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i Learn

I Succeed"

CRITICAL THINKING : A STUDENT ’ S INTRODUCTION , FIFTH EDITION

Published by McGraw - Hill , a business unit of The McGraw- Hill Companies , Inc , 1221 Avenue

of die Americas, New York , NY 10020 Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw -Hill Companies , Inc All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Previous editions © 2011 , 2008 , and

2005 No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means ,

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Development Editor :Amy Mittchuan

Project Manager :Jessica Portz

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Includes bibliographical references and index

ISBN 978 - 0 - 07 - 803831 - 0 ( alk paper )

1 Critical thinking— Textbooks I Bassham, Gregory, 1959

-B809.2 C 745 2012

A Word to Students ix

Preface xi

WhatIs CriticalThinking? 1

Critical ThinkingStandards 2

The Benefits ofCritical Thinking 7

Critical Thinking in the Classroom 7

Critical Thinking in the Workplace 9 Critical Thinking in Life 9

BarrierstoCriticalThinking 10

:

16

CHAPTER 2 Recognizing Arguments 29

What Isan Argument?IdentifyingPremisesand Conclusions oo

What Is Notan Argument? 40

CHAPTER 3 Basic Logical Concepts 53

Deduction and Induction o 3HowCan WeTell Whetheran ArgumentIs Deductive

orInductive? 56

The Strict Necessity Test 58

The Common Pattern Test 58

The Principle of Charity Test 59

Exceptions to the Strict Necessity Test 61

Common Patternsof Deductive Reasoning 62

Hypothetical Syllogism 62

Categorical Syllogism 65

Argument by Elimination 66

Argument from Definition 67Common Patternsof Inductive Reasoning 67

Iuditctii > e Gei / eraIization 68

Contents V

TheImportanceof PreciseDefinitions 93

Types of Definitions 94

Strateg iesJor Defi n ing 9 6

Rules for Constructing Good Lexical Definitions 100

EmotiveLanguage:Slanting theTruth 106

The Emotive Power of Words 108

Euphemisms and PoliticalCorrectness 114

Logical Fallacies-I

TheConceptof Relevance 119

Fallaciesof Relevance 121

Attacking the Motive 123

Look Who’s Talking(Tu Quoque) 124

Two Wrongs Make a Right 125

FallaciesofInsufficientEvidence 140

Inappropriate Appeal to Authority 140

Diagramming Short Arguments 164

Tips on Diagramming Arguments 169

SummarizingLongerArguments 175

Paraphrasing 176

VI

Finding Missing Premises and Conclusions 180

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Standardizing Arguments 187

When IsanArgumentaGood One? 195

What uGood Argument” Does Not Mean 195

When IsItReasonable toAcceptaPremise? 198Refuting Arguments 203

Appendix:Sample Critical Essay 219

CategoricalStatements 225TranslatingintoStandard CategoricalForm 230Categorical Syllogisms 237

Conjunction 253ConjunctionandValidity 256Negation 261

Deeper AnalysisofNegationand Conjunction 265Disjunction 271

Conditional Statements 276

Introductionto Induction 285InductiveGeneralizations 286

Evaluating Inductive Generalizations 288

Opinion Polls and Inductive Generalizations

StatisticalArguments 296

Reference Class 299Induction andAnalogy 302

What Is an Analogy ? 302

How Can We Argue by Analogy ? 303

292

Contents V I I

Evaluating Arguments from Analogy 304

A rguing by A nalogy 310Induction and Causal Arguments 312

Correlation and Cause 316

A Few Words about Probability 318

A Closer Look at a Priori Probability 320 /

CHAPTER 12 Finding , Evaluating , and Using

Content : Facts and Everything Else 338

The Author and the Publisher 343

CHAPTER 13 Writing Argumentative Essays 376

WritingaSuccessful Argument 378Before YouWrite 379

Know Yourself 379

Know Your Audience 380

Write a Sentence That Expresses Your Claim 386

Gather Ideas : Brainstorm and Research 387

Organize Your Ideas 393Writing the FirstDraft 399

Provide an Interesting Opening 400

Include a Thesis Statement 401

Develop Your Body Paragraphs 402

Provide a Satisfying Conclusion 403

V I I I

After theFirstDraft 405

Read What You Have Written and Revise 405

Consider What You Have Not Written and Revise 405

Hand It In 406

Sample Argumentative Essay 407

The MassMedia 418

SocialMedia 419The News Media 421

The Importance of Context 421GettingUs toPayAttention:What ReallyDrives theMedia 425Keeping OurInterest:TheNewsasEntertainment 427

Slanting the News 436MediaLiteracy 440Advertising 442

Defenses of Advertising 444

Criticisms of Advertising 445

Common Advertising Ploys 446

The Basic Patternof ScientificReasoning 455The LimitationsofScience 462

How toDistinguishSciencefromPseudoscience 464

ACase Studyin PseudoscientificThinking:Astrology 475

Answers to Selected Exercises ANS-1

A WORD TO STUDENTS

Let’ s be honest.Veryfew of yourcollege textbooks will change your life.

Butthis onetruly can

Thisbook will make you a better thinker. It willsharpen your mind,

clarify your thoughts,and helpyoumakesmarterdecisions

We’llteach you— stepbystep— howtoanalyzeissues ,reasonlogically,

and argueeffectively. With effort on your part,this book will hone the think

-ing and reasoningskills you need to succeed in college,inyour career,and

in life

Criticalthinkingiswhatcollegeis all about Collegeisnotaboutcram

-ming students’ heads with facts It’sabout teachingstudents to think. And

that’spreciselywhat this book isdesignedtodo.It willhelpyou developthe

skills and dispositions you need to become an independent, self-directed

thinker and learner.

Collectively, thefourauthorsof this textbook have been teachingcriti

-calthinkingforover 60years.Teachingcritical thinkingiswhatwedo.It’s

ourpassion.We’ ve seenhow criticalthinkingcanchange lives.

But you’llonlyget out ofthiscourse whatyou put intoit.Becominga

criticalthinkeris hard work.Sometimesworkingthroughthisbookwill feel

alittle likeboot camp.There’ s areasonfor this:Nopain, nogain.Becoming

a masterthinker means toningupyour mentalmusclesandacquiringhabits

ofcareful,disciplined thinking.This requireseffort, andpractice.

That’swhy the heartof this textbook is the exercises.Therearelotsof

these, and all have beencarefullyselected and class-tested.Youneedtodo the

exercises.As many as youcan (Oratleastall thatyourinstructor assigns.)Do

theexercises,thencheck the answersatthe backof the book.Practice.Make

mistakes.Getfeedback.Andwatchyourself improve.That’ show you’ll work

the mental flaboff anddevelop lasting habitsof clear,rigorousthinking.

Criticalthinkingisanadventure.Becomingmentallyfit is hard work.

And thinking independently can be a little scary at times But in the end

you’llbea smarter,stronger , moreconfident thinker

Nothing is more powerful than reason.

— Saint Augustine

The first edition of Critical Thinking : A Student's Introduction grew out of

our conviction that a critical thinking text thatworks— that produces real,

measurable improvement in students’ critical reasoning skills— must have

two essentialfeatures:

• It mustbe a textthatourincreasingly gadget-oriented students

actually read.

• Itmustprovideabundant, class-tested exercises that give students

the practice theyneed todevelopasmaturingcritical thinkers.

In revising Critical Thinking : A Student's Introduction for this edition,

we’ve tried to remain faithful to this original vision Many passages have

been rewritten tomake thebook clearer and (wehope) moreengagingand

accessible Inaddition, a number of new readings havebeen added tokeep

thetextfreshand timely.

OVERVIEWOF THE TEXT

Critical Thinking : A Student' s Introductionisdesignedtoprovideaversatile and

comprehensive introduction to critical thinking The book is divided into

sevenmajorparts:

1 The Fundamentals :Chapters1—3 introduce students to the basicsof

critical thinkingin clear,reader-friendly language.

2 . Language :Chapter4 discusses the uses andpitfallsof language,

emphasizingthewaysin whichlanguageis usedto hinder clear,

effectivethinking.

X I I

avoid twenty ofthemostcommonlogical fallacies

Argument Analysis and Evaluation :Chapters7and 8offera clear, step-by-stepintroduction tothecomplexbut essential skillsof

argumentanalysisand evaluation.

Traditional Topics in Informal Logic :Chapters9—11offeraclear,plifiedintroductiontothree traditionaltopics ininformal logic;

categorical logic,propositional logic,and inductive reasoning.

Researching and Writing Argumentative Essays :Chapters12 and 13

providestudents withspecific,detailed guidance inproducing

well-researched, properlydocumented, and well-writtenargumen tativeessays.

applywhat they have learnedby reflectingcriticallyon two

areasin which / / / /critical thinkingisparticularly common: themedia (Chapter14) andpseudoscience andthe paranormal(Chapter15).

The text can be taughtina variety of ways. For instructorswho stress argument analysis and evaluation, we suggestChapters1—8. For instructorswho emphasizeinformallogic, we recommendChapters1—6and 9—11. Forinstructorswhofocus on writing, we suggest Chapters 1—6 and 12 and 13.

Andfor instructorswho stresspractical applications ofcriticalthinking,werecommend Chapters 1— 6 and14 and 15.

