Reason and Argument

1
Reason and Argument

• Chapter 2

2
Critical Thinking

• Critical thinking involves awareness, practice,
  and motivation.
• Often, how we think and what we think are
  obstacles to be overcome for the sake of critical
  thinking.
• Many of the things you believe may be false, and
  many of the true things you believe, you may
  believe for no good reason.

3
How we think

• Certain facts about who we are and how we make
  decisions and accept beliefs can hinder our
  abilities to think critically.
• Recognizing and combatting these factors is a big
  part of thinking critically.

4
Self-Interest

• There is nothing wrong with supporting a claim
  that is in your interests, but a claim requires
  more than being in your interest to be supported.
  
• Excessive self-interest leads to rationalization,
  wishful thinking, self-deception, and
  manipulation by those who simply tell you what
  you want to hear.

5
Confirmation Bias

• Aka selective attention is a well-researched
  bias in peoples reasoning.
• Once people form a theory or an opinion, they
  tend to look only for or only notice evidence
  that confirms their prior theory or opinion while
  failing to notice evidence that denies prior
  theory or opinion.
• Combatting confirmation bias requires a great
  deal of attention and care. It requires a
  sustained conscious effort to recognize and avoid
  it.

6
Confirmation Bias (continued)

• Bob thinks Steve is always rude to him, and every
  time that Steve is rude to Bob, Bob treats that
  as evidence for his opinion. When Steve is not
  rude to Bob, Bob doesnt notice one way or the
  other. This is confirmation bias. It may turn
  out that Steve is not rude to Bob any more often
  than anyone else, or not very much more often.

7
Group think

• Group think can take multiple forms
• Peer pressure
• Appeals to Popularity
• Appeals to Common Practice
• Overvaluing group ideas
• Group think can be just as bad as excessive
  self-interest.

8
What we think

• Many of your beliefs are false.
• What follows are some very common beliefs that
  often get in the way of being a good critical
  thinker.

9
Relativism/subjectivism

• There are many kinds of relativism and
  subjectivism, but the kinds that are a hindrance
  to critical thinking are often confused with the
  unobjectionable kinds.
• To be a good critical thinker, one must recognize
  the difference between descriptive relativism and
  normative relativism and also the difference
  between subjective issues and non-subjective
  issues.

10
Descriptive versus Normative Relativism

• Descriptive

• Normative

• As a matter of fact different people have
  different opinions and beliefs.
• As a matter of fact, different cultures have
  different opinions and beliefs.
• The above is certainly true, but trivial.

• Each opinion that an individual or culture holds
  is equally true or valuable.
• The above is certainly false, and often confused
  with the position at left.

11
Subjective versus Non-Subjective Issues

• Subjective

• Non-Subjective

• Taste
• Aesthetic Issues
• Subjective issues are issues that everyone is
  fine with letting everyone determine for
  themselves. Substantive disagreement isnt
  possible with genuinely subjective issues.

• Truth
• Morality
• Non-Subjective issues are not simply matters of
  taste, and are not determined arbitrarily.
  Substantive disagreement is possible with
  non-subjective issues.

12
Excessive Skepticism

• It is one thing to entertain doubts about even
  very strongly held beliefs. This is healthy.
• However, blowing some doubts out of proportion
  (like Descartes) is a good way to be a poor
  thinker.
• We may accept some claims even while not being
  entirely certain about them, so long as we have
  good enough reasons to do so.