Critical Thinking #7

Critical Thinking #7  Arguments

It has been awhile since my last blog. Our world seems to be going to hell in a hand basket, what with white supremist, bigoted, domestic terrorists on the one hand and evil, authoritarian despots attacking global democracy on the other. I remain an optimist, affirming the good in people and the energy in youth. That's why I continue to teach and off this crash course on critical thinking, believing it can help us navigate out way through today's challenges.

So, lesson #7 Arguments. Our world is very polarized, full of arguments. That is why it is necessary and important to stop and define the word. I am not talking about the emotional screaming we do everyday, failing to listen to others and refusing to seek understanding within the chaos. Rather, here and in the classroom and, hopefully, in the circles we can influence, an argument is better understood as a "process." It is an attempt to work our way through our disagreements to arrive at a better solution. It is collaboration, not competition. Seen this way, we humanize those with whom we disagree instead of demonizing them.

An argument is a process, most effective when others can understand how we got to the conclusion we did. It technically has two parts: premises/reasons/evidence that lead to a conclusion or claim. Arguments preferably have more than one premise but definitely only one conclusion.

There are two types of arguments: (1) deductive arguments go from general premises to a specific conclusion. If the premises are true, the conclusion MUST be true. Deductive arguments offer certainty. (2) inductive arguments offer reasonable certainty. They go from specific premises to general conclusions. These premises offer some evidence. Inductive arguments rely on the quality of the evidence. Having said this, you might recognize that the scientific method relies heavily on inductive reasoning/arguments. 

Two more terms are relevant here. A SOUND argument is one that has the correct structure (premises that flow into a conclusion) and all the premises are true. A VALID argument is one in which the conclusion logically follows from the premises. If a premise is not true, the argument is not sound but can be valid. NOTICE THE NECESSITY OF VERIFYING THE TRUTH OF PREMISES!

One other word before leaving this step in critical thinking. An enthymeme is an unstated assumption. It can cause horrendous problems when unchallenged. They can be true, but not always.

In conclusion, how do we engage in civil arguments?

Listen, really listen to understand.

When engaged in the process, look for indicator words such as "therefore" and "in conclusion."

Ask yourself and the other, "what is the main point?"

Examine the claims, the language, and the quality of the evidence.

(1) are the claims reasonable? (2) do the premises support the conclusion? (3) how relevant are the types of evidence used? (4) how strong is the evidence? (5) what is the tone [combative, compelling, pleading] of the author of the evidence? (6) is the language emotive? (7) is the evidence credible and the source of the evidence credible?

Do I have the intellectual humility to admit when I am wrong? The point of an argument is not to win but to come to a better understanding.

Critical Thinking #6

 Critical Thinking #6: Evidence

We go to sources to gather evidence, and evidence is what we use to decide which claims to believe or dismiss. We use evidence in our arguments to arrive at conclusions. Let's pause for important clarification.

For most of us for most of the time, arguments are emotional "discussions" we have with others to get what we want, to bring people to our point of view, to brow beat others without ever listening to diverse points of view. In critical thinking, arguments have a different purpose and a very different definition. This requires an adjustment in our thinking and approach to disagreements with others. Here we use and understand an argument as a process, a process to come to a better understanding, a corrected understanding, a movement toward constructive communication and interaction. In critical thinking, arguments use premises to arrive at  rational, defensible conclusions.

Evidence supports claims; it provides background to the issue under consideration, history and facts. Reliable evidence shares experts' insights and carefully defines terms. Unless participants share the same definitions, they will never communicate effectively. Evidence also enables debates of surrounding topics. So the question now is: what is evidence?

We begin with statistics and data. These are verifiable, provable, and can be confirmed. Be careful: numbers don't lie but liars use numbers. Less reliable but often helpful are anecdotes and eye witness accounts. Their strength is limited and not subject to peer review. However, expert testimony is. Sure, experts can agree, but experts' claims are in the public domain and available for confirmation or rejection. Scientific journals and academic studies are helpful to those willing to do the work. Newspapers, government websites, and personal blogs are easily accessible but should never be cited as "authoritative."

Some quick guidelines to help evaluate the integrity of our evidence:

Is the source a reliable authority?

Is the information current and up to date?

Does it provide sufficient information to justify its use?

Have you used an adequate variety of sources and opinions?

Have you weighed the counterarguments present in the evidence cited?

As you can see, the work of a critical thinker is not easy, but the rewards are immeasurable!

Critical Thinking #5

 Where do you get your information? Your next door neighbor? Your weird Uncle Bob? Fox News? MSNBC? How do you know who to believe? Do you limit yourself to one source or try to balance your information by going to multiple sources? Do you live in a bubble or scour the landscape for different viewpoints?

