“Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly
and rationally – to engage in reflective and independent thinking.” Why make a study of critical thinking? • It’s interesting • It’s useful • It’s fun! • It has practical applications to you as a student – and in your life afterwards… In your student life, it will help you to… • Deconstruct the ideas of your peers, lecturers and other experts in your field • Decide which arguments are valid, and which are not • Put your points across in a convincing manner • Avoid relying on biased and subjective opinions • Write logical, structured essays In life… • It’s a domain-general thinking skill • It’s very important in the new knowledge economy. • It enhances language and presentation skills • It promotes creativity • It’s crucial for self-reflection • Good critical thinking is the foundation of science and a liberal democratic society What will this help you to achieve? • Understand the logical connections between ideas • Identify, construct and evaluate arguments • Detect inconsistencies and common mistakes in reasoning • Solve problems systematically • Identify the relevance and importance of ideas • Reflect on the justification of your own, and others’, beliefs and values ACTIVITY 1 First of all, it's essential to know what we mean when we say the word 'argument'.
In pairs, discuss different meanings of the term
‘argument’ and try to come up with a working definition that covers all interpretations. Be prepared to share your findings with the group. Arguments • An argument is made-up of a set of statements. • One of these must be a conclusion that the writer (or speaker) wants the reader (or listener) to accept • The other(s) are offered as reasons (premises) as to why the conclusion is correct. If this doesn’t happen, it’s not an argument. Premises and conclusions An argument needs at least one premise and one conclusion. If it doesn’t, it’s not an argument.
PREMISE + CONCLUSION
= ARGUMENT Example argument
‘You should join your local gym.
Regular exercise is key to losing weight and staying healthy, and local gym memberships are cheaper than ever!’ Conclusion
‘You should join your local gym.
Regular exercise is key to losing weight and staying healthy, and local gym memberships are cheaper than ever!’ Premise 1
‘You should join your local gym.
Regular exercise is key to losing weight and staying healthy, and local gym memberships are cheaper than ever!’ Premise 2
‘You should join your local gym.
Regular exercise is key to losing weight and staying healthy, and local gym memberships are cheaper than ever!’ ACTIVITY 2 Look at the following arguments.
UNDERLINE the PREMISES
CIRCLE the CONCLUSIONS
Identify parts of an argument Q1
“You enjoy talking and socialising with others.
You should get a job that involves dealing with different people.” Identify parts of an argument A1
“You enjoy talking and socialising with others.
You should get a job that involves dealing with
different people.” Identify parts of an argument Q2
“Beans are cheap. We had better eat beans on
toast for dinner – we are short of money this week.” Identify parts of an argument A2
“Beans are cheap.
We had better eat beans on toast for dinner –
we are short of money this week.”
Identify parts of an argument Q3
“There’s lots of snow forecast for later on. You
should stay home from work today – the police have advised everyone to stay off the roads.” Identify parts of an argument A3 “There’s lots of snow forecast for later on.
You should stay home from work today –
the police have advised everyone to stay off the
roads.” Standard Format
• A way of making the premises and conclusion
crystal clear
• The next step on from identification
Standard Format
"We should not test cosmetics on rabbits, which
are conscious animals. This causes them pain and stress, and we should not inflict pain on any animal with consciousness." Standard Format
"We should not test cosmetics on rabbits, which
are conscious animals. This causes them pain and stress, and we should not inflict pain on any animal with consciousness." Standard Format • (Premise 1) We should not inflict pain on animals with consciousness. • (Premise 2) Rabbits are conscious animals. • (Premise 3) Testing cosmetics on rabbits causes them pain and stress. • (Conclusion) We should not test cosmetics on rabbits ACTIVITY 3
Take a look at the following arguments and
rewrite them in the standard format. Standard Format Q1
“She must be at home. She is either at school or
at home and the teachers say she’s not at school.” Standard Format A1
Premise 1: She is either at school or at home.
Premise 2: The teachers say she’s not at school.
Conclusion: She must be at home.
Standard Format Q2 “If the council wants to build a toxic waste dump here, they should compensate those who live in the area. They are known to cause various health problems to people living close by. These people did not choose to live near a toxic waste dump.” Standard Format A2 Premise 1: The council wants to build a toxic waste dump here.
Premise 2: Toxic waste dumps are known to cause various
health problems to those who live near them.
Premise 3: The people did not choose to live near a toxic
waste dump.
Conclusion: Those living near the proposed toxic waste dump
should be compensated, should the council decide to build such a facility. Necessary conditions for an argument to be GOOD
1. All the premises must be TRUE
(Truth Condition)
2. The conclusion must follow from the
premises (Logic Condition) Sessions in the critical thinking series
Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Assessment (POLQA), The Third Generation ITU-T Standard For End-to-End Speech Quality Measurement Part I-Temporal Alignment