Caoilfhionn Ní Bheacháin
Email: C.NiBheachain@ul.ie
Critical Thinking – Session 1
“When we become critical thinkers, we develop an
awareness of the assumptions under which we, and
others, think and act. We learn to pay attention to the
context in which our ideas and actions are generated.
We become sceptical of quick-fix solutions, of single
answers to problems, and of claims to universal truth.
We also become open to alternative ways of looking at,
and behaving in, the world”
Brookfield, S. Developing Critical Thinkers
Routine Thinking Vs.
Critical Thinking:
Routine thinking
Driving home - often you can drive a distance
of a few miles and when you reach your
destination have no memory of the journey.
And yet, thinking was required. Knowledge,
calculation and mental skill were employed to
make this journey. However, it was automatic.
It was routine thinking that did not demand a
high level of awareness.
Critical Thinking involves:
•Being sceptical or questioning about
statements, arguments etc.
•Being critical of personal, societal and
political values and structures
•Critiquing relationships between power
and knowledge.
•Interrogating the thinking process itself
Critical Thinking involves
thinking turned on itself:
•We may look at the narratives / stories that
we tell about ourselves
•We may examine our emotions and how
they influence our behaviour
We might ask ourselves:
•What are my assumptions about friendship,
family, work-life balance, success?
•Do I have sufficient reasons for believing this?
Critical Thinking Triggers:
Negative triggers – any form of trauma or
life transition
Positive triggers – moments of insight or
self-awareness
Critical Thinking:
The kind of thinking which probes important or crucial
elements of our lives and values. These may be social or
personal.
Personal - How will you cope with losing your job?
Social – What are the implications of high levels of
unemployment for human happiness or liberty?
Critical Thinking:
What is happiness?
What is the ‘good life’?
What is a ‘Consumer Society’?
What is ‘progress’?
Toulmin Model: How arguments
work
•Also consider
definition, narrative
and context
Qualifier
claim
Data
Warrant
(underlying
assumption)
Reservation
Backing
(Evidence)
Personal
History
Cultural
Contexts
Interpersonal
Social /
political /
Business
Prior Experience / Personal History impacts upon our reading of the world
Prior Experience / Personal History impacts upon our reading of the world
Assumptions
Assumptions are our presuppositions
and viewpoints that we take for granted. It
is important to recognise our assumptions
because they represent a ‘baseline’ for
thought. If they are flawed or
misunderstood, the reasoning that stems
from them can also be flawed.
Example of an unstated assumption
• Divorce contravenes Catholic teaching
• Ireland should ban divorce
• Unstated Assumption: Irish law should reflect
Catholic doctrine.
Assumptions
In a consumer society, what are our
assumptions?
The Consumer Society
“People’s involvement with material culture is such that
mass consumption infiltrates everyday life not only at the
levels of economic processes, social activities and
household structures, but also at the level of meaningful
psychological experience – affecting the construction of
identities, the formation of relationships, the framing of
events.”
Lunt and Livingstone (1992)
Brand Slogans
L’Oreal “Because I’m worth it”
Mars “A Mars a day helps you work, rest
and play”
Pepsi “The joy of Pepsi”
McDonalds “I’m Lovin’ it”
Gilette “The best a man can get”
Access Credit Card “Your flexible
friend”
Visa “It’s everywhere you want to be”
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytQLY1h
_6I8
– Sex and the City
• A Woman’s Right to Shoes
Product Placement
• The Blind Side
Date: 4-7 Dec., 2009
Studio: Warner Brothers
Weekend gross: US$ 34 M
Featured brands: Baltimore Ravens, Barcalounger, BMW, Borders,
Canon, Chanel, Cincinnati Bengals, Clemson University,
Cosmopolitan, Dell, Dial-a-Down, FedEx, Ford, Jordan, Kentucky
Fried Chicken, Louisiana State University, Madden, MTV, NASCAR,
National Rifle Association, New York Giants, NFL, Nike, Ole Miss,
Pepsi, Schutt Sports, Seattle Seahawks, Spalding, St. Louis Rams,
Taco Bell, Under Armour, University of Arkansas, University of
Florida, University of Georgia, University of Miami, University of
