Critical Thinking Toolkit

Galen Foresman is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, USA.  His research interests include ethics, philosophy of punishment, philosophy of religion, and philosophy as it applies to pop culture.  He is the author of several book chapters and the editor of Supernatural and Philosophy (Wiley Blackwell, 2013). Peter S. Fosl is Professor and Chair of Philosophy and Chair of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Transylvania University, USA. A David Hume Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, his research interests include skepticism and the history of philosophy, as well as, topics in politics and religion. He is author or editor of many books, including The Big Lebowski and Philosophy (Wiley Blackwell, 2012), The Philosopher's Toolkit (second edition, Wiley Blackwell, 2010), and The Ethics Toolkit (Wiley Blackwell, 2007). He is also Editor-in-Chief of the Open Access academic journal, CogentOA: Arts & Humanities. Jamie Carlin Watson is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Broward College, USA. His primary research is in the social epistemology of epistemic advantage and expertise, especially as they influence testimony in practical fields such as medicine and business. He has published articles in journals such as Episteme and Journal of Applied Philosophy, and he is the co-author of Critical Thinking: An Introduction to Reasoning Well (second edition, 2015), What's Good on TV? Understanding Ethics Through Television (Wiley Blackwell, 2011), and Philosophy Demystified (2011).

• Acknowledgments xvIntroduction 1The Very Idea of Critical Thinking 1Critical thinking in the formal and empirical sciences 2Critical thinking, critical theory, and critical politics 4Critical thinking, finitude, and self-understanding 5Using this book 51 Basic Tools for Critical Thinking about Arguments 71.1 Claims 7Beliefs and opinions 8Simple and complex claims 9Truth functionality 101.2 Arguments 11Logic vs. eristics 12Arguments vs. explanations 121.3 Premises 13Enthymemes 14Identifying premises 141.4 Conclusions 16Argument structure 16Simple and complex arguments 16Identifying conclusions 172 More Tools for Critical Thinking about Arguments 192.1 Deductive and Inductive Arguments 19Deduction 20Induction 212.2 Conditional Claims 22Necessary and sufficient conditions 23Biconditional claims 252.3 Classifying and Comparing Claims 26Comparing claims 26Classifying single claims 282.4 Claims and Definitions 29Lexical, stipulative, ostensive, and negative definition 30Extension and intension 30Generic similarities and specific differences 31Definiens and definiendum 312.5 The Critical Thinker’s “Two Step”: Validity and Soundness/Cogency and Strength 32Structure before truth 332.6 Showing Invalidity by Counterexample 353 Tools for Deductive Reasoning with Categories 393.1 Thinking Categorically 39Types and tokens 393.2 Categorical Logic 40Quality, quantity, and standard form 40Venn diagrams and the meaning of categorical claims 42Distribution and its implications 44Existential import 453.3 Translating English Claims to Standard Form 46Implicit quantifiers 46Individuals 47Getting the verb right 47Adverbials 48Trust your instincts 50A caveat 503.4 Formal Deduction with Categories: Immediate Inferences 50Equivalences 51Conversion 52Contraposition 53Obversion 56The Aristotelian and Boolean Squares of Opposition 583.5 Formal Deduction with Categories: Syllogisms 63Categorical syllogisms 64Major and minor terms 64Mood and figure 65The Venn diagram test for validity 66Five easy rules for evaluating categorical syllogisms 69Gensler star test 704 Tools for Deductive Reasoning with Claims 724.1 Propositional vs. Categorical Logics 72Translating claims into propositional logic 73Truth tables for claims 76Testing for validity and invalidity with truth tables 78Indirect truth tables 79Strange validity 824.2 Common Deductively Valid Forms 83Modus ponens 83Modus