NOVA, Annandale. ENG 111, Professor Ferrara. Group Project, Critical Thinking. Fall 2013.

CRITICAL THINKING

WHAT IS “CRITICAL THINKING”?

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

TRUTH VS. HUMAN NATURE…

Macro level context…

MONEY

POWER

THE BIG LIE

ABSOLUTE POWER

JOSEPH GOEBBELS:ON THE "BIG LIE"

• “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

NOTHING NEW!

RELATIONSHIPS

INFOTAINMENT

IGNORANCE / HONEST MISTAKES

IMAGINATION

DEMETER, PERSEPHONE, AND HADES

THE CHILD-LIKE MIND

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

JOYS OF FANTASY

WRITERS ARE HUMAN BEINGS TOO!

• They try to influence the world…

• AND ALSO get influenced by it!

• They have human nature, with all its potential for sublimity and immaturity

• All the quarks of the human mind and its ability to falsely perceive, remember, or believe exist for them too

CRITICAL THINKING FOR TEXT CONTENT:HOW TO

Overview:

Do

IT

Core types of influence Objective vs. subjective observation /

commentary Deductive and inductive logic

Fallacies Beware Psychological Manipulation

Reason The ‘Baloney Detection Kit’

Identifying argument components Types and levels of claims Types of support for claims

Motives and Context Diction and Tone

Genre Beware Paraphrases

Clarifying Tools

THE CORE TYPES OF INFLUENCE

• PATHOS = Emotions

• ETHOS = Credibility

• LOGOS = Evidence Grrr, what is being used on me right

now?

OBJECTIVE VS. SUBJECTIVE

• Objective = fact-based, measurable, (universally) observable

• Subjective = opinions / interpretations / points of view / emotional judgment

Sigh…hmm…aww…wow…gasp, I almost treated a subjective like an objective!

DEDUCTIVE AND INDUCTIVE REASONING

• Deductive = step by step chain of observations leading to conclusions

• Inductive = conclusions based on data which reveals patterns

EXAMPLES OF FALLACIES

• Argumentum ad ignorantiam

• Argumentum ad nauseam

• Argumentum e silentio

• Argumentum verbosium

• Circular reasoning

• Continuum fallacy

• Fallacy of division

• False dichotomy

• Gambler's fallacy

• Hedging

• Historian's fallacy

• Inflation of conflict

• Kettle logic

• Mind projection fallacy

• Moral high ground fallacy

• Prosecutor's fallacy

• Psychologist's fallacy

• Red herring

• Referential fallacy

• Retrospective determinism

• Shotgun argumentation

• Special pleading

• Personal attacks

• Accident

• Cherry picking

• Hasty generalization

• Misleading vividness

• Overwhelming exception

• Thought-terminating cliché

• Ad hominem

• Poisoning the well

• Broken window fallacy

• Judgmental language

• Appeal to emotion

• Appeal to fear• Appeal to

flattery• Appeal to pity• Appeal to

ridicule• Appeal to spite• Wishful

Thinking

ON PSYCHOLOGICAL MANIPULATION

• Reciprocity• Commitment (and Consistency)• Social Proof• Liking• Authority• Scarcity

BEWARE• Assumptions

• Presumptuous claims

• Dogma

• Superstition

• Pseudoscience

• Slander

• Defamation

• Hysteria

• Madness

• Phobias (irrational)

• Prejudice

• Magical thinking / scenarios

• Hype

• Delusions

• Fantasy

• Lies and Fraud

• Gullibility

• Bait and Switch

• Witch-hunts

REASON AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Formulation of a question

• Hypothesis

• Prediction

• Testing

• Analysis

• PEER access and review!

• Right to CHANGE worldview!

THE "BALONEY DETECTION KIT" CHECKLIST

• How reliable is the source of the claim?

• Does the source make similar claims?

• Have the claims been verified by somebody else?

• Does this fit with the way the world works?

• Has anyone tried to disprove the claim?

• Where does the preponderance of evidence point?

• Is the claimant playing by the rules of science?

• Is the claimant providing positive evidence?

• Does the new theory account for as many phenomena as the old theory?

• Are personal beliefs driving the claim?

IDENTIFY ARGUMENT COMPONENTS

1.Topic2.Motive3.Claim4.Support

Claims

Support?

Reasoning?

(Proof)

Topics

TYPES AND LEVELS OF CLAIMS

claim

Mini claim

Mini claim

claim

Mini claim

Mini claim

“Thesis” = Master Claim

Support

SupportSupport

Support

WEAK ARGUMENTSHave too many holes and gaps in logic

Hey, something smells cheesy

here!

TYPES OF EVIDENCE / SUPPORT

• Textual: Quotes, paraphrases, summaries

• Stories or anecdotes

• Statistics

• Expert Authority

• Visuals: graphics, charts, etc.

• Historical facts

• Analogies: Comparisons, metaphors, and similes

MOTIVES AND CONTEXT• When and where did the author of this content live?

• Why was this content created?

• Why are you reading it?

• What is the author trying to achieve with this piece?

• What is the author trying to achieve with his career or even life?

• Did social, economic, political, or other forces affect the author?

• What events occurred in the author’s past that could have shaped his worldview?

• What other works has this author done? Is there a theme to or thread through his works?

• Did this work have an editor?

• Did this work have a ‘target market’ it was focused on satisfying?

• YOU bring yourself to this exercise! Consider your own humanity! The writer of the piece has that same humanity and lives amongst the same micro, macro, physical and psychological forces.

DICTION AND TONE• What are they?

• Are they shifting?

• These can reveal or ‘tip’ the FULL meaning and implications of a chunk of text.

GENRE

BEWARE PARAPHRASES

• Check the Works Cited!

• If no works were cited that might become a concern.

• Make the effort to actually track down some of those works that were cited! Then read them and come to your own conclusions.

THINKING / CLARIFYING TOOLS

• Dialectic journal

• Argument Matrix

Claims Evidence Discussion

CRITICAL THINKING CAN BE CRITICAL TO YOU!

MLA

CONTINUE YOUR JOURNEY

James Randi

Michael Shermer

CONCLUSION

“Dreamers often lie”

Logos

Ethos

Pathos

THE GREATEST SLIDESHOW EVER!!!9 out of 10 fairy queens approve!