An Introduction to Critical Thinking

An Introduction to Critical Thinking

Damian Gordon

What is Critical Thinking?

First you...

What are some of the dangers associated with DHMO?

• Death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities.

• Prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage.

• Excessive ingestion produces a number of unpleasant though not typically life-threatening side-effects.

• DHMO is a major component of acid rain.

• Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns.

• Contributes to soil erosion.

• Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many metals.

• Exposure decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes.

John Dewey

Born Oct 20, 1859 Died June 1, 1952 Born in Burlington,

Vermont Philosopher,

psychologist, and educational reformer

Very influential to education and social reform

John Dewey

Reflective Thinking

1909

“...an active, persistent, and careful consideration of a belief or supposed form of knowledge, of the grounds that support that knowledge, and the further conclusions to which that knowledge leads. ”

John Dewey

Reflective Thinking

1909

“...an active, persistent, and careful consideration of a belief or supposed form of knowledge, of the grounds that support that knowledge, and the further conclusions to which that knowledge leads. ”

Edward Glaser

Critical Thinking 1941

“Involves three things: 1. An attitude of being disposed to consider in a

thoughtful way the problems and subjects that come within the range of one's experiences,

2. Knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning,

3. Some skill in applying those methods.”

Robert Ennis

Critical Thinking 1989

“Critical thinking is reasonable, reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do.”

Richard Paul

Critical Thinking 1993

“Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content, or problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them.”

Margaret Lloyd and Nan Bahr (2010)

Critical Thinking "a constellation of cognitive skills" "willingness to consider

interpretations of data or experience that may conflict with one's own preferred world view"

"an orientation to learning"

But...

Regrettably Critical Thinking “is another concept whose value is diminished by terminological disarray” (Gabannesch, 2006,)

And Barnett (2004) noted that “critical

thinking is a defining concept of the Western university. Almost everyone is in favor of critical thinking, but we have no proper account of it”

How do we mark fairly if we can’t define?

Critical Thinking: Abilities to recognize problems, to find workable means for meeting those problems, to gather and marshal pertinent information, to recognize unstated assumptions and values, to comprehend and use language with accuracy, clarity, and discrimination, to interpret data, to appraise evidence and evaluate arguments, to recognize the existence (or non-existence) of logical relationships

between propositions, to draw warranted conclusions and generalizations, to put to test the conclusions and generalizations at which one arrives, to reconstruct one's patterns of beliefs on the basis of wider experience,

and to render accurate judgments about specific things and qualities in

everyday life. 

(Glaser, 1941)

The Six Thinking Hats

FOCUS

Information & DataNeutral and objectiveChecked and believed factsMissing information & Where to source it

Managing the ThinkingSetting the focusMaking summariesOverviews & conclusionsAction Plans

Why it may not workCautions * DangersProblems * FaultsLogical reasons must be given

Why it may workValues * Benefits(both known and potential)Logical reasons must be given

Creative ThinkingPossibilities * AlternativesNew Ideas * New ThinkingOvercome black hat issuesReinforce yellow hat issues

Feelings and IntuitionEmotions and hunchesNo reasons or justifications“At this point”Keep it short

Reasoning People sometimes try to persuade us of a

particular point This could be considered “arguing the case” It is important we understand what their

reasoning is.

Categories of Research – Reasoning Deductive Reasoning

Going from the general to the specific E.g.

◦ 1. All men are mortal. (premise)2. Socrates was a man. (premise)3. Socrates was mortal. (conclusion)

Thus, the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises and inferences. In this way, it is supposed to be a definitive proof of the truth of the claim

Categories of Research – Reasoning Inductive Reasoning

Going from the specific to the general e.g.

◦ 1. Socrates was Greek. (premise)2. Most Greeks eat fish. (premise)3. Socrates ate fish. (conclusion)

An inductive argument is one in which the premises are supposed to support the conclusion in such a way that if the premises are true, it is probable that the conclusion would be true.

BUT WE WILL RECALL...

Categories of Research – Reasoning Inductive Reasoning General statements (theories) have to be based on

empirical observations, which are subsequently generalized into statements which can either be regarded as true or probably true.

The classical example goes from a series of observations:◦ Swan no. 1 was white, ◦ Swan no. 2 was white, ◦ Swan no. 3 was white,…

◦ to the general statement: All swans are white.

◦ Proof by Induction

Reasoning Let’s look at an example...

Reasoning A student made the following complaint to me:

I spent two days working on your assignment, I read all of your notes and memorized everything we were told, and did a good job of reciting it back to you in the assignment, and I only got a “C”, come on. So after doing all that work I think I should have done better, therefore I think the test was unfair.

Reasoning A student made the following complaint to me:

I spent two days working on your assignment, I read all of your notes and memorized everything we were told, and did a good job of reciting it back to you in the assignment, and I only got a “C”, come on. So after doing all that work I think I should have done better, therefore I think the test was unfair.

Reasoning Since Mary would not lie to her best friend, and Mary told me that I am indeed her best friend, I must really be Mary's best friend.

Arguments Analysis

◦ What are the main conclusion(s)?◦ What are the reasons?◦ What is assumed?◦ Clarify the meaning.

Evaluation◦ Are the reasons acceptable and credible?◦ Does the reasoning support its conclusion(s)?◦ Are there other relevant considerations to be

considered?◦ What is your overall evaluation?

Credibility You are going to buy a second-hand car, you know very little about cars, so you employ an AA mechanic to check the vehicle over, he tells you the car is in good condition and that it would be a good buy.

Credibility How acceptable are the claims?