tollens 84Hypothetical syllogism 86Disjunctive syllogism 86Constructive and destructive dilemmas 874.3 Equivalences 90Double negation 90Tautology 91Commutativity 91Associativity 92Transposition 92Material implication 93Material equivalence 93Exportation 94Distribution 95DeMorgan’s Law 954.4 Formal Deduction with Forms and Equivalences 96Three simple rules 974.5 Common Formal Fallacies 101Affirming the consequent 101Denying the antecedent 103Affirming a disjunct 1045 Tools for Detecting Informal Fallacies 1075.1 Critical Thinking, Critical Deceiving, and the “Two Step” 1075.2 Subjectivist Fallacy 1095.3 Genetic Fallacies 1125.4 Ad Hominem Fallacies: Direct, Circumstantial, and Tu Quoque 113Direct 114Circumstantial 115Tu quoque 1185.5 Appeal to Emotions or Appeal to the Heart (argumentum ad passiones) 120Appeal to pity (argumentum ad misericordiam) 120Appeal to fear (argumentum ad metum) 122Appeal to guilt 1225.6 Appeal to Force (argumentum ad baculum) 1245.7 Appeal to Ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam) 125Negative evidence and no evidence 1265.8 Appeal to Novelty (argumentum ad novitatem) 1275.9 Appeal to the People (argumentum ad populum) 128Bandwagon 128Appeal to snobbery 129Appeal to vanity 1295.10 Appeal to Unqualified Authority (argumentum ad verecundiam) 1325.11 Fallacy of Accident 1355.12 False Dilemma 1375.13 Semantic and Syntactic Fallacies 138Ambiguity, two types: lexical and syntactic 138Vagueness vs. ambiguity 139Vagueness, two types: degree and context 139Equivocation and fallacious amphiboly 1405.14 Begging the Question (petitio principii) 1435.15 Question-Begging Sentences 1445.16 Missing the Point (ignoratio elenchi) 1455.17 Fallacy of Composition 1465.18 Fallacy of Division 1485.19 Is-Ought Fallacy 1495.20 Appeal to Tradition 1525.21 Quoting Out of Context 1535.22 Red Herring 1585.23 Straw Man and Fidelity 1595.24 Hasty Fallacization 1615.25 A Brief Argument Clinic 162Context 162Charity 162Productivity 1636 Tools for Critical Thinking about Induction 1666.1 Inductive vs. Deductive Arguments Again 1666.2 Analogies and Arguments from Analogy 167Criticizing analogies 1686.3 Fallacies about Causation 170Post hoc ergo propter hoc 170Correlation is not always causation 171Cum hoc ergo propter hoc 172Neglecting a common cause 172Oversimplified and contributing causes 174Proximate, remote, and intervening causes 1756.4 Inductive Statistical Reasoning 177Sampling: random and biased 177Stratification 178The gambler’s fallacy 179Averages: mean, median, and mode 179Distributions 1806.5 Base Rate Fallacy 1826.6 Slippery Slope and Reductio ad Absurdum 1846.7 Hasty Generalization 1886.8 Mill’s Five Methods 1891. Method of Concomitant Variation 1892. Method of Agreement 1903. Method of Difference 1914. Joint Method of Agreement and Difference 1915. Method of Residues 1927 Tools for Critical Thinking about Experience and Error 1957.1 Error Theory 1957.2 Cognitive Errors 197Perceptual error 197Memory 199Stress and trauma 201Projection 202Transference 203Confirmation bias 203Denial 204A little bit of knowledge … 204The fallacy of false consensus 205Naïve realism 2057.3 Environment and Error 206Obstruction and distraction 206Duration 207Motion 207Distance 207Context and comparison 208Availability error 2087.4 Background and Ignorance 2097.5 Misleading Language 210Suspect the negative 210Implications and connotations 210Damning by silence or understatement 2117.6 Standpoint and Disagreement 211The mosaic of truth 213Incommensurability and deep disagreement 2138 Tools for Critical Thinking about Justification 2158.1 Knowledge: The Basics 215Ordinary belief and hinge propositions 216Plato’s definition of knowledge 216Chisholm and belief 2178.2 Feelings as Evidence 219Some important features of all types of feelings 220The importance of distinguishing sense experience from emotion 2228.3 Skepticism and Sensory Experience 223The weaknesses of sense experience as evidence 224The strengths of sense