South Carolina, University of Tennessee, VTech, Washington
Redskins
Comments: This week The Blind Side knocks New Moon out of the
number one spot, giving “real life” brands such as Taco Bell,
Spalding, Nike, MTV, Dell, BMW, and NASCAR time on the big
screen
www.brandchannel.com (Source)
•
Valentine's Day
Date: 12-14 Feb., 2010
Studio: Warner Brothers
Weekend gross: US 56.4 M
Featured brands: 1-800-Flowers, adidas, American Airlines, American Express,
Apple, BlackBerry, Blazer, Cadillac, Cadillac Escalade, Cartier, Chanel, Chevrolet,
Chicago Cubs, Christian Louboutin, Craigslist, Discovery Channel, ESPN, evite.com,
Facebook, FedEx, Ford, Ford Mustang, Gatorade, Hollywood Forever Cemetary,
Indiana University, International Creative Management, Los Angeles Dodgers,
Mapquest, Marc Jacobs, Moët & Chandon, Nike, Nokia, Northwestern University,
Polaroid, Porsche, PUMA, Quiksilver, Range Rover, Retin-A, Scope (mouthwash),
Sharpie, Sony, Southwest Airlines, Stanford University, The BLVD (Los Angeles), The
Lawrence Foundation, Toyota, Tufts University, US Army, USPS, Versace, Victoria's
Secret, Volkswagen Beetle, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Yale, York
Comments: In a nod to symmetry and marketing research, Valentine's Day, the
movie, topped box office in ticket sales on Valentine's Day weekend. The starstudded film, however, features just as many – if not more – brands than stars.
Familiar brandcameo brands such as Apple, Toyota, Sony, and Chanel make the big
screen, but the real props go out to brandcameo count leaders the US Postal
Service, the U.S. Army, Stanford University, and Chevy – each of which has two
brandcamoes for the year
www.brandchannel.com (Source)
• Gran Torino
Date: 9-15 Jan., 2009
Studio: Warner Bros.
Weekend gross: US$29.5 M
Featured brands: Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Colt, Ford,
Gopher, Honda, Israel Weapons Industry, Jack Daniel's,
Pabst Blue Ribbon, Reebok, Remington, Tory Burch,
Toyota, Tsingtao, USPS, WD-40
Comments: This film is about an old man, with an old
gun and an old car responding to the increase of gang
violence in his neighborhood. Walt Kowalski is a retired
Ford worker and Korean War veteran, who carries an M1
Garand rifle and spends his time caring for his 1972 Ford
Gran Torino. He befriends his Hmong neighbors and
trades his Pabst Blue Ribbons for Tsingtao beer
www.brandchannel.com (Source)
• The Hangover
Date: 5-11 Jun., 2009
Studio: Warner Bros.
Weekend gross: US$ 46.0 M
Featured brands: Aquafina, Baldwin, Boost Mobile, Cadillac,
Caesars Palace, Cirque du Soleil, Coca-Cola, DNX, Fiji, Hard Rock
Cafe, Jägermeister, Krispy Kreme, Lay's, Mercedes, MGM Grand,
Monster Energy Drink, Nokia, Rogaine, Roots, Taser, Trump Plaza
Comments: The Hangover: One would think the title leaves little to
the imagination, but this film about a bachelor party in Las Vegas—
on the surface, a cliché at best—delivers more than the requisite
Ceasar’s Palace, MGM Grand and Trump brandcameos. A
convertible Mercedes serves as a metaphor for four men who
become different people by the end of the movie. Cadillac also
receives some prominent screentime, as do beverage brands
Jagermeister, Monster Energy Drink, Aquafina, Coca-Cola and Fiji
Water
www.brandchannel.com (Source)
• Iron Man
Date: 2-15 May., 2008
Studio: Paramount
Weekend gross: US$149.8 M
Featured brands: Apple, Audi, Blüthner, Brown University, Bulgari,
Burger King, Cadillac, Cadillac Escalade, Caesars Palace,
Chevrolet, Cisco, CNBC, Dell, Dolce & Gabbana, Esquire, Forbes,
Ford, Goodyear, LG, M.I.T., Maxim, MySpace, Newsweek, Nissan,
Operation, Perrier, Persol, Ray-Ban, Rolling Stone, Rolls Royce,
Saleen, Segway, Shelby, Tesla, Texaco, The Apogee Foundation,
U.S. Air Force, University of California, Berkeley, Vanity Fair,
Verizon, Voss, Wired
Comments: Billionaire industrialist Tony Stark loves to play with big
boy toys. His collection of expensive cars was a perfect place for
Audi to showcase its R8, S5, A4 and Q7 models. Though we
question the gadget guru's use of dated LG phones and off-the-shelf
Dell servers
Text of ad for vacuum cleaner
• “Life isn’t always neat and tidy. It’s about
laughing, crying, loving, dancing, maybe
even shouting. So we’ve developed the
new QuickClick tool change system and
the ComfoGlide floor tool, to save you
energy and time to enjoy what we have all
been put into the world to actually do.
