What is Critical Thinking
1.Definition of critical thinking ponents of critical thinking
Definition

“Critical” in Latin means “to separate, to choose, to judge” Critical thinking is a very complex mental process undertaken to deal with complex social, cultural, historical and academic issues. It is essential to good writing because ,muddy thinking can only result in poor writing.

Task
Suppose you are a delegate of National People’s Congress, how would you vote if a bill concerning the following issue comes up for decision?

Cable car system in the scenic mountains ?
Practice

Evaluation: ( Judge the merit of assumptions made and weighing the evidence offered to support those assumptions) *Is the tuition charged really too high? * How long and how much will an average income family have to save enough money?
The misuse of induction

An inductive conclusion: reliable or unreliable quantity and quality of the evidence hasty generalization. Dicto Simpliciter ( Unqualified generalization) post hoc (after this, because of this) the conclusions you draw does not fit the facts You should not ignore evidence that might invalidate the conclusion ( a "neglected aspect") or present only the evidence that supports a predetermined conclusion ("slanting your argument").
Post Hoc


"After this, so because of this"—the mistake of assuming that because one event follows another, the first must be the cause of the second. Faulty: The new mayor took office last January and crime in the streets has already increased 25 percent. The assumption is that having the new mayor caused the increase in crime, an assumptions unlikely to be true.)
What is inductive reasoning?



Summarize many observations to generalize to a conclusion (data large and representative) E.g. ball Old people wine and memory Students have local accent A sting from a certain bee causes the stung area of skin to swell.
Either . . . or Fallacy
Hasty Generalization


A generalization based on too little evidence or on exceptional or biased evidence. Faulty:
Republicans have lots of money. (Many Republicans don't have much money.) Sts local accent
Unit 2
1. Exposition (folk customs) Deadline of submission to website: 10.17 (graded) Extra-curriculum activities * web-pages (credits, world-e-citizen certificate ) * journals (credits) * booklets (credits) Students in charge: Deadline: Nov.15
Application
* Cable car in the scenic mountains * ban on “off-campus” living
Logical Thinking



To do well in analyzing and evaluating, one must have logical reasoning ability. Reasoning: thinking to some purpose according to a set of rules. Logical reasoning: emphasizes drawing valid inference through inductive and deductive process
Dicto Simpliciter
(unqualified generalization)




Following a rule without considering the important difference Exercise Time is money girl
What is deductive reasoning?
Logical fallacies


caused by invalid deductive reasoning: Non Sequitur Either . . . or Circular Reasoning
Non Sequitur (根据前提得出的)推断, 推理, 结论


A statement that does not follow logically from what has just been said—a conclusion that does not follow from the premises. Faulty: Susan is smart; therefore she will receive good grades.( Many smart people do not receive good grades.)
When is a deductive argument valid?


A deductive argument is valid when the conclusion logically follows from the premises. VALID Premise 1: When Allison studies, she gets good grades. [fact] Premise 2: She is studying. [fact] Conclusion: Therefore, she will get good grades. INVALID Premise 1: When Allison studies, she gets good grades. [fact] Premise 2: She is getting good grades. [fact] Conclusion: Therefore, she is studying. 165
Practice

New college tuition system, is this a good change? Is the policy fair and reasonable?
Practice (Start to generate ideas)



free writing, brainstorming, cubing, branching and questioning e.g: Free writing: Pro-con list purpose of the new system advantage of the new system Disadvantage of the new system Advantage of the old Disadvantage of the old
Argumentation
Critical thinking What is critical thinking How to improve critical thinking ability *Writing to facilitate critical thinking * Logical reasoning to facilitate critical thinking Inductive reasoning Deductive reasoning Falla