experience as evidence 2278.4 Emotions and Evidence 229The weaknesses of emotional experience as evidence 229The strengths of emotional experience as evidence 232Tips for eliminating the negative effects of emotions 2358.5 Justifying Values 237The role of moral values in arguments 238Four common views of value judgment 239Tools for reasoning about moral values 2418.6 Justification: The Basics 242Justification and the problem of access 243No reasons not to believe 244Beyond a reasonable doubt 244Obligation and permission to believe 2458.7 Truth and Responsible Belief 246Why is responsibility relevant to belief? 247Responsibility without truth 2478.8 How Does Justification Work? 248Claims as evidence 248Experience as evidence 2498.9 A Problem for Responsible Belief 251Gettier cases 252Processes and probabilities as justification 253Varieties of externalism 2548.10 Evidence: Weak and Strong 256Direct and indirect evidence 256Testimony as evidence 258Strong enough evidence? 259Suppressed evidence fallacy 260Four tips for recognizing “good” evidence 2618.11 Justification: Conclusions 2669 Tools for Critical Thinking about Science 2719.1 Science and the Value of Scientific Reasoning 271Useful, durable, and pleasant goods 271An agreement engine 272A path to knowledge 2729.2 The Purview of Science 273The limits of empiricism 274What is and what ought to be 274Different kinds of science 275Critiques of science 2799.3 Varieties of Possibility and Impossibility 280Logical possibility 281Physical possibility 281Other types of possibility 2829.4 Scientific Method 283Causal explanation 283Observation 284Verification and falsification 285Paradigms: normal and revolutionary science 2889.5 Unfalsifiability and Falsification Resistance 289Ad hoc hypotheses and the fallacy of unfalsifiability 290Falsification and holism: hypothesis vs. theory 291The “no true Scotsman” fallacy 2919.6 Experiments and Other Tests 293Controls and variables 293Epidemiological studies 294Personal experience and case studies 295Blinding and double blinding 296In vitro studies 297Non-human animal studies 2979.7 Six Criteria for Abduction 2981. Predictive power 2992. Scope 2993. Coherence with established fact 3004. Repeatability 3005. Simplicity 3006. Fruitfulness 3019.8 Bad Science 302Junk science 302Pseudo-science 302Fringe science 303Ideological science 30310 Tools from Rhetoric, Critical Theory, and Politics 30510.1 Meta-Narratives 305Stories that govern stories plus a whole lot more 305Governing, varying, and disintegrating narratives 30610.2 Governing Tropes 308Simile, analogy, metaphor, and allegory 308Metonymy and synecdoche 30910.3 The Medium Is the Message 31110.4 Voice 31310.5 Semiotics: Critically Reading Signs 316Peirce and Saussure 316Of virgins, ghosts, and cuckolds 316The semiological problem 31710.6 Deconstruction 319Critique of presence 320Undermining binaries 320The politics of deconstruction 32110.7 Foucault’s Critique of Power 322Archeological method 323Genealogical method 323Microphysics of power and biopower 324Normalization 32410.8 The Frankfurt School: Culture Critique 326Lipstick is ideology 326Makers who are made 327The Dialectic of Enlightenment 32710.9 Class Critiques 328Classical Marxism: superstructure and substructure 328It’s the class hierarchy, stupid 329Exploitation, alienation, and class struggle 329False consciousness 330Criticizing class critique 33010.10 Feminist and Gender Critiques 332Politics and gender 333Feminist critique 335Text and gender 33610.11 Critiques of Race and Racism 338Scientific critique of race 338Liberal critique of race 338Marxist critique of race 339Critical race theory 34010.12 Traditionalist and Historicist Critiques 341A history of thinking about history 342Views from nowhere 342The harm in forgetting 343The importance of careful listening 34310.13 Ecological Critiques 345Consumption and pollution 345Ecological justice 346Non-human life 347Appendix: Recommended Web Sites 349Index 351