From the beginning of my course, but especially here, I challenge students to always ask two questions: (1) is what I'm hearing credible? and (2) is the source of what I am hearing credible? In fact, this is the entire course in a nut shell. If we could always remember to ask these questions, a lot of conflict could be avoided and a lot of misinformation stopped in its tracks.

In today's world there are basically two sources of information, digital and print. Both come with lots of questions needing to be asked. What "kind" (more later) of information is it? What is its frequency? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? What is the intended audience? Public? Academic? Professional? etc? What form does it come in? "News"? Magazine? Academic journal? Book? If the information is digital, pay attention to the "source."  .com?  .gov?  .edu?  .org?  These designations give us a world of information. If you live in a digital world, do you rely on websites? Social media? You do know that Wikipedia is subject to public editing?

Fake news is pervasive, and its consequences are extremely detrimental to common discourse and public goodwill.  We wake up to and go to bed with lies, intentional and unintentional. Technology has made it possible to photo shop and manipulate the visual support used to disseminate the fake and malicious efforts to confuse the public. One lie, despite expert, authoritative, legitimate verification, has convinced one third of this nation that the last presidential election was corrupt and wrong. On another issue, many people do not recognize satire or understand the role of sponsored content in the information they receive.

Here is a simple test we might employ. SIFT: Stop before sharing, Investigate the source of the information, Find other trusted sources that verify or correct, Trace the original to its origin.

A desirable characteristic of a critical thinker is intellectual objectivity. Never easy--always worth the effort!!

Critical Thinking #4

 Picking up where we left off---by the way, happy holidays whatever your preference and happy new year---the next section (Module 4) of the course focuses on Language.

Martin Heidegger, one of the 20th century's philosophical giants, in his early Being and Time, called language the "house of being." It's heady and complex, but here is where he claims to find the uniqueness of humans. Not ignoring communication methods among other species,  Graeber and Wengrow (The Dawn of Everything) marvel at the similarities of verbal communication across the global development of hominid species. Language is how we find and give meaning to the world around us through denotation (specific and literal) and connotation (meaning and context) usage.

Language falls into two primary categories, form and intent. The former is the structure (subject, verb, adjective, etc.) and the latter is the implied meaning behind the vocabulary used. Careless use of words can lead to confusion through what is known as vagueness and ambiguity. Examples would be "It is a pleasant day," whatever that means, and "I ran after the robber wearing my pajamas," unsure which of us is wearing a pair of my pajamas.

After we have spent time building the broad understanding, we turn our attention to descriptive features and uses of the language that shapes our world. When we can master and recognize these, we are better prepared to recognize how others use language and avoid being manipulated by their deliberate misuse, unintentional or malicious. Those features include:

Tone: the attitude or atmosphere embedded in the words.

Emotive use: language that produces emotional reactions.

Euphemism: words that soften the impact of the situation (pink slip for being fired).

Dysphemism: words that harden and inflame (terrorist for freedom fighter).

Innuendo: indirect accusation without evidence.

Loaded question: have you stopped beating your wife yet?

Weasel words: mercurial and indefinite (might help you lose weight).

Proof surrogate: implied evidence without providing it (we all know she enabled his activity).

Listen to what politicians say and claim. Listen to the wording of the commercial and read the disclaimers. Learn to discern what is said from what is not said. We all use the same words, patriots and autocrats, but what is believable, truthful, constructive, freeing?

I ask my classes to do a little research to illustrate how we use words depending on the situation and context. Just four words to make them think: argument, theory, critical, and freedom. The Greeks actually had four different words for "love" in an effort to reduce confusion. Would that we were as careful.

Critical Thinking #3

 Having begun with a definition of critical thinking  to focus our attention and to which we can return periodically to remind ourselves of our goal, we stopped to reflect on the ethical perspective out of which we respectively work.  The definition is simply a statement; the ethical principles are personal choices and a recognition of the values that guide our living. Now the work starts getting harder and will separate serious seekers from conventional thinkers.

Scholars Linda Elder and Richard Paul have provided eight essential intellectual traits to challenge our efforts. Each could take volumes to discuss, but I will only list them briefly.

1. Intellectual Humility: being conscious of one's knowledge and native egocentrism

2. Intellectual Courage: the need to face beliefs for which we have strong, negative emotions

3. Intellectual Empathy: the need to imaginatively put oneself in the place of others to understand them

4. Intellectual Autonomy: learning to think for oneself and control one's thought process

5. Intellectual Integrity: being true to one's own thinking and being consistent with one's standards

6. Intellectual Perseverance: use insights and truths despite difficulties and irrational opposition

7. Confidence in Reason: human interests are best served by reason and enabling others to think rationally

8.Fairmindedness: treat all viewpoints alike without reference to one's own advantage

The next step is to confront, as honestly as possible, our personal obstacles to critical thinking. The first named obstacle is bias. Bias is the preference for or inclination against something based on your opinions and not evidence. We all have viewpoints; that's normal. The problem comes when there is no good reason and we are oblivious to the consequences. The trap is confirmation bias. Prejudice, a preconceived opinion against someone or something, is a similar obstacle that, unchecked, takes us down the road to destructive discrimination and persecution.

