Critical Thinking

In This Section:   I. Author Bio II. Author Letter     I. Author Bio   Dr. Bruce N. Waller is Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University. He received his Ph.D. in 1979 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His other works include Consider Ethics: Theory, Readings, and Contemporary Issues, Critical Thinking: Consider the Verdict, You Decide! Current Debates in Criminal Justice, You Decide! Current Debates in Contemporary Moral Problems, You Decide! Current Debates in Introductory Philosophy, You Decide! Current Debates in Ethics, Coffee and Philosophy: A Conversational Introduction to Philosophy with Readings, and Against Moral Responsibility.       II. Author Letter   Dear Colleagues,   I’ve taught a wide range of philosophy courses, including Intro to Philosophy, Bioethics, Logic, and Ethical theory. All those courses are fun and I’ve been lucky to have students who seem to genuinely enjoy studying philosophy. The course I teach most often, Critical Thinking, is the course my students usually enjoy the most. It’s a course in which you can actually watch students become significantly more confident and more effective in critical thinking. Above all, it is a course in which students never pose that dreadful philosophical query: Is this course really relevant to my life?   It’s no accident that courtroom dramas dominate popular television. The courtroom an ideal setting for the careful study of critical thinking: first, because students find the setting interesting and have no doubt of its importance; and second, because so many key issues in critical thinking are played out in jury deliberations. Jurors must be able to detect misleading and ambiguous statements, separate relevant from irrelevant material, keep in mind who does and does not bear the burden of proof, understand the judge’s instructions, weigh the strengths and weaknesses of appeals to authority, and not only identify fallacies but also understand and appreciate legitimate arguments.   The 6th edition of Critical Thinking: Consider the Verdict, like the previous editions, uses the courtroom and the jury room as a laboratory for work on critical thinking. But as in earlier editions, it is clear that the critical deliberations of the courtroom are not the only place that critical thinking is important, and they are certainly not the settings in which most students will use their critical thinking skills most of the time. Critical thinking is also important in evaluating commercials, deciding how to vote and considering major social issues. Thus while Critical Thinking: Consider the Verdict, 6th editionuses the courtroom and the jury room to study and exercise critical thinking skills, the great majority of the examples and exercises come from other sources: advertisements, political campaigns, letters to the editor, editorials, and ordinary discussions.   There are new exercises and examples in every chapter of the new edition, but the most significant change from earlier editions is more attention to cooperative critical thinking. The adversarial system that dominates legal proceedings and drives political campaigns is often valuable. Adversarial argument is by no means the only type of argument, discussion and inquiry we pursue, and even the legal process has in many cases moved toward more cooperative proceedings. And of course, in discussions among friends and family and colleagues, we often find a cooperative discussion, which seeks shared benefits and emphasizes common goals, more valuable than an adversarial process which results in winners and losers.   I would be delighted to hear from anyone reviewing, teaching, or studying this book, and am always happy to receive suggestions for improvements as well as new examples for analysis. My email is bnwaller@ysu.edu.   Cheers,   Bruce N. Waller   Youngstown State University

IN THIS SECTION:



1.) BRIEF
2.) COMPREHENSIVE 





   

BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS



 

Table of Contents
Preface   
Acknowledgments




Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2  A Few Important Terms
Chapter 3 Ad Hominem Arguments
Chapter 4 The Second Deadly Fallacy:  The Strawman Fallacy
Chapter 5 What’s the Question?   

Chapter 6 Relevant and Irrelevant Reasons
Chapter 7 Analyzing Arguments
Chapter 8 The Burden of Proof

Chapter 9  Language and its Pitfalls
Chapter 10  Appeal to Authority   
Cumulative Exercises One  
(Chapters 1 through 10)

Chapter 11 Arguments by Analogy  


Chapter 12 Some Distinctive Arguments and Potential Pitfalls: Slippery Slope, Dilemma, and Golden Mean Arguments   

Chapter 13 Begging the Question   
Cumulative Exercises Two  
(Chapters 1 through 13)  

Chapter 14 Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
Chapter 15 Scientific and Causal Reasoning

Chapter 16 The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth     

Cumulative Exercises Three  
Chapters 1 through 16)