There are a number of features that set this book apart from other critical

thinking texts :

Aversatile,student-centered approachthat coversall the basics of

critical thinking— andmore— in reader-friendly language

An abundanceofinteresting (and oftenhumorousorthoughtprovoking) classroom-tested exercises

-An emphasison active,collaborativelearning

Astrongfocusonwriting, withcomplete chapterson using and

evaluatingsources(Chapter12) and writing argumentativeessays

Preface X I I I

An extensive treatmentofcritical thinking standards,hindrances,

anddispositions

A clearand detailed discussion ofthedistinction betweendeductive

and inductive reasoning

An abundance ofthought-provokingmarginalquotes ,aswell as

“Critical Thinking Lapses’ 5

— outrageouserrors in reasoning and

thinking

AnOnline Learning Center that includesdetailed chaptersumma

-ries, tutorials, acomputerizedtest bank,andquizzeson the webat

wwi v.in hire , con i / basshatuSe

Fortheinstructor, a password-protected, user-friendly Instructors

Manual that includescompleteanswer keys, teachingtips,sample

testsand quizzes,andPowerPointlecturenotes.

WHAT 'SNEWTO THE FIFTH EDITION

In preparing this edition, wehavebenefited tremendously from suggestions

from users and reviewers of previous editions. The major changes in this

edition are these:

A newappendix has beenadded on problemsolving.

Five newreadingshave been added and severalolderreadingshave

been replaced

A newsection on social media hasbeen added toChapter14.

Some newmarginalquotes andboxed passages have beenadded

Several chapters havebeen streamlined (most notably Chapter13).

Newand updatedexercises andexamples have been added

throughoutthe book.

Both theInstructor’sManual andstudent online resources have

been updated,and a computerizedtest bank has been added.

The discussion of cognitive biasesin Chapter I has been revised

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSFor valuable feedback leading to this fifth edition we wish to thank Carla

Grady (Santa RosaJunior College), N Mark Rauls (College of Southern

Nevada) , and Eldon Sheffer (Schreiner University). Our continued thanks

XIV

to reviewers of the previous editions: Brian Barnes, Dan Barwick, ChrisBlakey,DavidBowen,JamesBrooks,Barbara Carlson,Dorcas Chung,RoryConces, B. Steve Csaki, David Detmer, Andrew Dzida, Thomson Faller,Barbara Forrest, Mary Elizabeth Gleason, Claude Gratton, Arthur Hadley,Perry Hardison,Jann James, Leemon McHenry, Tom MacMillan, MartyMost, Cecilia Mun, Nikolas Pappas, Christopher H. Pearson, Ted Schick,

RobertSessions,and CorinSutherland.

It is a pleasure to pay tribute to the skilled and courteous people atMcGraw-Hill who guided us through the revision process, especially,

Jancice Roerig-Blong, Lori Bradshaw, Amy Mittelman,Jessica Portz, and

AnupriyaTyagi.Finally, thanks to our families for generously giving us the time to

write.Without their loveandsupport , thisnewedition couldneverhavebeencompleted.

C H A P T E R 1

Thisbook is about the power of disciplined thinking It’sabout learning to

think for yourselfand being yourownperson Itsabout the personal empow

-ermentand enrichmentthat result from learningtouseyour mindtoits fullest

potential In short,itsabout critical thinking

Critical thinking is what a collegeeducation is all about.In many high

schools,theemphasistendstobeon “lower-orderthinking.”Studentsaresimply

expected to passively absorb information and then repeat it back on tests.In

college,by contrast,the emphasis is on fostering“higher-order thinking”:the

active,intelligent evaluation of ideas and information This doesn’t mean that

factual information and rotelearning are ignored in college But it is not the

maingoalofacollegeeducationtoteach students what to think.Themaingoalis

toteachstudentshow to think— thatis,howtobecome independent,self-directed

thinkersandlearners.

The function of education is to teach one to think

intensively and to think critically.

—Martin Luther Kingjr

which runs

through all other educational

purposes — the common thread

of education— is the development

of the ability to

think.

Often when we use the word critical we mean“negative and fault-finding”

This is thesense we havein mind,for example,when we complain about a

parent or afriend whowe thinkisunfairly critical of whatwe do or say.But

critical also means “involving or exercising skilled judgment or observation.”

In this sense critical thinking means thinking clearly and intelligently.More

precisely,critical thinkingisthegeneraltermgiventoawide range of cogni

-tive skills and intellectual dispositions needed to effectively identify,analyze,

and evaluate argumentsand truth claims; to discover and overcome personal

preconceptions and biases; toformulate andpresentconvincing reasons insup

-portof conclusions;and to make reasonable,intelligentdecisionsabout what

tobelieveandwhattodo

Putsomewhat differently,critical thinkingisdisciplined thinking governed

by clearintellectual standards Among themost important ofthese intellectual

- Educational Policies Commission

1

2 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking

standardsare clarity, precision, accuracy, relevance, consistency,logical cor

-rectness,completeness,and fairness.1 Let’ s begin our introduction to critical

thinking by lookingbrieflyateachof these importantcriticalthinkingstandards.

Clarity

Before we can effectively evaluate a personsargument or claim, we need tounderstand clearlywhatheorsheis saying.Unfortunately,thatcan bedifficultbecause peopleoften fail toexpressthemselves clearly.Sometimesthislack of

clarity isdueto laziness,carelessness, or a lack ofskill.At other timesit results

from a misguided effort to appearclever,learned,or profound.Consider thefollowingpassagefrom philosopherMartinHeidegger’sinfluential but notori-ously obscure book Being and Time :

Temporality makes possible the unity of existence , facticity and falling, and in this way constitutes primordially the totality of the structure of care The items

of care have not been pieced together cumulatively any more than temporality

itself has been put together “ in the course of time ” | “ mit der Zeit ” | out of the future , the having been , and the Present Temporality“ is ” not anentityat all It is

not , but ittcmpomlizcsitself Temporality temporalizes, and indeed ittempo ralizes possible ways of itself These make possible the multiplicity of Dasein ’s

-modes of Being , and especially the basicpossibilityof authentic or inauthentic existence 2

That may be profound, or it may be nonsense,or it may be both.Whatever

exactlyitis, it is quiteneedlessly obscure.

AsWilliam StrunkJr.and E.B.Whiteremark in their classic The Elements

of Style,“[M|uddiness is not merely a disturber ofprose,it is also a destroyer

of life, of hope:death

heartbreak among lovers caused by a misplaced phrase in a well-intentioned

letter ” 3 Only by paying carefulattention to languagecan we avoid such

needlessmiscommunicationsanddisappointments.

Critical thinkersnotonlystriveforclarityoflanguagebut also seekmax

-imum clarity of thought.As self-help books constantly remind us , to achieve

ourpersonal goalsin life weneed a dear conception of our goalsand priori

-ties, a realistic graspofourabilities,anda clearunderstandingof theproblemsandopportunities weface Such self-understandingcanbeachieved only ifwevalue andpursueclarityof thought.

Confusion has its

Detective stories contain some of the most interesting examples of critical

thinking in fiction.The most famous fictional sleuth is ,of course,SherlockHolmes,the immortal creation of British writerSir Arthur Conan Doyle.InDoyle’s stories Holmes is often able to solve complex mysteries when the

Critical Thinking Standards

bunglingdetectivesfromScotlandYard haven’ t so much as a clue.Whatis the

secretofhissuccess?An extraordinarycommitmentto precision .First,bycare

-ful andhighlytrainedobservation,Holmesisable todiscover clues that others

have overlooked.Then,by a process of precise logical inference,he is able to

reasonfrom those cluestodiscover the solution to the mystery

Everyone recognizes the importance of precision in specialized fields

suchasmedicine,mathematics,architecture,and engineering.Criticalthinkers

also understand the importance of precise thinkingin daily life.They under

-stand thatto cutthroughthe confusions and uncertainties that surroundmany

everyday problemsand issues,it isoften necessary to insiston precise answers

to precise questions:What exactlyis the problem were lacing? What exactly

arethe alternatives? Whatexactlyaretheadvantagesanddisadvantagesof each

alternative? Onlywhen wehabituallyseek such precision are wetruly critical

thinkers.

Really valuable ideas can only be had at the price of

—Charles S Peirce

There is a well-known saying about computers: “Garbage in,garbage out ”

Simply put ,this means that ifyou putbad information into a computer ,bad

information is exactly what you will get out of it Much thesame is trueof

human thinking. Nomatter how brilliant you may be,you’ realmost guaran

-teed tomake baddecisionsityour decisionsarebased onfalse information.

Agood exampleof this isprovided byAmerica’slongandcostlyinvolve

-ment in Vietnam.The policymakers who embroiled us in that conflict were

not stupid.On the contrary ,they were ,in journalistDavid Halberstam’ s oft

-quoted phrase, “thebest and thebrightest” of their generation.Ofcourse ,the

reasonsfor their repeatedfailures ofjudgment arecomplex and controversial;

but much of the blame, historians agree, must be placed on false and inad

-equateinformation:ignorance of Vietnamesehistoryand culture, anexagger

-ated estimateof the strategic importance of Vietnam and SoutheastAsia ,false

assumptions about the degree of popular support in SouthVietnam , unduly

optimisticassessments of the“progress” ofthewar ,andso on Had American

policymakers taken greater pains to learn the truth about such matters ,it is

likely theywould nothave made the poordecisionstheydid.

Critical thinkers don’ t merely value the truth; they have a passion for

accurate, timely information. As consumers , citizens , workers, and parents ,

they strive tomake decisions that are as informed as possible.In the spirit of

Socrates’famousstatement that the unexamined lifeis not worth living,they

never stoplearning,growing,andinquiring.

