Kaye - Critical thinking : a beginners guide

Critical thinking

A Beginners guide

ONEWORLD BEGINNERS GUIDES combine an original, inventive, and engaging approach with expert analysis on subjects ranging from art and history to religion and politics, and everything in between. Innovative and affordable, books in the series are perfect for anyone curious about the way the world works and the big ideas of our time.

anarchism

anticapitalism

artificial intelligence

the bahai faith

the beat generation

biodiversity

bioterror & biowarfare

the brain

the buddha

censorship

christianity

cloning

crimes against humanity

criminal psychology

critical thinking

daoism

democracy

dewey

dyslexia

energy

engineering

evolution

evolutionary psychology

existentialism

fair trade

forensic science

genetics

global terrorism

hinduism

humanism

islamic philosophy

lacan

life in the universe

machiavelli

mafia & organized crime

marx

medieval philosophy

NATO

oil

the palestineisraeli conflict

paul

philosophy of mind

philosophy of religion

postmodernism

psychology

quantum physics

the quran

racism

religion

the small arms trade

sufism

A Oneworld Paperback Original

Published by Oneworld Publications 2009
This ebook edition published in 2012

Copyright Sharon M. Kaye 2009

The right of Sharon M. Kaye to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library

ISBN 9781851686544
ebook ISBN 9781780741475

Typeset by Jayvee, Trivandrum, India
Cover design by Simon McFadden

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Preface

I will never forget my first logic class.

I am sitting in a large lecture hall at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Outside the long, stately windows it is sunny and warm. I am surrounded by a hundred distracted students in jeans and tshirts.

Professor Ellery Ells is up on the stage telling us that logic is the law of thought.

I am riveted, but only because I am offended. How can this man have the nerve to stand up there and tell me there are limits on what can be true? Fancying myself a poet and an artist, I resist his every word. Surely creativity is more important than clarity. Imagination is the secret to happiness and it needs no rules.

My notebook from that course is filled with rebellious floral doodles and not a few unkind sketches of Professor Ells.

But thank God for university requirements. By the time I finished the course I understood: beauty is meaningless without structure, and logic is the most powerful structure ever conceived.

So now I wake to find that I have been teaching the basic logic skills known as critical thinking for over ten years.

I would like to thank my students over the years for trying to fight me the way I tried to fight Professor Ells. I would also like to thank John Carroll University for reducing my course load every semester so that I have time to write. Terry Bradley and Elizabeth Funk obtained permissions for all of the passages quoted in this book. I am grateful for their timely and effective work. Finally, I am grateful to my editor at Oneworld, Mike Harpley, for sound guidance throughout the process.

This book is dedicated to Tris and the rest of the gamesters. You all play a role in what follows.

SK

Introduction

Insight, untested and unsupported, is an insufficient guarantee of truth.

Bertrand Russell

Do you have opinions?

Of course you do.

Having opinions is how we define ourselves. Its how we forge alliances (I like that TV show, too) and its how we distinguish ourselves from others (That TV show is for idiots).

Young children may differ from their parents in terms of aversions (I hate green beans) and attractions (I love swimming). But it takes them a while to develop opinions that contradict their parents (This war is wrong). Having independent opinions is the first sign of growing up.

Breaking out of the parental mould is terrifying at first, but its also exhilarating. Teenagers often find it so exhilarating that they begin to express contrary views at every available opportunity and even to create conflict out of nothing when things get dull (Its a free country I can think what I want!).

Annoying as this can be, we have to admit that having independent opinions is actually an accomplishment. Considering how much our family, our friends, the media, the government, and religious institutions try to influence us, its amazing that anyone ever has an original thought at all.

And the fact that we have the right to think and say what we believe really is something to relish. Its one of the greatest triumphs of modern civilization. Our ancestors in the Middle Ages simply were not permitted to disagree with authority. Brave protesters throughout history slowly changed this for us. Tragically, there are still countries around the world today without the right to free speech.

Being able to express oneself is such a great thing that sometimes people make the mistake of thinking it is the final stage of intellectual maturity that once youve developed a unique and interesting point of view youre ready to face the world and all its challenges.

This is unfortunate. In fact, having opinions is just the beginning.

Because we live in an age of freedom, you dont have to defend your opinions. But dont you want to? If your opinions are more than just childish aversions and attractions, then you should be willing to take a stand for them.

Wherever you are, your point of view will give you opinions about the issues you face. But having opinions is not enough to be successful in what you do. You need to be able to transform your opinion into a position. The difference between an opinion and a position is that a position is supported by argument.

Anyone can make an argument. But lets face it: some arguments are better than others.