Critical Thinking Toolkit: A Compendium of Concepts and Methods for Reasoning

The Critical Thinking Toolkit......Page 3
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgments......Page 17
The Very Idea of Critical Thinking......Page 19
Critical thinking in the formal and empirical sciences......Page 20
Critical thinking, critical theory, and critical politics......Page 22
Using this book......Page 23
1.1 Claims......Page 25
Beliefs and opinions......Page 26
Simple and complex claims......Page 27
Truth functionality......Page 28
1.2 Arguments......Page 29
Arguments vs. explanations......Page 30
1.3 Premises......Page 31
Identifying premises......Page 32
Simple and complex arguments......Page 34
Identifying conclusions......Page 35
2.1 Deductive and Inductive Arguments......Page 37
Deduction......Page 38
Induction......Page 39
2.2 Conditional Claims......Page 40
Necessary and sufficient conditions......Page 41
Biconditional claims......Page 43
Comparing claims......Page 44
Classifying single claims......Page 46
2.4 Claims and Definitions......Page 47
Extension and intension......Page 48
Definiens and definiendum......Page 49
2.5 The Critical Thinkers “Two Step”: Validity and Soundness/Cogency and Strength......Page 50
Structure before truth......Page 51
2.6 Showing Invalidity by Counterexample......Page 53
Note......Page 56
Types and tokens......Page 57
Quantity, quality, and standard form......Page 58
Venn diagrams and the meaning of categorical claims......Page 60
Distribution and its implications......Page 62
Existential import......Page 63
Implicit quantifiers......Page 64
Getting the verb right......Page 65
Adverbials......Page 66
3.4 Formal Deduction with Categories: Immediate Inferences......Page 68
Equivalences......Page 69
Conversion......Page 70
Contraposition......Page 71
Obversion......Page 74
The Aristotelian and Boolean Squares of Opposition......Page 76
3.5 Formal Deduction with Categories: Syllogisms......Page 81
Major and minor terms......Page 82
Mood and figure......Page 83
The Venn diagram test for validity......Page 84
Five easy rules for evaluating categorical syllogisms......Page 87
Gensler star test......Page 88
4.1 Propositional vs. Categorical Logics......Page 90
Translating claims into propositional logic......Page 91
Truth tables for claims......Page 94
Testing for validity and invalidity with truth tables......Page 96
Indirect truth tables......Page 97
Strange validity......Page 100
Modus ponens......Page 101
Modus tollens......Page 102
Disjunctive syllogism......Page 104
Constructive and destructive dilemmas......Page 105
Double negation......Page 108
Commutativity......Page 109
Transposition......Page 110
Material equivalence......Page 111
Exportation......Page 112
DeMorgans Law......Page 113
4.4 Formal Deduction with Forms and Equivalences......Page 114
Three simple rules......Page 115
Affirming the consequent......Page 119
Denying the antecedent......Page 121
Affirming a disjunct......Page 122
5.1 Critical Thinking, Critical Deceiving, and the “Two Step”......Page 125
5.2 Subjectivist Fallacy......Page 127
5.3 Genetic Fallacies......Page 130
5.4 Ad Hominem Fallacies: Direct, Circumstantial, and Tu Quoque......Page 131
Direct......Page 132
Circumstantial......Page 133
Tu quoque......Page 136
Appeal to pity (argumentum ad misericordiam)......Page 138
Appeal to guilt......Page 140
5.6 Appeal to Force (argumentum ad baculum)......Page 142
5.7 Appeal to Ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam)......Page 143
Negative evidence and no evidence......Page 144
5.8 Appeal to Novelty (argumentum ad novitatem)......Page 145
Bandwagon......Page 146
Appeal to vanity......Page 147
5.10 Appeal to Unqualified Authority (argumentum ad verecundiam)......Page 150
5.11 Fallacy of Accident......Page 153
5.12 False Dilemma......Page 155
Ambiguity, two types: lexical and syntactic......Page 156
Vagueness, two types: degree and context......Page 157
Equivocation and fallacious amphiboly......Page 158
5.14 Begging the Question (petitio principii)......Page 161
5.15 Question-Begging Sentences......Page 162
5.16 Missing the Point (ignoratio elenchi)......Page 163
5.17 Fallacy of Composition......Page 164
5.18 Fallacy of Division......Page 166
5.19 Is-Ought Fallacy......Page 167
5.20 Appeal to Tradition......Page 170
5.21 Quoting Out of Context......Page 171
5.22 Red Herring......Page 176
5.23 Straw Man and Fidelity......Page 177
5.24 Hasty Fallacization......Page 179
Charity......Page 180
Productivity......Page 181
Notes......Page 183
6.1 Inductive vs. Deductive Arguments Again......Page 184
6.2 Analogies and Arguments from Analogy......Page 185
Criticizing analogies......Page 186
Post hoc ergo propter hoc......Page 188
Correlation is not always causation......Page 189
Neglecting a common cause......Page 190
Oversimplified and contributing causes......Page 192
Proximate, remote, and intervening causes......Page 193
Sampling: random and biased......Page 195
Stratification......Page 196
Averages: mean, median, and mode......Page 197
Distributions......Page 198