No one can navigate well through

-life without an accuratemapby

Knowledge is the

possession of such

amapyand truth

gives us } linking us

to reality.

—Tom Morris

Relevance

Anyone who has ever sat through a boring school assembly or watched

a mud-slinging political debate can appreciate the importance of staying

focused on relevant ideas and information.A favorite debaters’ trick is to

try to distract an audience’s attention by raising an irrelevant issue. Even

4 CHAPTER 1 introduction to Critical Thinking

AbrahamLincoln wasn’t abovesuch tricks, asthefollowingstory toldbyhislaw partner illustrates:

In a case whereJudge [StephenT ]Logan— always earnest and grave— opposed

him , Lincoln created no little merriment by his reference to Logan’ s style of dress He carried the surprise in store for the latter , till he reached his turn be - fore the jury Addressing them , he said : “ Gentlemen , you must be careful and not

permityourselves to be overcome bytheeloquenceof counsel for the defense

JudgeLogan , I know , is an effectivelawyer 1 have met him too often to doubt that ; but shrewd and carefulthoughhe be , still he is sometimes wrong Since this

trialhasbegunI have discovered that , with all his caution and fastidiousness , he hasn ’ tknowledgeenough to put his shirt onright ” Logan turned red as crim -

son , but sure enough, Lincoln was correct, for the former had donned a new shirt , and by mistake had drawn it over his head with thepleatedbosom behind The general laugh which followed destroyed the effect of Logan ’s eloquence

over the jury— the very point at which Lincoln aimed 4

Lincoln’s ploy was entertainingand succeeded in distracting the attention ofthe jury. Had the jurors been thinking critically, however, they would have

realized that carelessness about one’s attire has no logical relevance to thestrength ofone’s arguments.

Itis easytoseewhyconsistency is essentialtocritical thinking.Logictellsusthat

ifa person holds inconsistent beliefs, atleast one of those beliefs must be false.

Critical thinkersprize truth andsoare constantly on thelookoutfor inconsis

-tencies,bothintheirownthinkingand in theargumentsand assertionsof others.Therearetwokindsofinconsistency that weshouldavoid.One is logical inconsistency; which involves sayingorbelievinginconsistent things(i e thingsthat cannotbothorall be true) about a particularmatter.The other ispractical inconsistency,whichinvolves saying onethinganddoing another.

Sometimes people are fully aware that their words conflict with their

deeds.The politician who cynically breaks her campaign promises once she

takes office,the TVevangelistcaughtinanextramarital affair,thedrugcoun

-selorarrestedfor peddling drugs— such peoplearehypocrites pure and simple.

Froma criticalthinking pointof view,such examplesarenotespeciallyinter

-esting.Asarule,they involvefailuresof characterto a greaterdegreethanthey

do failures of critical reasoning.

More interesting from a critical thinking standpoint are cases in which

peoplearenotfullyaware that their wordsconflictwiththeir deeds.Suchcases

highlight an important lesson of critical thinking: that human beings often

displaya remarkable capacity for self-deception.Author Harold Kushner cites

anall- too -typical example:

Ask the average person which is more important to him ,making money or

being devoted to hisfamily, and virtually everyone will answer familywithout hesitation But watch how the average person actually lives out his life See

5Critical Thinking Standards

Stieaidtia oflricoti ^ i ^tencv

theres no need for it.A writersreputa

-tionhangson such trifle’s.

3 Don’t exaggerate Overstatement al ways causesinfiniteharm.

-4 Beware ofthedangling participle

For-getting this admonition, infelicitousphrasescreep into ourwriting.

5. Cliches should be avoided like the

plague. However,hackneyed language

is not likely to be a problem for the writer who, since he was knee-high

to a grasshopper, has built a better

mousetrap and has kept his shoulder

to the wheel.

6 Keep yourlanguage simple Eschew ses

-quipedalianlocutions and fustian rhet oric Stay clearofthecrepuscular—nay,tenebrific and fuliginous— regions of

ingful dialogue— especiallyat thispoint

in time,when peopletend toprioritize

theirpriorities optimally.

8. Avoidprofaneor abusivelanguage.It is

a damned outrage how many knuckle

-dragging slobs vilify people they dis agree with 3

-where hereallyinvests his time and energy , and he will give away the fact that he

reallydoes not livebywhat he says he believes He has let himself bepersuaded

that if he leaves for work earlier in the morning and comes home more tired

at night , he is proving how devoted he is to hisfamily by expendinghimself to

providethem with all the things theyhave seen advertised / '

Criticalthinking helps usbecomeawareof such unconsciouspracticalincon

-sistencies ,allowingustodeal with themona consciousand rationalbasis.

It isalsocommon,ofcourse,for peopleto unknowingly hold inconsis tentbeliefs aboutaparticular subject.Infact, asSocratespointedoutlongago,

-suchunconsciouslogicalinconsistencyisfarmorecommonthan mostpeople

suspect As weshallsee ,for example,many today claim that“moralityis rela

-tive, ” while holdinga variety ofviewsthatimplythat itis notrelative.Critical

thinking helps us recognize such logical inconsistencies or ,still better,avoid

themaltogether.

To thinklogicallyistoreason correctly— thatis , todraw well-founded conclu

-sions from the beliefs we hold.To think criticallywe needaccurate and well

-supported beliefs.But,justasimportant, weneedtobe ableto reasonfrom those Talmud

6 CHAPTER 1 introduction to Critical Thinking

The human race are masters of the ridiculous There wasactuallya story

in our newspaper of a man who was bitten on the tongue whilekissinga

rattlesnake He decided to try a nonscientiftcremedyhe heard about to counteract a snakebite So he wired his mouth to apickuptruckbattery

and tried tojump- start his tongue It knocked him out and he ended up

in thehospital,where he lost part of his tongue and onelip 7

beliefs to conclusions that logically follow from them. Unfortunately,illogical

thinkingisalltoocommon in human affairs.Bertrand Russell,in his classic essay

“AnOutlineof Intellectual Rubbish, ” providesanamusingexample:

I am sometimes shocked by the blasphemies of those who think themselves for instance , the nuns who never take a bath without wearing a bathrobe pious -

all the time When asked why , since no man can see them , they reply : “ Oh , but you forget the good God "Apparently they conceive of the deity as a Peeping

—Mark Twain

Tom, whose omnipotence enables Him to see through bathroom walls , but who

is foiled by bathrobes This view strikes me as curious iS

As Russellobserves, from the proposition

1 God seeseverything.the pious nunscorrectly drewthe conclusion

2 God seesthroughbathroom walls.

However,theyfailed to draw theequallyobvious conclusion that

3 God seesthroughbathrobes.

Suchillogic is,indeed, curious but not ,alas,uncommon.

Completeness

Inmost contexts , werightlyprefer deepandcomplete thinkingtoshallow and

superficial thinking.Thus, wejustly condemnslipshodcriminal investigations,

hasty jury deliberations, superficial news stories,sketchy driving directions,

andsnap medical diagnoses.Ofcourse ,therearetimes whenit isimpossibleor

inappropriatetodiscussan issueindepth; no onewouldexpect ,forexample, a

thoroughand wide-ranging discussion of the ethicsofhuman genetic research

m a shortnewspaper editorial.Generally speaking,however,thinkingisbetterwhenit isdeeprather than shallow,thorough rather than superficial.

It is only when

there is complete

-ness and exhaus

-tiveness that there

Finally, critical thinking demands that our thinking be fair— that is , open

-minded,impartial,andfree ofdistortingbiases and preconceptions.Thatcanbevery difficult to achieve.Even the mostsuperficialacquaintance with history

and the socialsciencestells us that peopleareoften strongly disposed to resist

The Benefits of Critical Thinking

unfamiliar ideas, to prejudge issues, to stereotype outsiders,and to identify

truth with their ownself-interestor the interests of their nation or group.It

isprobably unrealistic tosuppose thatour thinkingcould everbe completely

free of biases and preconceptions; to some extent we all perceive reality in

ways thatarepowerfully shaped byourindividuallife experiences and cultural

backgrounds.Butas difficultas it may betoachieve,basic fair-mindedness is

clearlyanessentialattributeofacritical thinker.

Closed-mindedness means premature intellectual old i

age .

— JohnDewey

EXERCISE 1.1

I Break intogroups of fourorfive.Chooseonememberofyourgroupto

take notesandbe the groupreporter Discuss youreducation uptothis point.

To whatextent has your education preparedyou to thinkclearly,precisely, ac

-curately,logically,andsoforth?Haveyou everknownaperson (e g , ateacheror

a parent)whostrongly modeled thecritical thinking standards discussedinthis

section ?Ifso ,how did heorshedo that?

II Have you everbeen guilty of either practical inconsistency (sayingonething

and doinganother)orlogical inconsistency (believinginconsistentthings about

a particular topicor issue)?In small groups think of examples either fromyour

ownexperienceorfrom that ofsomeone you know.Be prepared toshareyour

examples with the classas awhole.

Having looked at some of the key intellectual standards governing critical

reasoning (clarity,precision,andsoforth),lets now considermorespecifically

what you can expecttogainfrom acourse incritical thinking.

