Critical Thinking

Chapter 1
Introduction to Critical
Thinking
McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.
 Critical Thinking
 “Critical” here does not mean “negative.”
 Critical thinking is thinking that
involves/exercises skilled judgment or
observation.
 A good critical thinker has the cognitive skills
and intellectual dispositions needed to
effectively identify, analyze and evaluate
arguments* and truth claims.

*note: “arguments,” as we shall use it in this class, does not mean “disagreements.”
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 Critical Thinking Standards
 Clarity: that which is true can be expressed clearly. Clarity in
expression is a sign of intelligence. Obscurity in expression is a
sign that one really doesn’t understand the idea one is
expressing.
 Precision: close attention to detail. Specific definitions and
specific questions.
 “Is abortion wrong?” is vague. “Should abortion be legal?,” “Is having an
abortion ever moral?” are more specific questions.
 Accuracy: making sure your information and beliefs are true.
One can’t reason correctly with false information.
 Relevance: statements are about the way the world is; what
makes something true is the way the world is. A relevant point
restricts itself to the “piece of the world” in question. Irrelevance
can distract people from the point but never helps to truly prove
the point. A lawyer putting on his shirt wrong does not entail
that his client is guilty (see Lincoln Example, p. 5).
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 Critical Thinking Standards
 Consistency: non-contradiction. Critical thinking avoids:
 Practical inconsistency/hypocrisy: saying one thing and doing another.
 Logical inconsistency/irrationality: believing two things that can’t be
simultaneously true.
 Logical Correctness: sound reasoning/valid inferences.
Deriving that—and only that—which can be justifiably derived
from statements/premises.
 Completeness: good critical thinking is never done hastily;
explore the issue.
 Fairness: open-minded, impartial, non-biased. Don’t dismiss
something just because it’s new or it’s contrary to something
you already believe.

