An Introduction to Critical Thinking

✍ Scribed by Sen, Madhucchanda

• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 124
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Description The ability to think clearly and critically is necessary forsuccess in every walk of life and is especially important forprofessional success. No doubt then that critical thinking forms animportant and vital topic in modern education. An Introduction to Critical Thinking will help studentsdevelop their critical thinking faculties and to overcome personalprejudices and biases, the influence of social brainwashing, fearsassociated with free-thinking and egocentrism?elements that hinderour understanding and evaluation of the world around us and preventus from taking decisions independently and responsibly. This bookintroduces critical thinking, discusses the relation betweencritical thinking and logic, teaches how to evaluate informationand arguments, examines inferences and fallacies, and providesstrategies to develop skills for thinking, reading and writingcritically. Designed specifically for undergraduate students, thisbook has the student-friendly features like key points andintermediate thinking through exercises after each section, andplenty of exercises at the end of all chapters. What Is Critical Thinking? Critical Thinking and Logic Evaluating Arguments: Inferences and Fallacies Information and Its Evaluation Thinking, Reading and Writing Critically Madhucchanda Sen teaches philosophy at Rabindra BharatiUniversity, Kolkata. She works in the area of philosophy of mind,philosophy of language and epistemology. She has adapted StanBaronett's Logic for Indian students and also contributed to Critical Thinking, Academic Writing and Presentation Skills. She has co-edited Knowledge, Truth and Realism?Essays in PhilosophicalAnalysis by Pranab Kumar Sen, Empiricism and the Two Dogmas , and Language and Communication?A Philosophical Study . She is atrustee of Anando Trust, Kolkata.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Critical Thinking......Page 3
Copyright......Page 4
Contents......Page 7
Preface and Acknowledgements......Page 10
Introduction......Page 12
Who Is a Good Critical Thinker and Who Isn’t?......Page 13
Marks of a Fair Critical Thinker......Page 14
Clarity......Page 16
Accuracy......Page 18
Precision......Page 20
Relevance......Page 22
Depth......Page 24
Breadth......Page 25
Critical Thinking: Benefits and Barriers......Page 27
Concluding Remarks......Page 30
More Exercises......Page 31
Introduction......Page 36
What Is an Argument?......Page 37
How Can We Recognise an Argument?......Page 39
Premises, Hidden Premises, Conclusions, andIntermediate Conclusions......Page 40
Hidden Premises......Page 43
Intermediate Conclusions......Page 44
Truth Content and Logical Content......Page 45
Validity......Page 46
Deductive Arguments and Validity......Page 48
Inductive Arguments and Strength......Page 50
Concluding Remarks......Page 54
More Exercises......Page 55
Introduction......Page 57
Ambiguity......Page 58
Vagueness......Page 60
Quantifiers......Page 61
Opacity......Page 62
Irony......Page 63
Fallacies......Page 64
The Fallacy of Ambiguity......Page 65
The Fallacy of Unwarranted Assumption......Page 68
The Fallacy of Relevance......Page 73
The Relevance of Relevance......Page 77
Concluding Remarks......Page 80
More Exercises......Page 81
Introduction......Page 84
Sources of Information......Page 85
Perception as a Source of Information......Page 86
Problems with Perception......Page 89
Testimony as a Source of Information......Page 90
Reason and Basic Human Limitations......Page 95
Reason and Social Influences......Page 97
Means of Social Influences......Page 99
More Exercises......Page 103
Introduction......Page 106
Critical Thinking, and Critical Reading and Learning......Page 107
Critically Thinking, Reading, and Writing......Page 112
Concluding Remarks......Page 117
More Exercises......Page 118
Index......Page 120