Critical Thinking in the Classroom

When they first enter college,students are sometimes surprised to discover

that their professors seem less interested in how they got their beliefs than

theyareinwhetherthose beliefscanwithstandcritical scrutiny.Incollege the

focusis on higher-orderthinking:theactive,intelligentevaluationofideas and

information.Forthis reasoncritical thinking plays avital role throughout the

collegecurriculum.

In a critical thinking course,students learn a variety ofskills that can

greatlyimprove theirclassroom performance.These skillsinclude

•understandingtheargumentsandbeliefsofothers

® critically evaluatingthoseargumentsandbeliefs

•developinganddefendingone’s ownwell-supported argumentsand

beliefs

Let’ slookbrieflyateachof these three skills.

The main aim of education isprac -

tical and reflective judgment,a mind trained to be critical everywhere

in the use of evidence.

—Brand Blanchard

8 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking

Doonesbury © G B Trudeau Reprinted with permission of Universal Press Syndicate All rights reserved

Tosucceedincollege,youmust,of course,be abletounderstand the

ma-terial you are studying.A course incritical thinkingcannot make inherentlydifficult material easy to grasp, but critical thinkingdoes teach a variety of

skills that,with practice,cansignificantly improve your ability to understand

thearguments and issuesdiscussedinyourcollege textbooks and classes.

9The Benefits of Critical Thinking

In addition,criticalthinkingcan helpyou critically evaluatewhat you are

learningin class.Duringyour college career,your instructors willoften ask

you todiscuss “critically” some argument orideaintroduced in class.Critical

thinking teachesa widerange ofstrategies and skills that can greatlyimprove

your abilitytoengage insuch critical evaluations.

You will also be asked to develop your own argumentson particulartopics

or issues.InanAmericanGovernment class,forexample,you might be asked

to write a paper addressing the issue of whether Congress has gone too far

inrestricting presidential war powers.Towrite such a papersuccessfully,you

mustdomore thansimply find andassess relevantargumentsand information.

You mustalso be ableto marshalargumentsandevidencein a way thatcon

-vincinglysupportsyour view.Thesystematic trainingprovidedinacoursein

criticalthinkingcangreatly improve thatskillaswell.

We don’t want

you to axiom

-aticalfy accept the conventional

wisdom on a particular subject

Indeed,your first instinct should be

to question it

-Johnj Mearsheimer

Critical Thinking in the Workplace

Surveys indicate that fewer than halfof today’s college graduatescan expect

to be working in their major field of study within five years of graduation

Thisstatisticspeaks volumes about changing workplace realities.Increasingly,

employersarelookingnotfor employees with highly specializedcareerskills,

since suchskillscanusuallybestbe learnedon the job,butfor employees with

good thinkingand communicationskills— quick learnerswhocansolve prob

-lems,thinkcreatively,gatherand analyze information,draw appropriatecon

-clusionsfrom data,and communicate theirideas clearlyandeffectively These

areexactly the kinds of generalized thinkingandproblem-solving skills thata

courseincritical thinkingcanimprove.

Communication skills, critical

Critical Thinking in Life

Critical thinkingis valuable in many contextsoutside the classroom and the

workplace.Let’slookbriefly atthreeways inwhich thisisthe case.

First,criticalthinkingcan helpusavoid makingfoolish personal decisions.

Allofushaveat onetime oranother madedecisions aboutconsumer purchases,

relationships,personal behavior,and thelike that we laterrealizedwereseriously

misguidedorirrational.Criticalthinkingcanhelpusavoidsuchmistakesbyteach

-ingustothinkaboutimportant lifedecisionsmorecarefully,clearly,andlogically.

Second, critical thinking plays a vital role in promoting democratic

processes.Despite what cynics might say,in a democracy it really is “ we the

people” who have the ultimatesay over whogovernsandforwhat purposes.

It is vital,therefore, that citizens’ decisions be as informed and as deliberate

as possible Many of today’s most serious societal problems— environmental

destruction,nuclear proliferation, religious and ethnic intolerance, decaying

inner cities,failing schools,spiraling health-care costs, tomention just afew—

havelargely beencausedby poorcriticalthinking.AndasAlbertEinsteinonce

remarked,“The significant problemsweface cannotbe solved at the levelof

thinkingwe wereatwhen wecreatedthem.”

1 0 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking

Third,critical thinkingisworth studying forits ownsake,simplyfor thepersonal enrichment itcanbringtoourlives.One of the mostbasictruths of

the human condition is thatmostpeople,mostof the time,believe what they

aretold.Throughoutmostof recorded history,people accepted without ques

-tion that theearth was the center of the universe,that demonscausedisease,that slavery wasjust,and that women are inferior to men.Critical thinking,

honestly and courageously pursuedassumptions andbiases ofour upbringing andoursociety It letsusstep back

from the prevailing customs and ideologies ofour culture and ask, “ This iswhat I’vebeen taught,but is it true? In short,critical thinkingallows ustoleadself-directed,“examined” lives.Such personalliberation is,as the worditself

implies,theultimate goal ofa liberalartseducation.Whateverother benefitsit

brings, aliberaleducation can have nogreaterreward.

Citizens who

think for them

ingest-ing what their

leaders tell them,

are the absolutely

The preceding section raises an obvious question: If critical thinking is so

important,whyisit that uncritical thinkingis so common?Whyis it that so

manypeople— includingmany highly educatedand intelligent people— find

criticalthinkingsodifficult?

The reasons,as you might expect, are quite complex. Here is a list ofsomeof themostcommonbarrierstocritical thinking:

•lackof relevant background information

•poor reading skills

•prejudice

•superstition

•egocentrism (self-centered thinking)

•sociocentrism (group-centered thinking)

•scapegoating(blaming theinnocent)

•rationalization (inventing excusestoavoid facingourreal motives)

Let’s examine in detail five of these impediments— egocentrism, sociocen

-trism,unwarranted assumptions,relativistic thinking,and wishful thinking—

that playanespecially powerfulrole inhinderingcriticalthinking.

Egocentrism

Egocentrism isthe tendency toseerealityascentered ononeself.Egocentrics

areselfish,self-absorbed people who view their interests,ideas,and valuesas

superiortoeveryoneelse’s Allof us areaffectedtosomedegree byegocentric

biases.

Egocentrismcanmanifestitselfin a varietyofways.Twocommonforms

areself-interested thinkingandthesuperiority bias.

Self-interested thinking is the tendency to accept and defend beliefs

that harmonize with one’s self-interest.Almost no one is immune to

self-interested thinking. Most doctors support legislation making it more diffi

-cult for them to be sued for malpractice; most lawyers do not Most state

university professors.strongly support tenure, paid sabbaticals,low teaching

loads,anda strongfaculty voice in university governance;manystate taxpay

-ers and university administrators do not Most factory workers support laws

requiringadvance noticeof plant closings; mostfactoryowners donot.Most

American voters favor campaign finance reform; most elected politicians do

not Ofcourse,someof these beliefsmay besupported by goodreasons.From

a psychological standpoint,however,it is likely thatself-interest plays atleast

somerole inshaping therespectiveattitudes and beliefs.

Self-interestedthinking,howeverunderstandableitmay seem, isamajor

obstacle to critical thinking. Everyone finds it tempting at times to reason

that “ thisbenefitsme,thereforeit mustbe good” ;butfromacriticalthinking

standpoint,such“ reasoning”is asham Implicitin suchthinkingistheassump

-tion that“Whatismostimportant is whatIwantand need ” Butwhy shouldI,

or anyone else,accept such an arbitrary and obviously self-serving assump

-tion? What makes yourwantsand needsmoreimportant thaneveryone else’s

Critical thinking condemnssuchspecial pleading. It demands thatweweigh

evidence and arguments objectively and impartially. Ultimately, it demands

thatwe reveretruth— evenwhen it hurts.

How quick come the reasons for

1 2 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking

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Superioritybias (also knownasillusory superiorityorthe better-than

-average effect) is the tendencyto overrateoneself— to seeoneselfas betterinsomerespectthan oneactuallyis.Wehave all known braggartsorknow-it-allswhoclaim to be more talentedorknowledgeable than they reallyare.Ifyou

arelikemostpeople,youprobablythinkof yourselfasbeinganunusually self

-awarepersonwho islargelyimmunefromanysuchself-deception.Ifso,then

youtooareprobably suffering fromsuperioritybias.

Studies show that superiority bias is an extremely common trait In onesurvey one million high school seniors wereasked to rate themselves on their

“abilitytogetalongwithothers ”Only15 percent put themselves below the me

-dian.9Othersurveys haveshown that 90percent of business managersandmore

than90 percentof college professorsratetheirperformanceasbetter thanaverage.

It iseasy,of course, to understand why people tend to overrate themselves.We

all liketofeelgood about ourselves.Nobodylikes tothink of himselfor herself

asbeing“belowaverage” in some importantrespect At thesametime,however,

it is important tobe able tolook honestlyat ourpersonal strengths and weaknesses.Wewant to sethigh personal goals,butnotgoalsthat arewildly unrealistic.

-Self-confidencegroundedingenuineaccomplishmentis an important elementofsuccess.Overconfidenceis anobstacletogenuinepersonalandintellectual growth.