Enculturation is the process of learning the habits of a culture. When that view becomes too narrow and becomes a sense of superiority, the third obstacle of ethnocentrism raises its ugly head. A generalization, the fourth obstacle, a broad statement about a group, can be helpful when true, but when distorted or blatantly false, destroys relationships and prevents communication. The last obstacle to personal critical thinking addressed is stereotyping. A stereotype makes a judgment about a person or group that may not be true. When that judgment  is not true, it limits our understanding of each other.

Ignorance uncorrected becomes fear, which not relieved becomes prejudice. This becomes discrimination, and unchecked, results in persecution. This pattern is too familiar!

The intellectual honesty required to face our personal obstacles can be painful, but the results of enhanced integrity is well worth the effort for ourselves and others.

Critical Thinking #2

 After beginning with a definition of critical thinking, just to be sure we are on the same page, I like to follow up with a discussion of ethics. I believe we all think and live out of an ethical perspective or frame of reference, whether we name it or not. For most of us those values are subconscious, having been shaped by life's experiences or what Aristotle would call "accidents." These include the circumstances of our birth (ethnicity, geography, time, etc.). Compound that with experiences and institutions we have been part of, and voila! we live our daily lives assuming our set of rights and wrongs.

At this stage I attempt to help students "name" their values and wrestle with the consequences thereof. I share a long list, by no means exhaustive, of historically developed, identified, and debated ethical systems. I strive to be inclusive and introduce broad, culturally representative systems. To be honest, the labels will be recognized by their western names, but by any other name, ethics are universal. As a matter of fact, I preface the section with Huston Smith's seven values that all religions around the world hold in common: do not lie, do not steal, do not murder, do not break the sexual mores of your culture, be charitable, practice veracity, and be humble.

The list of systems includes: Utilitarianism, Libertarian, Revelation, Golden Rule, Hedonism, Corporate Recognition, Categorical Imperative, Intuition, Means to Ends, Proportionality Principle, Might Equals Right, etc. I strive diligently to remain neutral and enable them to engage in honest, objective introspection. After years of study and teaching, I am convinced that ethical values fall into one of two camps. MLK Jr. summed it up perfectly. At some point, a person must choose between constructive altruism and destructive selfishness. All of history's Wisdom Teachers have given us the guidance for living with one another. Kierkegaard challenged us with the claim that EVERY decision is a moral decision.

How will you live the one precious gift of life you have been given?

Critical Thinking

 It has been my pleasure and responsibility for a few years now to teach a course in critical thinking at the local community college. The challenge has been daunting and rewarding. Of course, we all know the old joke. The seriousness of its implications has never been more obvious than now in our current political climate. But this blog is not about politics. During the next few days/weeks, I thought I would share with you what and how I present this subject to my students. They pay to attend class. I get paid to conduct the class. You get it free. So be careful; you might get your money's worth.

I begin the semester by defining critical thinking. There are several definitions from which to choose. This is the one I have chosen for now. Without a solid foundation and a common understanding from which to begin, the structure and direction will be faulty, accomplishing little.

Critical thinking involves several characteristics. The first I begin with is INQUIRY. A critical thinker asks probing questions. S/he will analyze assumptions, processes, and decisions that led to particular decisions. This process encourages deeper understanding and seeks relevant information. This thinking strives to maintain an open mind and looks at things from different perspectives.

Critical thinking has APPLICATION in every aspect of life, personal, political, and professional. The process includes location of relevant material, evaluation of the credibility of that material and its source, drawing rational and defensible conclusions, and reflection on those results.

REFLECTION is the capacity to answer questions and think rationally. "Is it reasonable?" Critical thinking is thinking about your thinking. It is considering other points of view and respecting different opinions.

But critical thinking does not stop here. One must be able to COMMUNICATE in writing and orally. It requires a sense of audience and be driven by a strong sense of purpose. This demands clarity, relevance, accuracy, and fairness. The process helps others join the conversation with deeper understanding. It promotes civil discourse.

Critical thinking is LOGICAL. It recognizes contradictions and circular reasoning; it uses deductive and inductive logic and, using credible information, arrives at valid conclusions. Critical thinking is systematic thinking, generating predictable theories, and testing their validity.

Critical thinkers are CREATIVE. They seek solutions and apply those solutions to other problems. Critical thinking uses imagination and flexibility. It moves from simple to complex using association, connotation, metaphor, and elaboration.

The personal affective benefit is that you learn to accept the opinions of others, not to reach agreement, but to learn from each other. Good critical thinking demands intellectual generosity, honesty, humility, courage, curiosity, and fairness......but that's the subject of another blog.