Critical Thinking
Lesson 6
Lesson 6 Objectives
• Identify the role of concepts in the critical thinking
process.
• Identify types of causal relationships.
• Test causal relationships.
• Identify causal fallacies.
Defining, Forming, and Applying Concepts
What Are Concepts?
Concepts are general ideas that
you use to organize your
experience and bring order to
your life.
Concepts are the vocabulary of
thought in the same way that
words are the vocabulary of
language.
When you form opinions or make
judgments, you are applying and
relating concepts.
Defining, Forming, and Applying Concepts
How Do You Use Concepts to Organize and Make Sense of
Experience?
Think back to the first day of class, when you may have been
asking yourself questions like these:
• Will this course be interesting? Useful? Challenging?
• Are the other students friendly? Intelligent? Conscientious?
Each of the underlined words represents a concept you might
use in an attempt to anticipate what the course might be like.
Throughout this process we make evaluations that establish
classifications of kinds or types: What kind of course? Difficult?
Easy? What kind of student am I in relation to this course?
Defining, Forming, and Applying Concepts
Forming Concepts
The process of forming concepts involves testing referents
(examples) against the properties (common features) shared by
all examples of the concept. Consider this exchange:
A: What do you think philosophy means?
B: Philosophy involves expressing important beliefs—like the meaning of life.
A: Is explaining my belief about who’s going to win the Super Bowl engaging in
philosophy? After all, this is a belief that is very important to me!
B: No. A philosophical belief is usually about something that is important to everyone—
like what standards should guide our moral choices.
A: What about the funny saying: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we diet!”? This
is a belief most people can relate to.
B: No. Philosophical beliefs are usually deeply felt and carefully thought out.
A: What about the rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”?
B: Now you’ve got it!
Defining, Forming, and Applying Concepts
Forming Concepts, Continued
Here, the concept philosophy is refined by thinking about how
well referents (examples) fit the concept. Referents that do not
fit are rejected; those that do fit contribute to our understanding
of what the concept means.
Thus concepts are formed through an interpretive process in
which specific examples are applied to a general idea until that
idea becomes sharp, clear, and well-defined.
Defining, Forming, and Applying Concepts
Applying Concepts
Making sense of our experience means finding the right concept
to explain what is going on.
To determine whether the concept we have selected fits a
situation, we must do the following:
• Be aware of the properties that form the boundaries of the
concept.
• Determine whether the experience meets those
requirements.
In determining the requirements of a concept, we ask ourselves:
Would something still be an example of this concept if that thing
did not meet this requirement?
Defining, Forming, and Applying Concepts
Applying Concepts, Continued
Consider the concept dog. Which
of the following requirements
must be met by an example of
this concept?
• Is an animal
• Usually has four legs and a
tail
• Bites the mail carrier
It is clear that 1 and 2 are
requirements that must be met to
apply the concept dog. However,
this is not true for item 3.
Using Concepts to Classify
When you apply a concept to an object, idea, or experience, you
place it in a category defined by the properties of the concept.
The same things can be classified in many different ways. Here’s
how different people might classify an area of soggy ground with
long grass and rotting trees:
• “That’s a smelly marsh. All it does is breed mosquitoes. It
ought to be paved and developed so that we can use it
productively.”
• “This is a wetland of great ecological value. Many plants and
animals need this area in order to survive.”
Is this area a “smelly marsh” or a “valuable wetland”? It can be
classified both ways depending on your needs, interests, and
values.
Using Concepts to Classify
Writing and Classifying
Classifying is an essential part of writing in three ways:
• Writings are classified into many different forms and genres.
• Almost any piece of writing is organized by classifying
material into sections, chapters, or paragraphs in which
content is sorted and arranged in logical ways.
• Much writing concentrates on presenting kinds, categories,
types, or classifications of concepts.
Causal Relationships
So far you have examined thinking and writing patterns —
including concepts — that help us make sense of the world. As
we explore our world, we humans tend to ask why things are as
they are.
When we contemplate such questions, we are asking about:
• Causes: Factors that contribute to events and bring them
about
• Effects: Events that result directly or indirectly from causes
or other events
Causal Relationships
Determining causes is complicated because:
• An event may have more than one cause
• An event may have various types of causes
• It is often impossible to do so with certainty
When we think about causal relationships in an organized way
we are using a critical thinking process called causal analysis.
Causal analysis means relating events in terms of the influence
or effect they have on one another.
Causal Relationships
The following statements are all examples of causal statements:
• The pipes froze because of the sudden subzero
temperatures.
• Taking plenty of vitamin C really cured my terrible cold.
• I accidentally toasted my hand along with the marshmallows
by getting too near the campfire.
In these statements, the words because, cured, and getting too
near all point to the fact that something has caused something
else to take place.
Causal Relationships
We tend to think of causes and effects in isolation (e.g., A
caused B), but causes and effects rarely appear by themselves.
Rather, interrelated causes form more complex patterns,
including the following:
• Causal Chain: A situation in which one thing leads to
another, which then leads to another, and so on over a
period of time.