The one thing

that unites all

deep down inside,

we all believe that

90percent surethecorrect answerfalls between thetwo Yourchallengeis tobe neither

too narrow(i e.,overconfident)nor toowide (i e.,underconfident) If you successfullymeet thechallenge, youshould have 10percent misses— thatis ,exactlyone miss 10

1 3

Barriers to Critical Thinking

90% Confidence Range

HIGHLOW

1 MartinLuther King’ sageatdeath

2. Length of NileRiver (in miles)

3. Percentage of African Americansinthe

United States

4. Numberof booksinthe Old Testament

5 Diameterof the moon (in miles)

6. Weight ofan emptyBoeing 747

(inpounds)

7. Current population ofCalifornia

8 Year in which WolfgangAmadeus

Mozartwasborn

9 Airdistancefrom LondontoTokyo

(inmiles)

10. Deepest known point in the ocean

(in feet)

He who knows most, knows best how little he knows.

—Thomas

Jefferson

Sociocentrism

Sociocentrismisgroup-centered thinking.Justas egocentrism canhinderra

-tionalthinking by focusing excessivelyonthe self,sosociocentrismcanhinder

rationalthinking by focusing excessivelyon thegroup.

Sociocentrism can distort critical thinking in many ways.Two of the

mostimportant are group biasand conformism.

Group bias is the tendency tosee one’s own group (nation,tribe, sect ,

peer group,andthelike)asbeing inherentlybetterthan others.Socialscientists

tellusthatsuch thinkingisextremelycommonthroughout human history and

acrosscultures.Justas weseemnaturallyinclinedtohold inflatedviewsofour

-selves,sowefindit easy tohold inflatedviewsofourfamily,our community,

orour nation.Conversely,wefindit easytolookwithsuspicionordisfavoron

thoseweregardas “outsiders”

Most people absorbgroup bias unconsciously,usually from early child

-hood It is common,for example,for people to grow up thinking that their

society’sbeliefs,institutions,andvaluesarebetter than thoseof othersocieties.

Consider this exchange between eight-year-old Maurice D. and the well

-knownSwiss scientist andphilosopherJeanPiaget:

Maurice D ( 8 years , 3monthsold) :Ifyou didn ’t have anynationalityand you

were given a free choice ofnationality, which would youchoose?Swiss nationality.

Why? Because I was born in Switzerland Now look, do you thinkthe French and

1 4 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking

Poker and Critical Thinking

Poker players fallvictim tocritical thinkingbarrierslike wishful think

-ing and self-serving biasjust like anybodyelse 12One barrierthatcan

be particularlycostlyto pokerplayers isoverconfidence. Overconfident players think that they’re better, or luckier, than they actually

-are This often leads them to playwith farsuperioropponents, to stayintoomany hands, andtobet recklessly.The result:Players whooverratetheir abilitiesquicklybecomeATMs fortheirtablemates Pokerlegend Doyle Brunsontellsacautionary taleabout the dan-

gers of overconfidence AcockyNewYorker callinghimself “

Roches-terRicky” and flashingabig bankroll walkedinto a Fort Worth pokerparlor. Around the table satAmarillo Slim , Puggy Pearson,Johnny

Moss,Sailor Roberts, Brunson himself,and acoupleofTexas businessmen Twothingsquicklybecame apparent Though heknew his

-game, Rochester hadn’tplayed much no-limitpoker,and he hadn’taclue hewasplaying against someofthe bestno - limit Hold’em pokertalentin the world.

Rochester didn’t realize that strategies that work well in limit

games (forexample, calling frequently and bluffing cautiously) oftenbackfire in no-limitgames His parting wordsas hegathered up thepaltryremnants of his $10,000bankrollwere“Ifyou guysare ever in

Rochester, don’t bother to look me up You won’t see me playingHold’em againstTexansaslongas I live.

Asthegreat American philosopher Clint Eastwood said, “A man’s got to know hislimitations ”

”1 3

the Swiss areequallynice, or the one nicer or less nice thanthe other? The Swiss

French , or do you think they ’re just the same?The Swiss are more intelligent Why?

Because they learn French quickly .IfI asked a French boy to choose any nationality

he liked , what country do you think he ’ dchoose? FIc ’ d choose France Why? Because

he was born in France And what would he say about who’ s nicer? Would he think the Swiss and the Frenchequallynice or onebetter than the other? Fled say the French arc nicer Why? Because he was born in France And whowould he think more

intelligent?The French.Why? Hed say that the French want to learn quicker than the Swiss.Now you and the French boy don ’t really give the same answer Who do you think answered best ?I did Why? Because Switzerland is always better 14

Although most people outgrow such childish nationalistic biases to some

extent,few of us manage to outgrow them completely.Clearly,this kind of

“mine-is-better” thinking lies at the root ofa great deal of human conflict,intolerance, andoppression.

Conformism refers to our tendency to follow the crowd— that is, toconform (often unthinkingly) toauthority or to group standardsof conduct

To those who

would investigate

-ing opinions,the

1 5

Barriers to Critical Thinking

and belief.The desire t obelong, tobepartof the in-group, can be among the

mostpowerful of human motivations.Astwoclassicexperimentsdemonstrate,

this desire t o conform can seriously cripple our powers of critical reasoning

and decision making.

In the first experiment,conducted in the 1950sbySolomon Asch,groups

ofeight collegestudents wereaskedtomatch astandard line like thefollowing

with three comparison lines such as these:

A

B

C

In each group,only oneof theeight participants was unawareof the true na

-ture of the experiment;the other seven were confederates workingin league

with the experimenter.In each case the single true subject was seated at the

endof the table and askedto answerlast.In some trials theseven confederates

unanimously gave the correct answer (13); in others they unanimously gave

an incorrect answer.The results:When no pressure to conform was present ,

subjects gave the correct answer more than 99 percent of the time When

faced with the united opposition of their peers, however, almost one -third

(32 percent)of thesubjectsrefused t o believe theirowneyes and gaveanswers

thatwere obviouslyincorrect!

Anotherfamous experiment was conducted by Stanley Milgram in the

InMilgram’ sexperiment,subjectswereasked toadministera seriesof

increasinglysevere electrical shocks t o people whom the subjectscould hear

but couldn' t see (In fact, noactualshocksweregiven;the shock“ victims” were

actually confederates whomerely pretended tobein pain.) Subjectsweretold

thattheywereparticipating inastudy of the effects ofpunishmentonlearning

Their task was t o act as “teachers” who inflicted progressively more painful

shockson “learners” whenever the latter failed to answer a question correctly.

Theseverityof the shocks wascontrolled bya seriesofthirtyswitches,which

rangedin 15-volt intervals from 15 volts (“Slight Shock”) t o 450 volts (“XX

Danger:SevereShock”).Thepurpose of the study was t odetermine how far

ordinarypeople would goin inflictingp a i n on totalstrangers ,simplybecause

theywere askedtodoso bysomeoneperceived t obe“ an authority”

The results were , well,shocking. More than 85 percent of the subjects

continuedtoadminister shocksbeyondthe 300-volt mark,longafter the point

at which theycould hear the victimscryingo u t or poundingon the walls in

pain.After the 330-volt mark,thes c r e a m i n gstopped,and for all thesubjects

knew,thevictims were either unconscious or dead.Despite that,nearly t w o

-thirds (65percent)of thesubjectscontinuedt oadminister shocks, astheywere

instructed,untilthey had administered the maximum450 volts.

The lesson of these studies is clear: “Authority moves us We are im

-pressed,influenced,and intimidated by authority, so muchso that,under the

right conditions, we abandon our own values, beliefs, and judgments, even

doubtour own immediate sensory experience ” 16Ascritical thinkers,weneed

When fifty million

-ish thing it is still

Man is born to think for himself

—Denis Diderot

1 6 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking

tobeawareoftheseductive power of peer pressureandreliance onauthority

and develophabitsof independent thinkingtocombatthem.

Anassumptionissomethingwe takefor granted,somethingwebelievetobetrue without any proofor conclusive evidence.Almost everything we think

and do is based on assumptions.If the weather report calls for rain,we take

an umbrella because we assume that the meteorologist is notlying,that the

reportisbasedon ascientificanalysis of weatherpatterns ,that the instruments

are accurate, andsoforth.There may be no proof that anyof this is true,but

werealize that it is wiser to take the umbrella than toinsist that theweatherbureau provideexhaustiveevidence tojustifyitsprediction.

Althoughweoften hear theinjunction“Don’t assume ,” it would beimpossible to get through a day without making assumptions;in fact, many of

-ourdailyactions are basedonassumptions we have drawnfromthe patterns in

ourexperience.You goto classat the scheduled timebecause youassume that

classisbeingheld atits normal hour andin itssameplace.You don’ tcall theprofessor each day to askif classisbeing held;youjustassume thatit is.Such

assumptions are warranted, which means that we have good reason to holdthem.Whenyousee adriver coming towardyouwiththe turnsignalon,you

have goodreason tobelieve that the driver intendsto turn.You may be incor

-rect,and it might besafer towithhold action until you are certain,but yourassumptionis not unreasonable.

Unwarranted assumptions,however,areunreasonable.An unwarrantedas

-sumption issomethingtakenforgrantedwithout goodreason Such assump

-tions often prevent our seeing things clearly.For example,our attraction for

someonemightcause us toassumethat he orshefeels thesameway and thus

tointerpret that personsactionsincorrectly.

-reotype.The word stereotypecomes from theprinting press era, when plates,

or stereotypes, were used to produce identical copies of one page.Similarly,

when we stereotype, asthe word is nowused, we assume thatindividual people

have all beenstampedfromoneplate,soallpoliticiansarealike, orMuslims, or

AfricanAmericans,professors, women,and soforth.Whenweformanopin

-ionofsomeone that isbasednoton his or her individual qualities but,rather,

on his or her membership in a particular group,we are assuming that allor

virtually all membersof that group arealike.Becausepeopleare notidentical,

no matterwhat raceorothersimilaritiesthey share,stereotypical conceptionswilloften be false ormisleading.