Chapter 17 Thinking Critically about Statistics  
Chapter 18 Symbolic Sentential Logic  
Chapter 19 Arguments about Classes   
Key Terms   
Answers to Selected Exercises  
Index

 

 







COMPREHENSIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS



  Table of Contents
Preface   
Acknowledgments




Chapter 1   Introduction
Critical Thinking in Everyday Life
Play Fair  

Seating a Jury  
Jury Research: Eliminating or Selecting Bias?  
Impartial Critical Thinking 

Adversarial Critical Thinking

Cooperative Critical Thinking

Exercises
Additional Reading
Online Resources



Chapter 2 A Few Important Terms
Arguments   
Statements

Exercise 2-1
Premises and Conclusions   

Exercise 2-2
Deductive and Inductive Arguments

Exercise 2-3
Deduction, Validity, and Soundness
Induction, Strong Arguments, and Cogent Arguments  

Exercises 2-4, 2-5

Review Questions

Online Resources

 

Chapter 3   Ad Hominem Arguments
The Ad Hominem Fallacy
Nonfallacious Ad Hominem Arguments   
Ad Hominem and Testimony  
Distinguishing Argument from Testimony

Exercise 3-1
Tricky Types of Ad Hominem   
Bias Ad Hominem  
Inconsistency and Ad Hominem 
Psychological Ad Hominem  
Inverse Ad Hominem
Attacking Arguments
Exercises 3-2

Review Questions

Additional Reading

Internet Resources  

 

Chapter 4 The Second Deadly Fallacy:  The Strawman Fallacy
Strawman
The Principle of Charity  
The Strawman Fallacy  
Special Strawman Varieties 

Limits on Critical Thinking

Exercises 4-1 and 4-2

Additional Reading

 

Chapter 5   What’s the Question?  
Determine the Conclusion
What Is the Exact Conclusion?

Exercises 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4

Review Question



 

Chapter 6   Relevant and Irrelevant Reasons
Premises Are Relevant or Irrelevant Relative to the Conclusion  
Irrelevant Reason Fallacy   
The Red Herring Fallacy  

Exercises 6-1 and 6-2

Review Questions

Additional Reading

 

Chapter 7   Analyzing Arguments
Argument Structure
Convergent Arguments 
Linked Arguments  

Subarguments
Exercises 7-1, 7-2 and 7-3
Assumptions: Their Use and Abuse
Legitimate Assumptions  
Enthymemes
Illegitimate Assumptions

Exercise 7-4

Review Questions

Additional Reading

 

Chapter 8   The Burden of Proof
Who Bears the Burden of Proof?
Appeal to Ignorance   
The Burden of Proof in the Courtroom
Presumption of Innocence  
When the Defendant Does Not Testify  
Juries and the Burden of Proof  
Unappealing Ignorance

Exercises 8-1, 8-2, 8-3, 8-4, 8-5, 8-6, 8-7

Review Questions

Additional Reading

 

Chapter 9 Language and its Pitfalls
Defintions
Stipulative Definitions
Controversial Definitions

Deceptive Language

The Fallacy of Ambiguity

Amphiboly

Exercises 9-1, 9-2, and 9-3

Additional Reading

Internet Resources

 

Chapter 10 Appeal to Authority   
Authorities as Testifiers   
Conditions for Legitimate Appeal to Authority
Popularity and Tradition   
Exercise 10-1

Review Questions

Additional Reading




Cumulative Exercises One  
(Chapters 1 through 10)  

Chapter 11   Arguments by Analogy  
Figurative Analogy
Deductive Argument by Analogy

Exercise 11-1
The Fallacy of Faulty Analogy  

Exercises 11-2 and 11-3
Analyzing a Deductive Argument by Analogy  

Deductive Arguments by Analogy and Cooperative Critical Thinking
The Fallacy of Analogical Literalism  
Caution! Watch for Analogies That Look Like Slippery Slopes! 
Inductive Arguments by Analogy

Exercises 11-4, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9, and 11-10

Review Questions

 

Chapter 12 Some Distinctive Arguments and Potential Pitfalls: Slippery Slope, Dilemma, and Golden Mean Arguments   
Slippery Slope  
Separating Slippery Slopes from Strawmen

