Intro to Critical Thinking 8/15

#1

reasoning

the process whereby a person changes their system of belief on the basis of reasons. ; Simply: A mental process that ends with a conclusion

critical thinking

the process whereby a person evaluates a system of belief, reasoning, and one's confidence in them (including one's own beliefs, reasoning, and confidence). ; Simply: a process we use to evaluate our system of beliefs.

conclusion

A statement or belief that can either be true or false

system of belief

Includes not only their beliefs, but also the relationships between those beliefs

proposition

the meaning or information content of a statement (people can share this, but not necessarily share a belief.)

statement

a sentence that is either true or false

argument

a group of statements (premises), one or more of which, are claimed to provide support for one of the others (conclusion).  ; Simply: statements (reasons/premises/evidence) that support statement (conclusion)

premises

the statements (reasons) offered in support of the conclusion. 

identifying argument obstacle: CONDITIONAL CLAIMS

a sentence that says that one thing is dependent on another (if… then)

identifying argument obstacle: OPINONS

an idea or claim as particularly controversial, uncertain, or debatable.

logical strength

depends on the quality of the argument structure and the truth in the premises of the argument.

cooperative dialogue

a form of communication between two or more people that has at its heart a shared effort to learn, understand, figure out, or decide something. (**A SHARED GOAL, INQUIRY, EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND, ETC IS KEY) ; simply: a shared effort to figure out or decide something.

cooperative disagreement

disputants work together for the sake of understanding the disagreement, and ultimately for the sake of deeper understanding of the disputed issue overall. ; Simply: lets find out why we disagree and then discuss the reasons

cooperative persuasion (not manipulative!!)

The difference has to do with whether their goal is to persuade you by means of helping you to understand something in order to make a good decision, or merely to get you to believe or act in accordance with their wishes.

obstacles to co dialogue

• competing interests and goals

• we want people not to think lowly of us so we avoid conflict/controversy

• identity beliefs that we tie to ourselves

guidelines to productive co dialogue

1. mutual respect

2. remember we are all fallible

3. separate people from their ideas to avoid defensiveness and disengagement

4. choose your words carefully regarding how u express ur disagreement

5. don’t expect closure, u just want a better understanding

indicator words

words an author uses to indicate they are making an argument like ‘since’, ‘because’, ‘for’, ‘on account of’, and ‘given that…’, specifically indicate the presence of a premise.

evaluate

thinking critically about the reasoning which supports our existing beliefs or a particular change in our system of belief.