Typically, stereotypes are arrived at through a process known as hasty generalization,in which one draws a conclusion about alarge class of things(inthiscase,people) fromasmallsample.IfwemeetoneSouthBergianwho

is rude, we mightjump to the conclusion that all South Bergians are rude.

Orwemightgeneralizefrom whatwehave heardfromafewfriendsor read

Barriers to Critical Thinking

in a single news story. Often the media— advertisements,the news, movies,

and so forth— encourage stereotyping by the way they portray groups of

people.

Theassumptionsweneed tobecomemost consciousofarenottheones

thatlead toour routine behaviors,suchas carryingan umbrella or goingto

class,but the ones on which we base our more important attitudes, actions ,

anddecisions.Ifweareconsciousofourtendencyto stereotype , we cantake

EXERCISE 13

I Read thisstoryandanswer thequestionsthat follow.

When ithappened, a disturbing mix of feelings bubbled inside you It sickened

you to watch the boat slip beneath the waves anddisappearforever ; so much

work had gone into maintaining it and keeping it afloat , but at least everyone

was safe in the tiny lifeboat you 'dhadjustenoughtime to launch You secretly

congratulatedyourself for having had the foresight to stock the lifeboat with a

few emergency items , such as a small amount of food and water , but you knew

that a boat built to hold three ,maybefour people wasn ’ tgoingto survive too

long with such an overload of passengers

You looked around at your companions : the brilliant Dr Brown , whose

cleverness and quick wit hadimpressedyou on many occasions ; Marie Brown ,

pregnant and clearly exhausted from the climb into the lifeboat; Lieutenant

Ashley Morganstern, a twenty- year veteran who’d seen the most brutal sorts of

combat ; the lieutenant' s secretary and traveling companion, whose shirt you

noticed for the first time bore the monogramLB ,but whom everyone called,

simply,“Letty”; and Eagle - Eye Sam , the trusted friend who'd been at your side

for many years as you sailed the oceans in your precious, now-vanished boat

and whose nickname came from his ability to spot the smallest objects seem

-inglymiles away at sea

Seeing the fear on your passengers' faces,you tried to comfort them :“Don' t

worry; well be fine They'll be looking for usrightaway I’m sure of it ” But

you weren’t so sure In fact , you knew it wasn’t true Itmightbe days before

you were found,since you’d had no time to radio forhelp Rescuers probably

wouldn ' t be dispatched until Friday , five days from now , when your failure to

show up in port would finally arouse concern

On the third day , your passengers showed increasing signs of frustration ,

anger, and fear.“Where are they ?”Marie cried “We can' t go on like this !”

You knew she was right.We can 't,youthought, notail of us anyway

On the fourth day, the food was completely gone,and just enough water

remained to keep perhaps threepeoplealive for anotherday, maybe two Sud

-denly,thingsgot worse.“Is that water ? !”Marie screamed,pointinga shaking

finger at the bottom of the lifeboat Horrified , you looked down to see a slight

trickle of water seeping in at the very center of the boat Dr Browngrabbed

a T - shirt that waslyingin the bottom of the boat and used it like a sponge to

absorb the water , wringing it out over the side andplungingit into the invad

-ing wateragainand again But It was no use ; the waterbeganto seep in faster

than Brown could work

18 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking

“We’re too heavy,”the lieutenant insisted without emotion “We’ve got to lighten the load Someone has to get out and swim ”

“Swim ? !” Marie gasped in disbelief “Are you insane ? ! There are sharks in these waters !”

“Who’s it going to be , Captain ?” the lieutenant asked almost coldly,staring

you square in the eye “Which one of us swims ?”

“ Me I’ll go,”you say , swinging your leg out over the side of the boat

“No,”Letty insisted.“You’re the only one who knows how to navigate Ifyou

go, we’ll all die You must choose one of us to sacrifice ”

And so you did

A Answer the following questions individually.

1 Whichonedidyou choose?Why?Whydidn ’t you choose the others?

2 As you read, you probablyimaginedwhatthecharacterslooked like From theimage you had of them ,describe thefollowingcharacters in a few

Eagle-Eye Sam

3 Do you think Dr Brown isrelated to Marie Brown?Ifso , how?

B Nowform groups ofthree and complete thefollowing tasks:

1 Compareyourresponsestoquestion 1 in part A Discussthe reasons for yourdecisions Is thereany consensusin thegroup?

2 Do youallagree on the relationship between Dr Brown and Marie Brown?

3 Whatevidenceis there in thestory to support your answerforquestion3 in part A? Is itpossiblethat theyare related inanotherway

or not atall?

4 Lookat yourportraits of Dr Brown Flow manyassumptions didyou and

your group members make about the doctors gender,age,appearance, and

profession?Whatevidence in the story supports yourimage of the doctor?

Ifyourimagesare similar , what do you thinkaccountsfor thatsimilarity?

Are yourmentalimagessimilarto ones we normallysee in themedia,forexample?

5 Lookat your portraitsoftheother characters First , whatsimilaritiesdo

youfind among yourgroup’ smembers?Second,what evidenceis there

in the story to support yourassumptions? Areother assumptions possible?

Finally,wheredo you thinkyourmental imagescamefrom?

II. In groups ofthree orfour, name and explain astereotypical conceptionpeople may have had aboutyouover the years Notehow that stereotypicalcon -

ceptionkeeps othersfromcomingto know you moreaccurately Turn your page

overand exchange paperswith othermembersofyourgroup Seeif the other

memberscan determine whichstereotypedescriptiongoeswithwhat member

of yourgroup.

Janie: Professor X,1don' tunderstandwhyyougaveme aDon thispaper.

Prof: X : Well, as1 noted in mywritten comments ,you stateyouropinions,butyou don' tofferany reasonstoback them up.

Janie: Doyou mean you gave me alowgrade becauseyou disagree

with my opinions?

Prof X : No, not atall,Janie.You received alowgrade because youdidn’tgiveany reasonsto supportyour opinions.

anyoneeverreallyprovethathisorheropinion isrightandeveryone

elsesiswrong?Why,then,doI havetogive reasonsfor my opinionswhen

I’mentitledtohold themand no one canprove thatthey’re wrong?

Janie,here,has fallen intothe trap of relativistic thinking . Itiscrucial tounder

-stand why thisis a trap,becauseonce one hasfallen into it , itis verydifficult

to seeanypoint in studyingcritical thinkingatall.

Relativism is the view that truth is a matter ofopinion.There are twopopular formsofrelativism:subjectivism and cultural relativism.Subjectivism

is the view that truth isa matter of individual opinion.Thisisthe viewJanie

apparently holds. According to subjectivism, whatever an individual believes

is true , is true for that person, and there is no such thing as “objective” or

“absolute” truth, i e ,truth that exists independent of what anyone believes.

For example,supposeBobbybelieves that abortioniswrongand Alicebelieves

thatabortion isnotalways wrong.Accordingtosubjectivism,abortion is always

wrongfor Bobby and not always wrong forAlice.Both beliefs are true— - for

them.AndtruthJaroneindividualoranotheristheonly kind oftruththereis

The other commonformof relativismiscultural relativism.This is theviewthat truthis a matterofsocialorcultural opinion.In other words,cultural

relativism is theview that what is trueforpersonA is whatpersonAsculture

orsocietybelieves is true Drinking wine,for example,iswidelyconsideredto

be wrong in Iran but is notgenerally considered tobe wrongin France.Ac

-cordingtoculturalrelativism,therefore,drinking wineisimmoral in Iran but

ismorally permissiblein France.Thus,for the cultural relativist,justasforthe

subjectivist,there is noobjectiveorabsolute standard of truth.What is true is

whatevermost people in asocietyor culture believetobe true

Relatively few people endorse subjectivismorcultural relativismin the

pure,unqualifiedforms inwhichwehavestatedthem.Almosteverybodywould

admit, forexample,that1 + 1 = 2is true, no matterwho might beignorant

or deluded enough todeny it.What relativists usuallyclaim, therefore,is not

thatall truth is relative,butthat truth isrelativein some important domain (s).

Byfar the most common form ofrelativismis moral relativism.Like relativism

generally,moral relativism comes in two major forms:moralsubjectivismand

i

20 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking

culturalmoralrelativism Moral subjectivismistheviewthatwhatismorallyrightandgood foranindividual,A, iswhatever A believes ismorally right andgood.Thus,ifAndybelieves that premaritalsex isalways wrong,andJennifer

believesthatit is notalwayswrong,accordingtomoral subjectivism premarital

sexisalwayswrongfor Andy andis notalwayswrong forJennifer.

Theothermajorform of moralrelativism is cultural moral relativism,

the viewthat whatismorally right and goodforan individual,A,iswhatever

As society or culture believes is morally right and good.Thus,according to

cultural moral relativism,if culture A believes that polygamy is wrong,andcultureBbelievesthatpolygamyisright,thenpolygamyiswrongforcultureAandright for culture B.

Cultural moral relativism isavery popularview today,especially among

the young.There are two major reasons peopleseem to find it so attractive.

One hastodo with thenatureofmoral disagreement,andtheotherconcerns

thevalueoftolerance.