• Contributory Causes: A situation in which a number of
different contributory causes bring about an effect.
• Interactive Causes: A situation in which multiple factors
influence — and are influenced by — still other factors.
Ways of Testing Causal Relationships
In addition to the patterns of causality shown on the previous
slide, you also need to be aware of two categories of conditions
as they relate to cause-and-effect:
• Necessary Condition: A factor that is required to bring
about a certain result. An intact light bulb is a necessary
condition to illuminate a lamp. But by itself, an intact light
bulb is not sufficient to provide illumination: you also need
electricity, another necessary condition.
• Sufficient Condition: A factor that in and of itself is always
sufficient for bringing about a certain result. For example, a
pinch on the arm is a sufficient cause for discomfort.
Ways of Testing Causal Relationships
Yet another way to think critically about causes is to classify
them by how close in time the cause is to its result.
Something that happens just before an event that it causes is
called an immediate cause.
A factor that also helped to bring about this same event but that
occurred further back in time is called a remote cause.
For example, a last-minute touchdown could be the immediate
cause of a football championship, but wise trades made for key
players before the season began might be remote causes.
Identifying Causal Fallacies
People often make mistakes in determining causal relationships.
These mistakes can lead to unsound arguments, or fallacies.
Here are some of the most common fallacies:
Questionable Cause: Presenting a causal relationship for which
no real evidence exists
• Example: If you break a mirror, you will have seven years of
bad luck
Misidentification of Cause: Uncertainty about what is the
cause and what is the effect, that is, ignoring a common cause
or assuming a false common cause
• Example: Is a person’s failure in school the result of personal
problems, or vice versa?
Identifying Causal Fallacies
Post Hoc Ego Propter Hoc: Assuming a causal relationship
between situations occurring closely together in time
• Example: A person wears a favorite shirt to a basketball
game, and his team wins. He concludes that wearing the
shirt has some influence on the outcome of the game, and so
continues to wear the shirt for good luck.
Slippery Slope: Asserting that one undesirable action will lead
to a worse action, which will lead to still a worse one—down,
down the slippery slope
• Example: If you get behind on one credit card payment, you
will get behind on the next one, then your credit rating will
go down, then you won’t be able to buy a house, then you
will be unhappy, etc.
Writing Project: Exploring Some Causes
of a Recent Event
In this Lesson you’ll write a paper in
which you report and discuss some
of the causes of a specific local or
national event that occurred within
the past three years. (See the text
for more detailed guidelines.)
Writing Project: Exploring Some Causes
of a Recent Event
The Writing Situation
Purpose: To discover why an event occurred, explain the causes to
others, and think critically about causal relationships.
Audience: In addition to your classmates and your instructor, you are
an important audience: by analyzing causes, you can become a better
thinker and possibly a more informed citizen.
Subject: Reflect on the event or issue in terms of its causes and
effects on the community. For example, if you decide to write about an
event like Hurricane Katrina that had a disproportionate effect on the
poor, think about why this was so.
Writer: You will report, document, and comment on the words and
ideas of published writers. If you find disagreement among your
sources, don’t discard them: the lack of agreement gives you a variety
of views to report and consider.
Writing Project: Exploring Some Causes
of a Recent Event
The Writing Process
Generating Ideas:
• Begin by finding an event that interests you. After you have
selected an event, use your college library and the Internet to
search for full texts of articles on this topic from reputable
publications.
• Check to see that your sources discuss the causes of the event, not
just the event itself. Identify these causes and how they are
classified (contributory, interactive, etc.).
• Highlight sections of the source that you will include (if you own the
source or have photocopied it).
• Think about how much information you have. Do you need more? If
so, continue researching, reading, and marking until you have
enough to answer the question “Why did this event take place?”
Writing Project: Exploring Some Causes
of a Recent Event
The Writing Process, Continued
Defining a Focus: Write a thesis statement that will make clear
to your audience that you are going to analyze why the event
occurred or why the issue is critical. Here are two possible ways
to frame this type of thesis:
• Report what your sources say and whether or not they
agree.
• Take a position on the causal relation-ships involved.
Organizing Ideas: If you made note cards, read through them
two or three times. Then begin to group them into stacks — one
to describe the event and one for each cause mentioned. If you
didn’t make note cards, spread out your marked sources and try
to plan how you will use information from each.
Writing Project: Exploring Some Causes
of a Recent Event
The Writing Process, Continued
Drafting: Draft one section from each stack of note cards. Your
introduction should include a detailed description of the event
and could conclude with your thesis statement. Begin each body
paragraph with a topic sentence that names the cause being
discussed, then provide as much information as necessary to
help them understand how that cause/effect relationship.
Be sure to note the author, URL, and title and page of any
information from any source you use. On a separate page, draft
a works cited list, using the format specified by your instructor.
Revising, Editing, and Proofreading: Use the step-by-step
method in Chapter 6 on pages 169– 171 to revise and polish
your essay.