Critical Thinking Toolkit: A Compendium of Concepts and Methods for Reasoning

377 Pages·2016·6.01 MB·English

by  Galen A. Foresman

Galen A. Foresman, Peter S. Fosl,
and Jamie Carlin Watson
CThRITe ICAL THINKING

Th
e

CRITICAL THINKING
THE
TOOLKIT

GALEN A.FORESMAN,PETER S.FOSL,AND JAMIE C.WATSON
CRITICAL THINKING
THE
TOOLKIT
Thiseditionfirstpublished2017
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Title:Thecriticalthinkingtoolkit/GalenA.Foresman,PeterS.Fosl,andJamieC.Watson.
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Subjects:LCSH:Reasoning.|Criticalthinking.|Logic.
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Contents
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 
TheVeryIdeaofCriticalThinking 1
Criticalthinkingintheformalandempiricalsciences 2
Criticalthinking,criticaltheory,andcriticalpolitics 4
Criticalthinking,finitude,andself-understanding 5
Usingthisbook 5
 BasicToolsforCriticalThinkingaboutArguments 
1.1 Claims 7
Beliefsandopinions 8
Simpleandcomplexclaims 9
Truthfunctionality 10
1.2 Arguments 11
Logicvs.eristics 12
Argumentsvs.explanations 12
1.3 Premises 13
Enthymemes 14
Identifyingpremises 14
1.4 Conclusions 16
Argumentstructure 16
Simpleandcomplexarguments 16
Identifyingconclusions 17
 MoreToolsforCriticalThinkingaboutArguments 
2.1 DeductiveandInductiveArguments 19
Deduction 20
Induction 21
2.2 ConditionalClaims 22
Necessaryandsufficientconditions 23
Biconditionalclaims 25
viii CONTENTS
2.3 ClassifyingandComparingClaims 26
Comparingclaims 26
Classifyingsingleclaims 28
2.4 ClaimsandDefinitions 29
Lexical,stipulative,ostensive,andnegativedefinition 30
Extensionandintension 30
Genericsimilaritiesandspecificdifferences 31
Definiensanddefiniendum 31
2.5 TheCriticalThinker’s“TwoStep”:ValidityandSoundness/
CogencyandStrength 32
Structurebeforetruth 33
2.6 ShowingInvaliditybyCounterexample 35
 ToolsforDeductiveReasoningwithCategories 
3.1 ThinkingCategorically 39
Typesandtokens 39
3.2 CategoricalLogic 40
Quality,quantity,andstandardform 40
Venndiagramsandthemeaningofcategoricalclaims 42
Distributionanditsimplications 44
Existentialimport 45
3.3 TranslatingEnglishClaimstoStandardForm 46
Implicitquantifiers 46
Individuals 47
Gettingtheverbright 47
Adverbials 48
Trustyourinstincts 50
Acaveat 50
3.4 FormalDeductionwithCategories:ImmediateInferences 50
Equivalences 51
Conversion 52
Contraposition 53
Obversion 56
TheAristotelianandBooleanSquaresofOpposition 58
3.5 FormalDeductionwithCategories:Syllogisms 63
Categoricalsyllogisms 64
Majorandminorterms 64
Moodandfigure 65
TheVenndiagramtestforvalidity 66
Fiveeasyrulesforevaluatingcategoricalsyllogisms 69
Genslerstartest 70
 ToolsforDeductiveReasoningwithClaims 
4.1 Propositionalvs.CategoricalLogics 72
Translatingclaimsintopropositionallogic 73