Ethics,obviously,is verydifferent from mathor science.In mathand sci ence ,thereare arguments anddisagreements,butnotnearlytotheextentthereare in ethics.In ethics there is widespread disagreement,the disagreementsoften go very deep,and there seems to be no rational way to resolve many

-ofthem.What thisshows, somepeopleconclude,isthat there is no objectivetruthin ethics;moralityisjusta matterofindividualorsocietal opinion.Anotherreasonpeoplefindcultural moral relativismattractive is thatitseems

to supportthevalueoftolerance.Throughout history,terriblewars,persecutions,

and actsofreligious and cultural imperialism havebeen perpetrated by people

whofirmlybelievedintheabsoluterighteousness oftheir moralbeliefsandprac

-tices.Cultural moral relativismseems toimply thatwemustbetolerantof other

cultures’moral beliefs and values.If cultureAbelievesthatpolygamyis wrong,andculture Bbelievesthatitis right,thencultureAmustagree thatpolygamyisrightfor cultureB,nomatterhowoffensive thepracticemay betocultureA.

Despite theseapparent attractions,however,therearedeep problems with

cultural moral relativism,as the followingexercise (adapted froma set of roleplayingscenarios developed by ProfessorGrant H Cornwell)1 7willillustrate.

-EXERCISE1.4

In groups of fourorfive,chooseagroupreporter to takenotesand be thegroup

spokesperson.Read and discussone of the followingcasestudies asassigned byyourinstructor

Definition :A cultural moral relativist is one who maintains the following thesis:

Whatever members of a culture believe is morally right and good is morally right and good for them .

You areamemberofculture Cstudying culturesAand B.Youare a

committed cultural moral relativist,i e , you maintain wholeheartedlythe

relativist thesis.

21Barriers t o Critical Thinking

CultureA isapacifistculture and believes thatit isalways morally wrong

to commit aviolentact againstanother humanbeingforanyreason.

Culture Bisa militaristic and slaveholding culture.Itsmembers believe that

itis morallygoodandrighttoinvade,subjugate,andenslave other cultures

While youareobserving them,culture B invades culture A.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1 What can youconsistentlybelievewith regardtothemorality ofcultureA?

Themorality of culture B?Specifically, as a consistentmoralrelativist , canyou

criticizeor condemn the moralityofculture A?OfcultureB?

2 What can youconsistentlydo with regardtoculture B’s invasion andat

-tempted subjugation of culture A?

Case 2

Definition :A cultural moral relativist is one who maintains thefollowingthesis :

Whatever members of a culture believe is morally right and good is morally right and good

for them .

You are amember ofcultureBandacommitted culturalmoralrelativist,

i e , you maintainwholeheartedly the relativist thesis.

Culture Bis amilitaristic andslaveholdingculture.A majorityofits

mem-bersbelieve that it ismorallyrightandgoodtoinvade,subjugate,anden

-slave other cultures.

CultureAisa pacifistculture.A majority ofits members believe thatit is

always wrongto commit any actofviolenceagainstanother humanbeing

foranyreason.

Culture B believes thatit ismorally wrongforcultureAtopractice pacifism

Culture B invades cultureA Its aimis tosubjugateandenslavemembers

ofculture A and force some of themtoparticipateingladiatorialbouts for

theamusementof members of culture B

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1 Is thereanylogicalinconsistencyinbeingacultural moralrelativistand also

belongingtoculture B? ( Hint: Considernotonly what culture B believesisright

and good foritsown memberstodo but also whatitbelievesisrightandgood

for othercultures todo.) Ifso , whichbeliefs,precisely, are inconsistent?

2 What canyou consistently believewithregardtothe morality of culture A?

The moralityofculture B? Specifically,asa consistent moral relativist , can you

criticizeor condemn the morality of culture A?OfcultureB?

3 Whatcan youconsistently do with regardtoculture Bsinvasion and

attemptedconquestof culture A?

Case 3

Definition : Acultural moralrelativist is one who maintains thefollowingthesis :

Whatever members of a culture believe is morally right and good is morally right and good

for them .

22 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking

Culture Bconsistsoftwosubcultures: theAlphas and theBetas.TheAlphas

are a rulingmajoritygroup.Theybelieve thatit ismorally rightto

ran-domly select a youngchild for sacrifice at thebeginning of eachyear TheBetasareanoppressedminoritygroup with its own distinctive cultural ,

moral,and religious practices.Betas believe strongly that child sacrificeis

morally wrong.You are a memberofcultureB anda Beta You arealsoa committedcul-

tural moral relativist ,i e., you maintainwholeheartedly therelativist thesis.

CultureAisapacifistculture Members of this culturebelievethatit is

always wrongto commit any actofviolence against another humanbeing

forany reason

The Alphasbelievethatit ismorally rightto impose theirbeliefs andval

-ues oncultureA Theybelieve thatit is a moral atrocity thatcultureA doesnotsacrificechildren ,and they believe that theyhavea moraldutyto use whatever means are necessary tochangethebeliefs ofcultureAandhaveits members comply withthispractice.

Culture Binvades culture Aand beginsitsprogram of subjugation andindoctrination.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1 Is itpossibleforan individualtobelongto more than one culture at the same time ? If so , does this pose any logical difficultyforthecultural moralrelativist?

2 Is thereanylogical difficulty in beinga moralrelativistand belongingto

culture B?( Hint ;Consider not onlywhat culture B believesis right and goodforits own members to dobut alsowhatitbelievesisrightand goodforothercultures to do )

3 What canyou consistentlybelievewith regard to themorality of cultureA?The morality ofcultureB?Specifically, as a consistentmoral relativist, can you criticize orcondemn themorality ofculture A? Of culture B?

4. Whatcanyou consistentlydo with regard to cultureBs invasionandattempted subjugation of cultureA?

5 Suppose thatsometime in thefuture theBetasbecome themajority

subcul-ture incultureB, and a majorityofculture Bcomes tobelieve thatchild

sacri-ficeis wrong Can thisbedescribed as“moralprogress” from thestandpoint ofcultural moralrelativism?Whyorwhynot ?

Thesecaseshighlightseveral seriousproblemswithcultural moralrelativism.

1. Relativism makes it impossible for ns to criticize other cultures ’ customs and values,even those that intuitively seem to us to be terribly wrong .We

can nolonger say;forexample,thata particularcultureis wrongtopracticeslavery or childsacrifice, aslongasthat culturebelievesthat

those practicesare morallyright.

Barriers to Critical Thinking

2. Relativism makes it impossible for ns to criticize our own societies '

customs and values.Supposeyou personally opposeracial segregation,buta majority

of yoursocietysupports it.Accordingtorelativism,you mustchange

yourmind andagreethatracial segregation isrightinyour society In

fact,ifrelativism istrue ,anyonewhocriticizesmajorityvaluesisalways

wrong .Total conformitytomajority opinionisrequired.

3. Relativism rules out the idea of moral progress .Moralvaluescan change,

butifrelativism istrue,theycan neverbecomebetter or worse,for

relativism implies that whatisrightforasocietyiswhat thatculture

believes is rightat that time.Thus, a relativistcannotsay,for example,

that theabolition ofslaveryorlaws outlawing genderdiscrimination

represented moralprogressin the United States

4. Relativism can lead to conflicting moral duties.Thereareseveral waysin

which arelativistmightfindhimself stuck with conflictingmoral

beliefs and duties.Cases 2 and 3highlighttwowaysinwhich this

can occur:’8

a When a relativist is a member of a society that holds beliefs that conflict

with moral relativism (cases2and3).Ifyour societybelieves,for

example,thatchild sacrifice isabsolutelyand objectively right,

then you too, as amoral relativist, mustbelieve thatchildsacrifice

isabsolutelyandobjectively right,for whatevermoralbeliefsyour

societyholds,youmusthold as well.

b. When a relativist belongs to two or more cultures and those cultures hold

mutually inconsistent moral beliefs (case3).Canaperson belongto

twodifferentculturesatthe sametime? It ishardto see whynot

AnAmish farmerlivingin Ohio,forinstance,would seemtobe

a memberof both an Amish cultureandalargerAmericanone

Ifsuch dual membershipispossible,however,conflictscan clearly

occurbetween thetwocultures’moralcodes.Andgivenrelativ

-ismsclaimthat whatisright for a person is whateverhisorher

culture believes is right,thiscouldlead toconflicting moral duties.

Thus,cultural moral relativism has consequences thatmakeit verydifficultto

accept In addition,however, it canbe shown thatthetwomainreasonspeople

areattractedtoculturalmoral relativism— ethical disagreement andthevalue

oftolerance— arenot goodreasonsatall.

First,does the fact that there is deep disagreement in ethics show that

there is no objective moral truth— that ethics is just a matter of opinion ?

HardlyThinkaboutanotherareainwhich thereisdeep,pervasive,andseem

-ingly irresolvable disagreement: religion. People disagree vehemently over

whether God exists,whether there is an afterlife,and so forth;yet we don’ t

conclude from this that there is noobjectivetruthaboutthesematters It may

bedifficult toknow whetherGod exists But whether he exists is notsimply a

matterofopinion.Thus,deep disagreementaboutan issue doesnotshowthat

thereisno objectivetruth aboutthat issue.