The Slippery Slope Fallacy  
Genuine Slippery Slopes  
Exercises 12-1and 12-2

Dilemmas, False and True
Genuine Dilemmas 
False Dilemmas  

Dilemmas in Conditional Form
False Dilemma Combined with Strawman  
Consider the Possibilities  

Exercise 12-3
Golden Mean
The Golden Mean Fallacy  
Constructing Golden Mean Fallacies  
Exercise 12-4

Review Questsions

Additional Reading



Additional Reading

Internet Resources 

 

Chapter 13 Begging the Question   
The Problem with Question-Begging Arguments

A New and Confusing Use of “Begs the Question”
Subtle Forms of Question Begging
Synonymous Begging the Question  
Generalization Begging the Question  
Circular Begging the Question  

False Charges of Begging the Question
Self-Sealing Arguments
Complex Questions

Exercises 13-1 and 13-2

Review Questions

Additional Reading


Cumulative Exercises Two  
(Chapters 1 through 13)

 

Chapter 14   Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
Necessary Conditions
Distinguishing Necessary from Sufficient Conditions 
Sufficient Conditions
Necessary and Sufficient Conditions in Ordinary Language 

Ex Exercises 14-1, 14-2, and 14-3
Conditional Statements
Alternative Ways of Stating Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
Both Necessary and Sufficient 

Exe Exercises 14-4 and 14-5
Valid Inferences from Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
Modus Ponens  
Modus Tollens  
Fallacies Based on Confusion between Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
The Fallacy of Denying the Antecedent
The Fallacy of Affirming the Consequent  
Detecting Argument Forms
Exercises 14-6, 14-7, and 14-8

Review Questions

 

Chapter 15   Scientific and Causal Reasoning
Distinguishing Causation from Correlation  

Exercise 15-1
The Questionable Cause Fallacy  

Exercise 15-2
The Method of Science
Randomized Studies and Prospective Studies  
Making Predictions  
When Predictions Go Wrong  
Faulty “Scientific” Claims  

Occam’s Razor

Confirmation Bias

Scientific Integrity, Scientific Cooperation, and Research Manipulation

Exercise 15-3

Review Questions

Additional Reading

Internet Resources









 

Chapter 16 The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth  
Eyewitness Testimony
Potential Sources of Eyewitness Error  
Judging the Honesty of a Witness  

Exercise 16-1
The Whole Truth
Are the Premises True?  
Digging for Truth  
Consider the Source  

Exercise 16-2

Review Questions

Additional Reading

Online Resources

 

Cumulative Exercises Three  
Chapters 1 through 16)

 

Chapter 17   Thinking Critically about Statistics  
All Children Are Above Average   
Empty Statistics  
Finding the Appropriate Context   
Caught Off Base
Statistical Apples and Oranges  
Statistical Half-Truths   
Sample Size and “Statistical Significance”

How to Make Your Study Yield the Results You Want

Exercises 17-1

Surveys

Exercise 17-2

Additional Reading

Online Resources

 

Chapter 18   Symbolic Sentential Logic  
Truth-Functional Definitions
Negation  
Disjunction  
Conjunction  
Conditional  
Material Implication  

Exercise 18-1
Testing for Validity and Invalidity

Exercise 18-2  
Punctuation  

Exercise 18-3
The Truth-Table Method of Testing for Validity  

ExExercise 18-4
The Short-Cut Method for Determining Validity or Invalidity  

Exercises 18-5, 18-6, and 18-7

Review Questions


 

Chapter 19   Arguments about Classes   
Types of Categorical Propositions

Exercise 19-1
Relations among Categorical Propositions
Venn Diagrams
Diagramming Statements 
Diagramming Arguments  

Exercise 19-2
Translating Ordinary-Language Statements into Standard-Form  Categorical Propositions

Exercise 19-3
Reducing the Number of Terms  

Exercises 19-4 and 19-5

Review Questions


Consider Your Verdict
Comprehensive Critical Thinking in the Jury Room
Case One:  Commonwealth v. Moyer
Judge Carroll’s Summation and Charge to the Jury  
Case Two:  State v. Ransom
Judge Schwebel’s Summation and Charge to the Jury 
Key Terms   
Answers to Selected Exercises  
Index