Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking

✍ Scribed by Neil Browne, Stuart M. Keeley

• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 224
• Edition: 8
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The habits and attitudes associated with critical thinking are transferable to consumer, medical, legal, and general ethical choices. When our surgeon says surgery is needed, it can be life sustaining to seek answers to the critical questions encouraged in Asking the Right Questions This popular book helps bridge the gap between simply memorizing or blindly accepting information, and the greater challenge of critical analysing the things we are told and read. It gives strategies for responding to alternative points of view and will help readers develop a solid foundation for making personal choices about what to accept and what to reject.

✦ Table of Contents

Copyright page......Page 2
Contents......Page 3
Preface......Page 8
Introduction......Page 13
Critical Thinking to the Rescue......Page 14
The Sponge and Panning for Gold: Alternative Thinking Styles......Page 15
An Example of the Panning-for-Gold Approach......Page 17
The Myth of the "Right Answer"......Page 19
Thinking and Feeling......Page 20
The Efficiency of Asking the Question, "Who Cares?"......Page 21
Weak-Sense and Strong-Sense Critical Thinking......Page 22
Trying Out New Answers......Page 23
The Importance of Practice......Page 24
The Right Questions......Page 25
2 What Are the Issue and the Conclusion?......Page 27
Kinds of Issues......Page 28
Searching for the Issue......Page 29
Searching for the Author's or Speaker's Conclusion......Page 30
1. Ask what the issue is.......Page 31
4. Remember what a conclusion is not.......Page 32
Critical Thinking and Your Own Writing and Speaking......Page 33
Practice Exercises......Page 34
3 What Are the Reasons?......Page 37
Reasons + Conclusion = Argument......Page 38
Initiating the Questioning Process......Page 39
Kinds of Reasons......Page 41
Clues for Identifying and Organizing the Reasoning of a Passage......Page 43
"Fresh" Reasons and Your Growth......Page 44
Practice Exercises......Page 45
4 What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous?......Page 49
The Confusing Flexibility of Words......Page 50
Locating Key Terms and Phrases......Page 51
Checking for Ambiguity......Page 52
Determining Ambiguity......Page 53
Context and Ambiguity......Page 55
Ambiguity, Definitions, and the Dictionary......Page 56
Ambiguity and Loaded Language......Page 58
Ambiguity and Your Own Writing and Speaking......Page 60
Practice Exercises......Page 61
5 What Are the Value Conflicts and Assumptions?......Page 65
General Guide for Identifying Assumptions......Page 67
Value Conflicts and Assumptions......Page 68
Discovering Values......Page 69
From Values to Value Assumptions......Page 70
Typical Value Conflicts......Page 72
Consequences as Clues to Value Assumptions......Page 73
Clues for Identifying Value Assumptions......Page 75
Avoiding a Typical Difficulty When Identifying Value Assumptions......Page 76
Finding Value Assumptions on Your Own......Page 77
Values and Relativism......Page 79
Practice Exercises......Page 80
6 What Are the Descriptive Assumptions?......Page 83
Illustrating Descriptive Assumptions......Page 84
Look for ideas that support reasons.......Page 86
Recognize the potential existence of other means of attaining the advantages referred to in the reasons.......Page 87
Applying the Clues......Page 88
Assumptions and Your Own Writing and Speaking......Page 90
Practice Exercises......Page 91
7 Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning?......Page 95
A Questioning Approach to Finding Reasoning Fallacies......Page 97
Evaluating Assumptions as a Starting Point......Page 98
Discovering Other Common Reasoning Fallacies......Page 100
Looking for Diversions......Page 106
Sleight of Hand: Begging the Question......Page 108
Summary of Reasoning Errors......Page 109
Clues for Locating and Assessing Fallacies in Reasoning......Page 110
Practice Exercises......Page 111
8 How Good is the Evidence: Intuition, Personal Experience, Testimonials, and Appeals to Authority?......Page 115
The Need for Evidence......Page 116
Locating Factual Claims......Page 117
Sources of Evidence......Page 118
Intuition as Evidence......Page 119
Dangers of Appealing to Personal Experience as Evidence......Page 120
Personal Testimonials as Evidence......Page 121
Appeals to Authority as Evidence......Page 122
Clues for Evaluating the Evidence......Page 125
Practice Exercises......Page 126
Personal Observation......Page 129
Research Studies as Evidence......Page 130
Problems with Research Findings......Page 131
Clues for Evaluating Research Studies......Page 134
Generalizing from the Research Sample......Page 135
Biased Surveys and Questionnaires......Page 136
Critical Evaluation of a Research-Based Argument......Page 138
Case Examples as Evidence......Page 140
Analogies as Evidence......Page 141
Identifying and Comprehending Analogies......Page 142
Evaluating Analogies......Page 143
Summary......Page 145
Practice Exercises......Page 146
10 Are There Rival Causes?......Page 149
When to Look for Rival Causes......Page 150
The Pervasiveness of Rival Causes......Page 151
Detecting Rival Causes......Page 153
The Cause or A Cause......Page 154
Rival Causes and Scientific Research......Page 155
Rival Causes for Differences Between Groups......Page 156
Confusing Causation with Association......Page 158
Confusing "After this" with "Because of this"......Page 159
Explaining Individual Events or Acts......Page 161
Summary......Page 162
Practice Exercises......Page 163
11 Are the Statistics Deceptive?......Page 167
Confusing Averages......Page 168
Concluding One Thing, Proving Another......Page 170
Deceiving by Omitting Information......Page 171
Risk Statistics and Omitted Information......Page 173
Clues for Assessing Statistics......Page 174
Practice Exercises......Page 175
12 What Significant Information Is Omitted?......Page 179
The Certainty of Incomplete Reasoning......Page 180
Clues for Finding Common Kinds of Significant Information......Page 182
The Importance of the Negative View......Page 186
Omitted Information That Remains Missing......Page 187
Practice Exercises......Page 188
13 What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible?......Page 193
DichotomousThinking: Impediment to Considering Multiple Conclusions......Page 194
Two Sides or Many?......Page 195
Searching for Multiple Conclusions......Page 197
Productivity of If-Clauses......Page 198
Alternative Solutions as Conclusions......Page 199
All Conclusions Are Not Created Equal......Page 200
Summary......Page 201
Practice Exercises......Page 202
Question Checklist for Critical Thinking......Page 205
Asking the Right Questions: A Comprehensive Example......Page 206
What Are the Reasons?......Page 208
What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous?......Page 209
What Are the Descriptive Assumptions?......Page 210
Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning?......Page 211
How Good Is the Evidence?......Page 212
Are the Statistics Deceptive?......Page 213
What Significant Information Is Omitted?......Page 214
What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible?......Page 215
The Tone of Your Critical Thinking......Page 217
Strategies for Effective Critical Thinking......Page 218
Index......Page 221