What is Critical Thinking?...
... and why is it important?
A Necessary Condition
If one is thinking critically, then one is
thinking without being controlled by
temptation/emotion/bias etc.
For Example ...
Dave makes me so angry by calling me
all the time! So the best thing for me
to do is to get even by calling him all
the time!
Thinking About
Thinking
What concerns us is not what you think
but why you think what you think.
Positive vs. Negative:
Examining what makes good reasoning
good.
Examining what makes bad reasoning bad.
Standard: Rationality
Thinking should be rational.
Hard to define?
Yes!
Therefore unimportant?
Absolutely not.
Vagueness/Clear Cases (?)
(More on this later.)
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Terminology
Belief/Judgment/Opinion (mental)
Statement/Claim (expression of
Belief/Judgment/Opinion)
Truth/Falsity
Test:
Objective vs.
Subjective
Does the truth of a statement X depend on
peoples beliefs about X?
Matters of taste?
Ethical claims?
N.B. This distinction is not equivalent
to known vs. unknown.
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Argument
Cornerstone of rational reasoning.
Two parts:
Conclusion: A position on a certain issue.
Premise(s): A reason for taking that
position.
For Example ...
Conclusion: Abortion should remain
legal in the U.S.
Premise: Obama says that abortion
should remain legal in the U.S.
Conditions on Premises
Premises should be
True
Relevant
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False Premises
(You should believe that) 7 is prime
because:
(7 is odd and) All odd numbers are prime.
(You should believe that) 9 is prime
because:
(9 is odd and) All odd numbers are prime.
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Irrelevant Premises
(You should believe that) the 49ers are
going to win this weekend because:
I bought a bicycle in the summer of 2011.
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Irrelevant Premises
(cont.)
(You should believe that) Youll get an
A in Critical Reasoning this fall
because:
My friend just took it over the summer and
got an A.
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Other Uses of
Argument
Avoid the following uses!
Verbal fight
Matter for dispute
Premise
Subject/Topic
Input of a Function
Amplitude of a complex number
Taken from Amer. Herit. Coll. Dict. (1993). Boston:
Houghton Mifflin.
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Argument Not Always
Appropriate
Sometimes we do not need an argument for
X in order to believe, rationally, in X--or at
least to behave, rationally, as though we
believe in X.
X is immediate/foundational: I believe I am in
pain because ...
No time to construct an argument: I believe
thats a bus barreling down the road toward me
because ...
Faith?
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Arguments Not Always
Explicit
In everyday speech we rarely spell our
arguments out fully (if we make them at all).
Consider: You should vote for Romney; he
supports traditional family values.
This argument is incomplete in several ways.
You should vote for a candidate who supports
traditional family vales.
Obama does not support traditional family values.
You should vote for a candidate who has a good chance
of winning.
Only Obama and Romney have good chances of winning.
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Spelling It Out
Completely
Much philosophical work involves
spelling out arguments completely,
often with an eye toward critiquing
them.
Lets spell the last one out completely:
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Spelling It Out
Completely (cont.)
1. You should vote for a candidate who (i) has a good
chance of winning and (ii) supports traditional family
values.
2. Only Obama and Romney have good chances of
winning.
3. Obama does not support traditional family values.
4. Romney does support traditional family values.
5. Therefore, only Romney (i) has a good chance of
winning and (ii) supports traditional family values.
6. Therefore, you should vote for Romney.
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