24 CHAPTER 1 introduction to Critical Thinking

Second,as the casesin Exercise1.4 makeclear,culturalmoral relativism

does notnecessarily support thevalueof tolerance.Relativism tellsus that we

should accept the customs and values ofoursociety.Thus, ifyou live in an

intolerantsociety,relativism implies thatyou tooshould beintolerant

Does this mean that cultural moralrelativismhas nothingatalltoteach

us? No.The fact that people disagree so much about ethics does not showthat moral truthissimplyamatterof opinion,but itshouldmakeus cautious

and open-minded regarding our own ethical beliefs Ifmillions ofobviouslydecent,intelligent people disagree with you,howcan you be surethatyour

values are the correct ones? In thisway relativism can teachus animportantlesson about the valueofintellectualhumility.But we don’tneedrelativism—

which is afalse and confused theory— to teachus thislesson.We can learnit

just by openingour heartsand minds and thinking critically about the chal

-lenges of livinganethical life.

could admit tohimselfthathe really hadbeen out— out ,infact,byamile.

Haveyoueverbeen guiltyofwishful thinking— believing somethingnot

becauseyou hadgood evidence forit butsimply becauseyouwisheditwere

true?Ifso ,you’re notalone.Throughouthumanhistory, reasonhasdone battlewith wishful thinking and has usuallycomeout theloser.

People fear the unknown and invent comforting myths to render theuniverse less hostile and more predictable.Theyfear death and listen credu-

lously tostories ofhealing crystals,quackcures ,and communication withthe

dead.They fantasize aboutpossessing extraordinarypersonal powers andaccept

uncritically accounts of psychic prediction,levitation,and ESP.They delight

in tales of the marvelousandthe uncanny,and theybuy mass-market tabloidsthat featureheadlinessuchas“SpiritualSexChanneler:MediumHelpsGriev-

ingWidows Make Lovetotheir Dead Husbands ” 19They kid themselvesinto

thinking, “It can’ t happento me,” and thenfind themselves dealing with the

consequences ofunwanted pregnancies,drunk-driving convictions,drug ad

-diction, orAIDS.

The easiest thing

of all is to de

for what a man

I. Haveyou everbeenguiltyof self-interested thinking,self-servingbias,groupbias,conformism, orwishfulthinking?Without embarrassingyourselftoomuch,

discuss these criticalthinkinglapsesingroupsof three or four,thensharewiththeclasswhateverexamplesyou’d liketodiscuss.

II. Thistextbookgives a number ofexamplesof self-interested thinking,

self-serving bias,group bias,conformism,and wishfulthinking.Jot down

atleasttwoadditionalexamplesof each of these fivecriticalthinking

hindrances.Divideintogroups of threeorfour,discussyourexampleswith

the group, and sharewhatyou think arethe best exampleswith the class

as awhole.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ACRITICAL THINKER

So far in this chapter,we have discussed (1) the nature of critical thinking;

(2)key critical thinking standardssuch asclarity,precision,accuracy,and fair

-ness;(3) thebenefits ofcriticalthinking;and (4) somemajorimpediments to

critical thinking, including egocentrism,sociocentrism, relativistic thinking,

unwarrantedassumptions,and wishful thinking With thisas background, we

are nowinapositiontoofferageneralprofileofacriticalthinker.The follow

-ing list contrastssomeof the key intellectualtraitsof critical thinkerswiththe

relevant traitsof uncritical thinkers.20

Critical Thinkers. . Uncritical Thinkers .

Havea passionatedrivefor clarity

precision,accuracy,andothercritical

thinkingstandards.

Are sensitivetowaysinwhich

critical thinking canbeskewed by

egocentrism,sociocentrism,wishful

thinking,andother impediments.

Often thinkinways thatareunclear,imprecise,and

inaccurate.

Often fall preytoegocentrism,

sociocentrism,relativistic

thinking,unwarrantedassumptions,andwishful

thinking.Often misunderstandor

evaluate unfairlyarguments andviewpoints.

Think illogically and draw

unsupportedconclusions fromevidenceanddata.

Pretend they knowmore

than they doand ignoretheirlimitations.

What is the

hardest task in the world ? To think.

Ralph Waldo

Emerson

Areskilledat understanding,

analyzing,and evaluatingarguments

andviewpoints.

Reason logically anddraw

appropriateconclusions from

evidence anddata.

Areintellectually honestwith

themselves,acknowledgingwhat they

don’tknowand recognizingtheir

limitations.

Listenopen-mindedlyto

opposingpointsofview and

welcome criticisms ofbeliefsand

assumptions

Areclosed-minded and

resist criticismsof beliefs and

assumptions.

26 CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking

Oftenbasebeliefsonmerepersonal preferenceorself-

interest.

Lackawarenessoftheirown

biasesand preconceptions.

Base their beliefsonfactsandevidenceratherthanonpersonalpreferenceorself-interest.

Areaware of thebiasesand pre

-conceptions that shape thewaythey

perceive theworld.Think independentlyand are

notafraidtodisagree with group

opinion.Are ableto get to the heartofanissueoraproblem,withoutbeing

distractedbydetails.

Havetheintellectualcouragetofaceandassessfairlyideasthatchallengeeven theirmostbasicbeliefs.

Pursuetruthand are curiousaboutawiderangeof issues.

Havetheintellectual perseverance

topursueinsightsor truthsdespiteobstaclesordifficulties

A course in critical thinking is like most other things in life:You get

out ofitwhatyou put into it.Ifyou approach critical thinkingasa chore— apointless general education requirement you need to getout of the way be-

fore you can turn to more“relevant” coursesin your major— a choreitwill

be.Ontheother hand,ifyou approach critical thinkingasanopportunity tolearn habitsofdisciplined thinking that arevital tosuccess inschool,inyour

career, and inyourlifeasaliberally educated person,critical thinkingcanbearewarding andeven transformative experience

Tendtoengagein“groupthink”uncritically following thebeliefs

andvalues of the crowd.

Areeasily distracted and lack

theabilitytozeroin ontheessenceofan issue or aproblem.

Fearandresistideasthat

challengetheirbasicbeliefs.

Areoften relatively indifferent

totruthand lackcuriosity.

Tend not topersevere when

they encounterintellectualobstaclesor difficulties.

the sameperson

you are now,only

with better abili

I. Review the list of critical thinkingtraits onpages 25-26,thenwrite a250-word

essayin whichyouaddressthefollowingquestionsrWhichof thetraitslisteddoyouthink isyour strongestcritical thinking trait?Why? Whichis yourweakest?Why?What could you dotoimproveinthislatterregard?Bespecificandrealistic.

II. Ingroups of threeorfour,definethefollowingcriticalthinkingtraits :

intellectualhonesty ,open-mindedness ,fair-mindedness,intellectual courage,andintellectualperseverance.(Seethe list ofcriticalthinking traitsonpages 25-26for some broad hints.) Giveanexample of each.

III. Ingroups of three or four,think ofexamples,eitherfromyourexperienceorfrom your knowledge ofcurrent eventsor history,of individuals who possess,ordid possess,the quality of intellectual courageto anunusualdegree.Whatabout

them leads you Cothink of themasbeing especially intellectually courageous? Do

thesamefor the qualities of open-mindedness,intellectual honesty,and intellectual

perseverance.Be preparedtoshareyourgroup’sbest examples with the class.

SUMMARY

1 Critical thinkingisthe generaltermgiventoawiderangeofcognitiveskills

and intellectual dispositionsneededtoeffectively identify,analyze,and

evaluateargumentsand truth claims; todiscover andovercomepersonal

preconceptionsand biases; toformulate andpresent convincing reasons in

support of conclusions;andtomakereasonable,intelligent decisionsabout

whattobelieveand whattodo Itisdisciplined thinking governed by

clearintellectualstandards that have proven their valueover thecourseof

human history Among themostimportant of these intellectual standards

areclarity, precision,accuracy,relevance,consistency,logicalcorrectness,

completeness,and fairness.

2. Critical thinkingisbeneficialfor manyreasons.It canhelp students do

betterinschool byimprovingtheir abilityto understand,construct,and

criticizearguments It canhelp people succeedin their careersbyimprov

-ing their abilitytosolveproblems,think creatively,and communicatetheir

ideas clearlyandeffectivelyItcanalso reduce thelikelihoodofmaking

seriousmistakes inimportantpersonaldecisions, promotedemocratic pro

-cessesby improving the quality of publicdecisionmaking,andliberate and

empowerindividuals by freeing them fromthe unexamined assumptions,

dogmas,andprejudices of theirupbringing,their society,and theirage.

3 Majorbarrierstocriticalthinkinginclude egocentrism,sociocentrism,

unwarranted assumptions,relativisticthinking,and wishfulthinking

Egocentrismisthe tendencytoseerealityascenteredononeself.Two com

-monforms ofegocentrism areself-interested thinking(thetendencyto

accept anddefend beliefs thataccordwithonesownself-interest) and

thesuperioritybias(the tendencyto overrateoneself).

Sociocentrismisgroup-centered thinking.Two common varietiesofsocio

-centrismaregroup bias (the tendencytosee one’sculture orgroupas

being betterthanothers) andconformism (the tendencytoconform,

often unthinkingly, toauthorityor togroup standardsofconduct and

belief)

Unwarranted assumptionsarethingswetakeforgranted without good

reason.Often,unwarranted assumptions take theformof stereotypes.

Stereotypesaregeneralizationsaboutagroup ofpeopleinwhich identical

characteristicsareassignedtoallorvirtually all members of thegroup,

oftenwithout regardtowhether such attributionsareaccurate.

I ; mi« a« ien* y

To learn is to face transformation .

-Parkerj Palmer