- media, newspapers effect your beliefs

Explanations v Arguments

Explanation- criteria of adequacy

Arguments- solve mysteries

Criteria of Adequacy

Ad Hoc Explanations- untestable, cant be proven true, also can’t be proven false

Fruitfulness- successful predictions- did those predictions happen when tested

Scope- did your predictions answer 1 or many explanations

Ockham’s Razor, Simplicity- 2 or more possible explanation- select the explanation that has the least amount of assumptions

Conservatism- conserve your explanation to that is already known before going to the unknown

Superstition- almost always a casual fallacy