Live.”
– (Karcher Advertisement, 2006)
Bridget Jones’s Diary
‘Recognition Fiction – Brands as Signifiers’
Don Slater
• Commodity signs – “advertising and
marketing attach extraneous meanings to
basically functional objects” (pg. 136)
• Commodity Fetishism – a term coined by
Karl Marx – emphasises the way that the
commodity culture conceals the underlying
power relations of their producers
• “Consumer culture is about continuous
self-creation through the accessibility of
things which are themselves presented as
new, modish, faddish or fashionable,
always improved and improving”
• Consumption is a meaningful activity - We
‘act out’ our membership of particular
groups through our consumption
Toulmin Model: How arguments
work
•Also consider
definition, narrative
and context
Qualifier
claim
Data
Warrant
(underlying
assumption)
Reservation
Backing
(Evidence)
Definitions
Definitions can change the nature of a fact
Definitions can influence attitudes
Definitions can be contested
Examples of contested terms:
‘Progress’, ‘Masculinity’, ‘Femininity’, ‘Happiness’,
‘Success’, ‘ ‘Environmentally-Friendly’,
‘Development’
Evidence: the foundations
for argument
Evaluating Evidence:
•What is the source of the evidence?
•Is the evidence current, accurate, relevant and
authoritative?
•Is an inference or opinion being presented as a fact?
•Are the instances cited typical?
•Is the evidence alone sufficient to result in the
conclusion drawn?
•Who produces the archive / evidence? For what
purpose?
Argument structure
• Arguments: premises, evidence & conclusions
• Premises offer reasons that support the conclusion.
They are the building blocks of arguments.
• Evaluating arguments
– Truth – Can we believe the premises?
– Validity – is the argument structure valid?
– Evidence – is it authoritative?
Argument Analysis - Example
• We can be proud that America has turned the
corner on the depression of the last few years.
At last the many indexes of recovery are
showing optimistic readings. The rate of inflation
has slowed, unemployment has more or less
stabilised, inventories are beginning to drop,
advance orders are starting to pick up, and – the
best news of all – the average income figures
are showing a gain. The doomsayers have
been discomfitted and the free enterprise system
once more vindicated.
Diagram Structure
Find the premises that support the conclusion
Set out the relationship between premises and
conclusion.
Identify irrelevant sentences, repetition of
premises and rhetoric.
Set down the relationship in a tree diagram.
Evidence
Premise
Evidence
Premise
Intermediate Conclusion
Conclusion
Evidence
Premise
Inflation slowed
Advance orders up
Unemployment - stabilised
Inventories down
Income up
The indexes of recovery are optimistic
The US has turned the corner on the Depression
Doomsayers
wrong
Free
Enterprise
vindicated
Argument Analysis
• What is left out?
– Says many indexes but only given a few. What about GNP,
farm prices, foreign exports?
•
•
•
•
No specifics – not supported with facts
Language use
Check argument structure
Flaws – Ad Hominem etc.
• Article / thesis might be persuasive but may still fail in
argumentation / reasoning
our decision making
The environment tends to be just
one factor that we consider when
making decisions
Our behaviour is often driven by
other, competing, factors
In a consumer society, we want
things that are contradictory to our
environmental beliefs
How can we address this?
Narratives / Stories
The telling of a story is always bound up with power –
with questions of authority
•What stories get told?
•Who is the hero of the story?
•Who is the narrator?
•What are the story’s sources?
Stories are multiple – there is always more than one
story.
What are the ‘shadow’ stories of the commodities we
consume? What is the other side of the ‘progress’
story?
Summary
Need to interrogate assumptions that underpin our
consumer society. The stories of ‘things’, how we
celebrate life events, etc.
Argument is rule governed – look at argument
structure, evidence provided and context.
Tomorrow: Narrative and History / Resource Wars / A
Case Study on Rubber