The Power of Critical Thinking

Lewis Vaughn is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Bioethics, Fifth Edition (2022), The Power of Critical Thinking, Seventh Edition, (2021), Philosophy Here and Now, fourth Edition (2021), and Living Philosophy, third Edition (2020), all published by Oxford University Press. He also publishes Doing Ethics, Fifth Edition (2018) with W.W. Norton.

Preface

Part One BASICS

Chapter 1. The Power of Critical Thinking
WHY IT MATTERS
HOW IT WORKS
Claims and Reasons
Reasons and Arguments
Arguments in the Rough
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Chapter 2. Obstacles to Critical Thinking
ALL HAIL THE SELF
ALL HAIL MY GROUP
THE TOUGHEST MENTAL OBSTACLES
Denying Contrary Evidence
Looking for Confirming Evidence
Motivated Reasoning
Preferring Available Evidence
YOUR BRAIN ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Mere Exposure Effect
Illusion-of-Truth Effect
False Consensus Effect
The Dunning-Kruger Effect
PHILOSOPHICAL OBSTACLES
Subjective Relativism
Social Relativism
Skepticism
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Chapter 3. Making Sense of Arguments
ARGUMENT BASICS
EXERCISE
JUDGING ARGUMENTS
EXERCISES
FINDING MISSING PARTS
EXERCISE
ARGUMENT PATTERNS
EXERCISES
DIAGRAMMING ARGUMENTS
EXERCISES
ASSESSING LONG ARGUMENTS
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Part Two REASONS

Chapter 4. Reasons for Belief and Doubt
WHEN CLAIMS CONFLICT
EXPERTS AND NONEXPERTS
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Impairment
Expectation
Innumeracy and Probability
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Chapter 5. Media Manipulation: Fake News, Bias, and Advertising
FAKE NEWS
Telling Fake from Real
MEDIA BIAS
Objectivity and Bias
Opinion, Analysis, Advocacy
Liberal and Conservative Bias
ADVERTISING
How Advertising Works
Internet Advertising
Political Advertising
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEM
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Chapter 6. Fallacies and Persuaders
FALLACIES: IRRELEVANT PREMISES
Genetic Fallacy
Composition
Division
Appeal to the Person
Equivocation
Appeal to Popularity
Appeal to Tradition
Appeal to Ignorance
Appeal to Emotion
Red Herring
Straw Man
Two Wrongs Make a Right
FALLACIES: UNACCEPTABLE PREMISES
Begging the Question
False Dilemma
Decision-Point Fallacy
Slippery Slope
Hasty Generalization
Faulty Analogy
PERSUADERS: RHETORICAL MOVES
Innuendo
Euphemisms and Dysphemisms
Stereotyping
Ridicule
Rhetorical Definitions
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Part Three ARGUMENTS

Chapter 7. Deductive Reasoning: Propositional Logic
CONNECTIVES AND TRUTH VALUES
Conjunction
Disjunction
Negation
Conditional
EXERCISES
CHECKING FOR VALIDITY
Simple Arguments
Tricky Arguments
Streamlined Evaluation
EXERCISES
PROOF OF VALIDITY
Rules of Inference
Rules of Replacement
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Chapter 8. Deductive Reasoning: Categorical Logic
STATEMENTS AND CLASSES
EXERCISES
TRANSLATIONS AND STANDARD FORM
Terms
Quantifiers
EXERCISES
DIAGRAMMING CATEGORICAL STATEMENTS
EXERCISES
SIZING UP CATEGORICAL SYLLOGISMS
EXERCISES
THE SQUARE OF OPPOSITION
CATEGORICAL EQUIVALENCE
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Chapter 9. Inductive Reasoning
ENUMERATIVE INDUCTION
Sample Size
Representativeness
Opinion Polls
EXERCISES
ANALOGICAL INDUCTION
Relevant Similarities
Relevant Dissimilarities
The Number of Instances Compared
Diversity among Cases
EXERCISES
CAUSAL ARGUMENTS
Testing for Causes
Causal Confusions
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Part Four EXPLANATIONS

Chapter 10. Inference to the Best Explanation
EXPLANATIONS AND INFERENCE
EXERCISES
THEORIES AND CONSISTENCY
THEORIES AND CRITERIA
Testability
Fruitfulness
Scope
Simplicity
Conservatism
EXERCISES
TELLING GOOD THEORIES FROM BAD
A Doomed Flight
An Amazing Cure
EXERCISES
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Chapter 11. Judging Scientific Theories
SCIENCE AND NOT SCIENCE
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
TESTING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES
JUDGING SCIENTIFIC THEORIES
Copernicus versus Ptolemy
Evolution versus Creationism
EXERCISES
SCIENCE AND WEIRD THEORIES
MAKING WEIRD MISTAKES
Leaping to the Weirdest Theory
Mixing What Seems with What Is
Misunderstanding the Possibilities
JUDGING WEIRD THEORIES
Crop Circles
Talking with the Dead
EXERCISES
SUMMARY
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Chapter 12. Critical Thinking in Morality
MORAL ARGUMENTS
MORAL PREMISES
MORAL THEORIES
Evaluating Moral Theories
Two Important Theories
A COHERENT WORLDVIEW
KEY WORDS
SUMMARY
EXERCISES
FIELD PROBLEMS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZ
INTEGRATIVE EXERCISES
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

APPENDIX A The Truth About Philosophy Majors
APPENDIX B Essays for Evaluation
Essay 1 Death Penalty Discriminates against Black Crime Victims
Essay 2 Marine Parks
Essay 3 A Feminist Defense of Pornography
Essay 4 A Defense of Homosexuality
Essay 5 More Innocents Die When We Don't Have Capital Punishment
Essay 6 What's Wrong with Adultery?
Essay 7 A Pat-Down Is Better Than a Blow-Up
Essay 8 The Cohabitation Epidemic
Essay 9 Not Being Vaccinated Is Not Acceptable
Essay 10 Women and the Afghanistan Peace Process
Essay 11 A Deviance from God's Norm
Essay 12 Marriage Still Evolving, as Ever
Essay 13 Slouching toward Chimeras
Essay 14 Fighting Islamic Extremists Who Stifle Free Speech
Essay 15 Is Sluttishness a Feminist Statement?
Essay 16 Torture: Time for Congress to End the Debate
Essay 17 Torture: Severe Interrogations Work
Essay 18 Freedom of Expression: Protect Student Speech-Even