6.5 Base Rate Fallacy......Page 200
6.6 Slippery Slope and Reductio ad Absurdum......Page 202
6.7 Hasty Generalization......Page 206
1.Method of Concomitant Variation......Page 207
2.Method of Agreement......Page 208
4.Joint Method of Agreement and Difference......Page 209
5.Method of Residues......Page 210
Note......Page 212
7.1 Error Theory......Page 213
Perceptual error......Page 215
Memory......Page 217
Stress and trauma......Page 219
Projection......Page 220
Confirmation bias......Page 221
A little bit of knowledge …......Page 222
Naïve realism......Page 223
Obstruction and distraction......Page 224
Distance......Page 225
Availability error......Page 226
7.4 Background and Ignorance......Page 227
Implications and connotations......Page 228
7.6 Standpoint and Disagreement......Page 229
Incommensurability and deep disagreement......Page 231
8.1 Knowledge: The Basics......Page 233
Platos definition of knowledge......Page 234
Chisholm and belief......Page 235
8.2 Feelings as Evidence......Page 237
Some important features of all types of feelings......Page 238
The importance of distinguishing sense experience from emotion......Page 240
8.3 Skepticism and Sensory Experience......Page 241
The weaknesses of sense experience as evidence......Page 242
The strengths of sense experience as evidence......Page 245
The weaknesses of emotional experience as evidence......Page 247
The strengths of emotional experience as evidence......Page 250
Tips for eliminating the negative effects of emotions......Page 253
8.5 Justifying Values......Page 255
The role of moral values in arguments......Page 256
Four common views of value judgment......Page 257
Tools for reasoning about moral values......Page 259
8.6 Justification: The Basics......Page 260
Justification and the problem of access......Page 261
Beyond a reasonable doubt......Page 262
Obligation and permission to believe......Page 263
8.7 Truth and Responsible Belief......Page 264
Responsibility without truth......Page 265
Claims as evidence......Page 266
Experience as evidence......Page 267
8.9 A Problem for Responsible Belief......Page 269
Gettier cases......Page 270
Processes and probabilities as justification......Page 271
Varieties of externalism......Page 272
Direct and indirect evidence......Page 274
Testimony as evidence......Page 276
Strong enough evidence?......Page 277
Suppressed evidence fallacy......Page 278
Four tips for recognizing “good” evidence......Page 279
8.11 Justification: Conclusions......Page 284
Notes......Page 285
Useful, durable, and pleasant goods......Page 289
A path to knowledge......Page 290
9.2 The Purview of Science......Page 291
What is and what ought to be......Page 292
Different kinds of science......Page 293
Critiques of science......Page 297
9.3 Varieties of Possibility and Impossibility......Page 298
Physical possibility......Page 299
Other types of possibility......Page 300
Causal explanation......Page 301
Observation......Page 302
Verification and falsification......Page 303
Paradigms: normal and revolutionary science......Page 306
9.5 Unfalsifiability and Falsification Resistance......Page 307
Ad hoc hypotheses and the fallacy of unfalsifiability......Page 308
The “no true Scotsman” fallacy......Page 309
Controls and variables......Page 311
Epidemiological studies......Page 312
Personal experience and case studies......Page 313
Blinding and double blinding......Page 314
Non-human animal studies......Page 315
9.7 Six Criteria for Abduction......Page 316
Pseudo-science......Page 320
Ideological science......Page 321
Note......Page 322
Stories that govern stories plus a whole lot more......Page 323
Governing, varying, and disintegrating narratives......Page 324
Simile, analogy, metaphor, and allegory......Page 326
Metonymy and synecdoche......Page 327
10.3 The Medium is the Message......Page 329
10.4 Voice......Page 331
Exercises and study questions......Page 333
Of virgins, ghosts, and cuckolds......Page 334
The semiological problem......Page 335
10.6 Deconstruction......Page 337
Undermining binaries......Page 338
The politics of deconstruction......Page 339
10.7 Foucaults Critique of Power......Page 340
Genealogical method......Page 341
Normalization......Page 342
Lipstick is ideology......Page 344
The Dialectic of Enlightenment......Page 345
Classical Marxism: superstructure and substructure......Page 346
Exploitation, alienation, and class struggle......Page 347
Criticizing class critique......Page 348
10.10 Feminist and Gender Critiques......Page 350
Politics and gender......Page 351
Feminist critique......Page 353
Text and gender......Page 354
Liberal critique of race......Page 356
Marxist critique of race......Page 357
Critical race theory......Page 358
10.12 Traditionalist and Historicist Critiques......Page 359
Views from nowhere......Page 360
The importance of careful listening......Page 361
Consumption and pollution......Page 363
Ecological justice......Page 364
Non-human life......Page 365
Appendix: Recommended Web Sites......Page 367
Index......Page 369
EULA......Page 377