Contents

PART ONE The Context 3

Chapter 1 Who Are You? 4

The Influence of Time and Place 4
The Influence of Ideas 6
The Influence of Mass Culture 7
The "Science" of Manipulation 9
The influence of Psychology 11
Becoming an Individual 13

Chapter 2 What is Critical Thinking? 16

Mind,Brain, or Both? 17
Critical Thinking Defined 18
Characteristics of Critical Thinkers 20
The role of Intuition 22
Basic Activities in Critical Thinking 24
Critical Thinking and Writing 24
Critical Thinking and Discussion 25
Avoiding Plagiarism 27

Chapter 3 What Is Truth? 32

Where Does It All Begin? 33
Imperfect Perception 34
Imperfect Memory 35
Deficient Information 35
Even the Wisest Can Err 36
Truth Is Discovered ,Not Created 37
Understanding Cause and Effect 38

Chapter 4 What Does It Mean to Know? 47

Requirements of Knowing 47
Testing Your Own Knowledge 48
How we Come to know 50
Why Knowing is Difficult 51
A Cautionary Tale 53
Is Faith a Form of Knowledge 54
Obstacles to knowledge 55

Chapter 5 How Good Are Your Opinions? 59

Opinions Can Be Mistaken 61
Opinions on Moral Issues 61
Even Experts Can Be Wrong 63
Kinds of Errors 65
Informed Versus Uninformed Opinion 65
Forming Opinions Responsibly 67

Chapter 6 What Is Evidence? 72

Kinds of Evidence 73
Evaluating Evidence 79
What Constitutes Sufficient Evidence? 80

Chapter 7 What Is Argument? 83

The Parts of an Argument 84
Evaluating Arguments 85
More Difficult Arguments 87

PART TWO The Pitfalls 93

Chapter 8 The Basic Problem:"Mine Is Better" 94

Egocentric People 95
Ethnocentric People 96
Controlling "Mine-Is-Better" Thinking 97

Chapter 9 Errors of Perspective 102

Poverty of Aspect 102
Unwarranted Assumptions 104
The Either/Or Outlook 106
Mindless Conformity 107
Absolutism 108
Relativism 108
Bias for or Against Change 109

Chapter 10 Errors of Procedure 115

Biased Consideration of Evidence 115
Double Standard 117
Hasty Conclusion 117
Overgeneralization and Stereotyping 118
Oversimplification 120
The Post Hoc Fallacy 121

Chapter 11 Errors of Expression 126

Contradiction 126
Arguing in a Circle 127
Meaningless Statement 128
Mistaken Authority 129
False Analogy 129
Irrational Appeal 130

Chapter 12 Errors of Reaction 135

Automatic Rejection 137
Changing the Subject 138
Shifting the Burden of Proof 139
Straw Man 139
Attacking the Critic 140

Chapter 13 The Errors of Combination 144

Errors of Perspective 144
Errors of Procedure 146
Errors of Expression 147
Errors of Reaction 149
Simple Combinations of Errors 150
A Sensible View of Terminology 152

PART THREE A Strategy 157

Chapter 14 Knowing Yourself 158

Critical Thinking Inventory 159
Using Your Inventory 160
Challenge and Reward 161

Chapter 15 Being Observant 164

Observing People 164
Observance in Science and Medicine 165
The Range of Application 166
Becoming More Observant 168
Reflecting on Your Observations 168

Chapter 16 Selecting an Issue 171

The Basic Rule:Less Is More 171
How to Limit an Issue 172
Sample Issue: Pornography 172
Sample Issue:Boxing 174
Sample Issue: Juvenile Crime 174
Narrowing the Issue Further 176

Chapter 17 Conducting Inquiry 178

Working with Inconclusive Results 178
Where to Look for Information 179
Keeping Focused 187
How Much Inquiry is Enough? 187
Managing Lengthy Material 190

Chapter 18 Forming a Judgement 192

Evaluating Evidence 193
Evaluating Your Sources'Arguments 194
Making Important Distinctions 198
Expressing Judgements 199

Chapter 19 Persuading Others 206

Guidelines for Persuading 206
An Unpersuasive Presentation 215
A Persuasive Presentation 217

*Notes 224 *

*Index 233 *

CHAPTER ONE S:2016-12-7 22:20:50 E:2016-12-7 22:55:09 Take 34 minutes
CHAPTER TWO S:2016-12-8 22:28:39 E:2016-12-8 22:52:11 Take 24 minutes
CHAPTER THREE S:2016-12-10 09:03:54 E:2016-12-10 09:29:51 Take 26 minutes