COR1701 Critical Thinking
COR1701 Critical Thinking
COR1701 Critical Thinking
COR1701
CRITICAL THINKING
SMU Classification: Restricted
Brief self-introduction
Tan Yoo Guan
Associate Professor of Philosophy (Education), SOSS
Join SMU in 2002
Research Interest:
• Philosophy of Language
• Moral Philosophy
Courses taught:
• Introduction to Philosophy
• Analytical Skills
• Critical Thinking
Email: [email protected]; Office: SOSS 04-062; Tel: 68280851
SMU Classification: Restricted
Course objectives
Assessments
What to ask?
1. Ask for clarity – What are you claiming? What is the meaning of
these words? How are you using these words?
2. Ask for reasons – Why do you think that this is true or the right thing
to do? What is your argument?
3. Interrogate the argument – How good are the reasons? Do the reasons
support the claim? Is the claim consistent with what I know? Are all
the assumptions true?
SMU Classification: Restricted
Topics covered
1. Propositions, arguments and reasoning
2. Representing arguments
3. Evaluating deductive arguments
4. Deductive argument forms
5. Incomplete arguments
6. Evaluating inductive arguments
7. Moral and practical reasoning
8. The extended argument
9. Informal fallacies
SMU Classification: Restricted
Lesson structure
Empirical propositions
Examples
1. All lemons are sour.
2. Oil floats on water.
3. We use only 10% of our brains.
4. The COVID19 virus originated from a laboratory in Wuhan.
5. The increase in CO2 is a cause of global warming.
6. The death penalty has no deterrent effect.
7. Many people believe in an afterlife.
8. There is life after death.
SMU Classification: Restricted
minds The
World
beliefs truths
opinions facts
correspondence
SMU Classification: Restricted
Analytic propositions
An analytic proposition is a proposition whose truth depends
solely on its meaning. As such, it can be determined to be true
or false by reasoning alone.
Examples
1. 3 x 5 = 15.
2. There is no even prime number greater than 2.
3. All bachelors are unmarried men.
4. Today is either Monday or not Monday.
5. If a fetus is a human being, then abortion is murder.
6. For any three classes A, B and C, if every A is B and every B is
C, then every A is C.
7. Some rectangles are three-sided.
8. All birds can fly but some birds cannot fly.
SMU Classification: Restricted
Examples of non-propositions
1. Wear a helmet when cycling.
2. Is there life after death?
3. Please pass the pepper.
4. I declare the Games open.
5. If you want more information about our school, please visit
our website.
6. We will find the culprit who did this.
7. Never believe anything without evidence.
SMU Classification: Restricted
What is an argument?
P because Q and R
Q and R; therefore P
Q
R
>P
SMU Classification: Restricted
Examples
A. The longest river in the world is the Nile, the second longest
is the Amazon, and the third longest is the Mississippi.
B. The longest river in the world is the Nile, and the Nile flows
through Sudan. Therefore, the longest river in the world
flows through Sudan.
SMU Classification: Restricted
Examples
Examples
B. Since the universe is 13.8 billion years old, it is not true that
the universe was created by an intelligent designer 6000
years ago.
SMU Classification: Restricted
Examples
Uses of argument
1. To justify a belief/decision/policy.
2. To influence or persuade.
3. To determine what is true or false.
4. To determine what is the right thing to do.
SMU Classification: Restricted
P because Q and R
Is abortion wrong?
Q and R. Therefore P
Beyond experience
1. The proposition that there is, or isn’t, life after death is an
empirical proposition.
2. An empirical proposition can only be established or refuted by
experience.
3. No living person can have the requisite experience.
4. Hence, no living person can know whether or not there is life
after death.
SMU Classification: Restricted
Explanation
Explanation vs argument
Importance of context
Conditional propositions
If the fetus is a human being, then abortion is murder.
1. What is a proposition?
2. What is an argument?
3. What is the difference between an argument, a
conditional proposition, and an explanation?
4. What are the parts of an argument?
SMU Classification: Restricted