Contents
Preface viii
1
The Benefit of Asking the Right Questions 1
Introduction 1
Critical Thinking to the Rescue 2
The Sponge and Panning for Gold: Alternative Thinking Styles 3
An Example of the Panning-for-Gold Approach 5
Panning for Gold: Asking Critical Questions 7
The Myth of the "Right Answer" 7
Thinking and Feeling 8
The Efficiency of Asking the Question, "Who Cares?" 9
Weak-Sense and Strong-Sense Critical Thinking 10
The Satisfaction of Using the Panning-for-Gold Approach 11
Trying Out New Answers 11
Effective Communication and Critical Thinking 12
The Importance of Practice 12
The Right Questions 13
2
What Are the Issue and the Conclusion?
15
Kinds of Issues 16
Searching for the Issue 17
Searching for the Author's or Speaker's Conclusion 18
Clues to Discovery: How to Find the Conclusion 19
Critical Thinking and Your Own Writing and Speaking 21
Practice Exercises 22
3
What Are the Reasons?
25
Reasons + Conclusion = Argument 26
Initiating the Questioning Process 27
Words That Identify Reasons 29
iii
iv
Contents
Kinds of Reasons 29
Keeping the Reasons and Conclusions Straight 31
Reasons First, Then Conclusions 32
"Fresh" Reasons and Your Growth 32
Critical Thinking and Your Own Writing and Speaking 33
Practice Exercises 33
4 What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous? 37
The Confusing Flexibility of Words 38
Locating Key Terms and Phrases 39
Checking for Ambiguity 40
Determining Ambiguity 41
Context and Ambiguity 43
Ambiguity, Definitions, and the Dictionary 44
Ambiguity and Loaded Language 46
Limits of Your Responsibility to Clarify Ambiguity 48
Ambiguity and Your Own Writing and Speaking 48
Summary 49
Practice Exercises 50
5 What Are the Value Conflicts and Assumptions? 53
General Guide for Identifying Assumptions 55
Value Conflicts and Assumptions 56
Discovering Values 57
From Values to Value Assumptions 58
Typical Value Conflicts 60
The Communicator's Background as a Clue to
Value Assumptions 61
Consequences as Clues to Value Assumptions 61
More Hints for Finding Value Assumptions 63
Avoiding a Typical Difficulty When Identifying Value Assumptions 64
Finding Value Assumptions on Your Own 65
Values and Relativism 67
Summary 68
Practice Exercises 68
6 What Are the Descriptive Assumptions? 71
Illustrating Descriptive Assumptions 72
Clues for Locating Assumptions 74
Applying the Clues 76
Avoiding Analysis of Trivial Assumptions 78
Assumptions and Your Own Writing and Speaking 78
Contents
Summary 79
Practice Exercises 79
7
Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning?
83
A Questioning Approach to Finding Reasoning Fallacies 85
Evaluating Assumptions as a Starting Point 86
Discovering Other Common Reasoning Fallacies 88
Looking for Diversions 94
Sleight of Hand: Begging the Question 96
Summary of Reasoning Errors 97
Expanding Your Knowledge of Fallacies 99
Fallacies and Your Own Writing and Speaking 99
Practice Exercises 99
8
How Good Is the Evidence: Intuition, Personal Experience,
Testimonials, and Appeals to Authority? 103
The Need for Evidence 104
Locating Factual Claims 105
Sources of Evidence 106
Intuition as Evidence 107
Dangers of Appealing to Personal Experience as Evidence
Personal Testimonials as Evidence 109
Appeals to Authority as Evidence 110
Summary 113
Practice Exercises 114
9
108
How Good Is the Evidence: Personal Observation, Research
Studies, Case Examples, and Analogies? 117
Personal Observation 117
Research Studies as Evidence 118
Generalizing from the Research Sample 123
Biased Surveys and Questionnaires 124
Critical Evaluation of a Research-Based Argument 126
Case Examples as Evidence 128
Analogies as Evidence 129
Summary 133
Practice Exercises 134
10 Are There Rival Causes?
137
When to Look for Rival Causes 138
The Pervasiveness of Rival Causes 139
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vi
Contents
Detecting Rival Causes 141
The Cause or A Cause 142
Rival Causes and Scientific Research 143
Rival Causes for Differences Between Groups 144
Confusing Causation with Association 146
Confusing "After this" with "Because of this" 147
Explaining Individual Events or Acts 149
Evaluating Rival Causes 150
Evidence and Your Own Writing and Speaking 150
Summary 150
Practice Exercises 151
11
Are the Statistics Deceptive?
155
Unknowable and Biased Statistics 156
Confusing Averages 156
Concluding One Thing, Proving Another 158
Deceiving by Omitting Information 159
Risk Statistics and Omitted Information 161
Summary 162
Practice Exercises 163
12
What Significant Information Is Omitted?
167
The Benefits of Detecting Omitted Information 168
The Certainty of Incomplete Reasoning 168
Questions that Identify Omitted Information 170
The Importance of the Negative View 174
Omitted Information That Remains Missing 175
Missing Information and Your Own Writing and Speaking 176
Practice Exercises 176
13
What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible?
181
Assumptions and Multiple Conclusions 182
Dichotomous Thinking: Impediment to Considering Multiple
Conclusions 182
Two Sides or Many? 183
Searching for Multiple Conclusions 185
Productivity of If-Clauses 186
Alternative Solutions as Conclusions 187
The Liberating Effect of Recognizing Alternative Conclusions
All Conclusions Are Not Created Equal 188
Summary 189
Practice Exercises 196
188
Practice and Review 193
Question Checklist for Critical Thinking 193
Asking the Right Questions: A Comprehensive Example
What Are the Issue and Conclusion? 196
What Are the Reasons? 196
What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous? 197
What Are the Value Conflicts and Assumptions? 198
What are the Descriptive Assumptions? 198
Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning? 199
How Good Is the Evidence? 200
Are There Rival Causes? 201
Are the Statistics Deceptive? 201
What Significant Information Is Omitted? 202
What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible? 203
Final Word
205
The Tone of Your Critical Thinking 205
Strategies for Effective Critical Thinking 206
Index
209