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 The Benefits of Critical Thinking
In the college classroom, the workplace, and life
 Contrary to popular opinion, the main purpose of college
education—especially a liberal arts education—is not to teach
you how to make a living.
 The main purpose of your education is to teach you how to live.
How to…
 …evaluate your own beliefs and develop your belief set.
 …understand and evaluate the beliefs/positions/arguments of
others.
 …ultimately develop a belief system that corresponds to the way
the world is and leads to an ethical and meaningful life.
 Specifically, in college—in an effort to teach you how to live—
professors will have you evaluate the beliefs/arguments of
others and develop your own. Critical thinking is the skill you
need to accomplish this effectively.
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 The Benefits of Critical Thinking
In the college classroom, the workplace, and life
 Specifically—at work—critical thinking will allow you to do your
job better.
 The fact that college is aimed at teaching you how to live is why it is ok
that more than half of college grads don’t find a job that utilizes their
major.
 Most jobs skills can be—and will be—taught “on site” anyway.
Employers are more concerned with hiring someone who can reason
efficiently (so they can figure out the best way to handle whatever the
job throws at them), not someone who has been taught a specific skill.
 Specifically—in life—critical thinking helps us…
 …avoid bad personal decisions.
 …make informed political decisions.
 …attain personal enrichment.
 As Socrates said: the unexamined life is not worth living.
 A lack of critical thinking promoted centuries of erroneous assumptions
(e.g., the earth is flat, the earth is the center of the universe).
 …behave morally.
 A lack of critical thinking promoted centuries of oppressions (e.g., the
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assumptions behind slavery and the subjugation of women).
 Barriers to Critical Thinking
Egocentrism
 The tendency to see reality as centered on oneself.
 Self-Interested Thinking: supporting conclusions
because they are in your interest/to your benefit.
 Your wants and needs are not objectively more important
than anyone else's; they certainly don’t determine truth.
Critical thinking is objective.
 Self-Serving Bias: the tendency to overrate oneself.
 Most people think they are above average; most people are
thus wrong.
 Critical thinking requires one to be honest about their
abilities. 1-7
 Barriers to Critical Thinking
Sociocentrism
Group centered thinking
 Group Bias: the tendency to see one’s own
group (e.g., nation) as being inherently better
than all others.
 Conformism: allowing beliefs to be shaped by
outside forces such as:
 Groups (Asch’s “line” experiment)
 Authority (Mailgram's “shock” experiment)
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 Barriers to Critical Thinking
 Unwarranted Assumptions and Stereotypes
 Assumption: a belief without absolute proof.
 Unwarranted Assumption: a belief without “good
reason.”
 Stereotype: assuming that all people within a group (e.g.,
sex, race) share all the same qualities; assuming that a
particular individual that belongs to a group has certain
qualities simply because they belong to that group.
 Hasty Generalization (type of stereotype): drawing
conclusions about a large group from a small sample.
 Being aware of an unwarranted assumption does not
justify it; but it is the first step in eliminating it.
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 Relativistic Thinking
Relativism is the view that truth is a matter of opinion.
 Subjectivism: the view that truth is a matter of
individual opinion; what one thinks is true is true for
that person.
 Moral Subjectivism: The view that what is morally right for
person A is what they think is morally right.
 Cultural Relativism: the view that what is true for
person A is what person A’s culture or society believes
to be true.
 Cultural moral relativism: The view that what a culture thinks
is morally right to do, is morally right to do, in that culture.
 However, relativism is false.
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 Exercise 1.4 (shows why relativism
is false) Assume you are a cultural relativist:
 Case 1: You are studying culture A & B. B loves war, A is pacifistic. Culture
B conquers Culture A.
Notice that you can’t morally criticize B as a cultural relativist.
 Case 2: You are a member of B and B thinks that pacifism is immoral and
embraces enslaving other cultures and enslaves A.
Notice that—since you belong to B—you can’t criticize B’s moral values
(their accepting it makes it right). Also, you must think it immoral to be a
pacifist and yet must also think that the pacifism of those in A is moral (since
they approve of it). That is a contradiction.
 Case 3: The majority in B deems infant sacrifice morally obligatory; you
belong to a minority in B that disagrees. B invades A and forces them to
participate in their practices.
Notice that you must both accept and reject infant sacrifice (you belong to
two groups/cultures that have contradictory positions).
Notice that, with relativism, there can be no moral progress. Since there is
no “objective truth” there cannot be progress to it. If B were to abolish infant
sacrifice, they would not be doing something better, but simply changing
what is morally right in their culture. 1-11
 More on Relativism
 Notice that the same exercise could be done with “(personal)
moral relativism.”
 Notice that relativism does not promote tolerance: it actually
suggests that if you live in an intolerant society, you are morally
obligated to be intolerant.
 The fact that it is hard to discover what is true—even if it is
impossible to discover what is true—does not mean that there
is no truth or that truth is determined by opinion/consensus.
 We probably won’t be able to discover whether or nor God exists; but
whether he does or not is not determined by opinion/consensus.
 Something is true if it accurately describes the way the world is; opinion
and consensus do not determine the way the world is, but something
can accurately describe the world even if we can’t prove that it does.
 What an inability to discover the truth entails is that we should
be more open-minded and intellectually humble. Given that we
can’t prove our beliefs true, we should be more open to critically
evaluating them and hearing the arguments of others.
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Wishful Thinking
 Wishful Thinking: believing what you want to be
true (without evidence or despite evidence to the
contrary).
 This error is quite common
 Belief in tabloid headlines
 healing crystals
 quack cures
 communication with the dead
 “it won’t happen to me” beliefs
 etc.

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 Characteristics of a Critical Thinker
 Strives for clarity and precision
 Sensitive to the discussed “thinking errors”
 Intellectually honest (admits ignorance and limits)
 Welcomes criticisms of beliefs; open to revising basic
beliefs
 Bases beliefs on facts, not on preference or interest.
 Thinks independently (doesn’t let groups control their
beliefs).
 Values having true beliefs, not comfortable ones.
 Intellectual perseverance; will strive for truth even
when it is hard to do. 1-14