◦ How certain is it claimed to be?◦ Does the context of the claim influence its

acceptability?◦ Does it require research to decide?◦ Is it widely known?◦ How well does it fit in with other beliefs?◦ Is it from a credible source?

Credibility Judging the source

◦ Is the person an expert?◦ Were they an eye-witness?◦ Is the reputation good?◦ Might they have a vested interest?

Profile of a Critical Thinker  Critical Thinking Non-Critical Thinking

Epistemological Standpoint:

• shades of gray - strives for depth

• interdisciplinary • knowledge is open • knowledge is intertwined

with thinking

• black and white - superficial level

• uni- or adisciplinary • knowledge is closed • knowledge is independent of

thinking

Modes of Inquiry:

• rational and consistent • strives to learn how to

think • holistic/webbed • original/insightful • multiple frames of

reference

• irrational and inconsistent • strives to learn what to think • uni-disciplinary/linear • relies on second-hand

information• one or very limited frames of

reference

Concrete Strategies for Thinking:

• suspends closure • explores/probes • questions• fair-minded • active • collaborative/communal • precise language

• strives for closure • dogmatic/avoiding • doubting • ego-/ethnocentric/emotional • passive • authoritative • vague language

Bloom, B.S. (Ed.) (1956) Taxonomy of educational objectives

The Problem of Bias

Planarian worms McConnell, J. V. (1962) “Memory transfer through

Cannibalism in Planarium”, J. Neuropsychiat. 3 suppl 1 542-548.

Reports that when planarians conditioned to respond to a stimulus were ground up and fed to other planarians, the recipients learned to respond to the stimulus faster than a control group did.

McConnell believed that this was evidence of a chemical basis for memory, which he identified as memory RNA. Although well publicized, his findings were not reproducible by other scientists.

Potential Issues◦ In natural conditions, these worms will react to light by

elongating and to shock by contracting, in this experiment they were trained to contract in response to light and elongate when exposed to shock, thus not only were they being trained to run a maze but to do so in complete opposition to their instincts. That raises questions and variables which weren't taken into account during the course of the original experiment, and could has caused bias.

◦ The propensity of planarian worms is to choose to follow a path coated in the mucous or slime trail left by a previous worm rather than to slither off in new directions.

Planarian worms

Let’s try an exercise:

Is it morally acceptable to eat meat?

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Developed originally as strategic planning tool for

organisations to determine the internal and external factors that might be advantageous and detrimental to their business.

Although the origins of SWOT are elusive, generally it is credited to Albert S. Humphrey working at the Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s and 1970s.

Thinking Creatively

SWOT stands for:◦S: Strengths - what is going well in this

organisation?◦W: Weaknesses - what is not going well in this

organisation?◦O: Opportunities - what external elements are

present to improve success?◦T: Threats - what external elements are present

that might be an impediment?

Thinking Creatively

SWOT can be used for any decision making scenario where a clear end goal has been established.

The Strengths and Weaknesses tend to look at the present whereas the Opportunities and Threats focus on the future.

Thinking CreativelySWOT

Helpful Harmful

S W

O TInternal

External

The Laws of Logic

The Law of Identity The Law of Non-Contradiction The Law of Rational Inference The Law of the Excluded Middle plus Occam’s Razor

Laws of Logic

The Law of Identity

This states that if something is true, it is always true. That which is, is, for example, men are men, women are women and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri are small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri;

Laws of Logic (1/5)

The Law of Non-Contradiction

This states that two statements which are antithetical (opposite) cannot both be true. For example, Aristotle cannot be both alive and dead at the same time;

Laws of Logic (2/5)

The Law of Rational Inference

This states that if statement A is equal to statement B and if statement B is equal to statement C, then statement A is equal to statement C.

Laws of Logic (3/5)

The Law of the Excluded Middle

This states that if a statement is not true, then the opposite of that statement is taken to be true. For example, if Aristotle is not alive, he must be dead

Or, the disjunctive proposition "Either it is raining or it is not raining" must be true. Also, if it is true that it is raining, then the proposition "Either it is raining, or I own a car" must also be true. It really doesn't matter what the second phrase is.

Laws of Logic (4/5)

Finally we have Occam’s Razor, which in its original form states "Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily" {"Pluralitas non est ponenda sine neccesitate"}, taken to mean in this case that if two theories present themselves that are both equally likely to be true, pick the one that makes the fewest assumptions.

Laws of Logic (5/5)

Logic Puzzle

Logic Puzzle

Aristotle said that there is a different between the following two statements;

“The wood is not white”

“It is not white wood”

Can you see the difference?

Logic Puzzle - Solution “The wood is not white” This statement means that the thing under discussion IS

wood BUT isn’t white, so, from example, it could be green wood, yellow wood or black wood

“It is not white wood” This statement means that it is anything other that white

wood, so, for example, it could be blue wood, green metal, or white plastic.

Critical Thinking

Application. . . . . . . . .How can the definition of critical thinking help you solve this problem? Connect the 9 dots using 4 straight lines. Once you start drawing the lines, do not stop until all 9 dots have been connected. HINT: Lines may be vertical, horizontal and/or diagonal.

Critical Thinking

Application

. . . . . . . . .

Critical Thinking

Application. . . . . . . . .How can the definition of critical thinking help you solve this problem? Connect the 9 dots using 1 straight line.

Critical Thinking

Application. . . . . . . . .How can the definition of critical thinking help you solve this problem? Connect the 9 dots using 4 straight lines. Once you start drawing the lines, do not stop until all 9 dots have been connected. HINT: Lines may be vertical, horizontal and/or diagonal.