Argumentation and Debate by
This comprehensive introduction to the principles and practice of argumentation and debate uses a clear, concise, and engaging presentation that makes even complex material easy to understand. ARGUMENTATION AND DEBATE features concepts, argumentation models, practical guides, and real-life scenarios that you use to enhance your skills in academic debates. With an emphasis on critical thinking, reasoned decision making, and advocacy skills, this text empowers you to participate actively as citizens in a democratic society.
The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking-Concepts and Tools by
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Thinking Things Through by
1. Questioning Emotions 2. Deciding How to Act 3. Breaking Up Arguments 4. Deciding on Definitions 5. Attending to Language 6. Slanting for Fun and Profit 7. Evaluating Arguments: An Overview 8. Thinking through Analogies 9. Generating Generalizations 10. Causal Reasoning Glossary Index
Critical Thinking, Second Edition by
Solving problems. Evaluating options. Choosing direction. You need to be adept at critical thinking every day on the job. Learn how to tell the difference between effective and ineffective methods of thought. When you can show that your decisions are based on sound reasoning, you give yourself an unbeatable advantage as a leader or a rising star.
The Critical Thinking Toolkit by
Unimaginative. Risk-adverse. Prone to group-think. These are not just empty complaints about today’s employees. A recent article in Newsweek found solid data that proves a “creativity crisis” is plaguing America. Yet critical thinking, the ability to approach a problem both analytically and creatively, is the bedrock of success for companies and their people. Fortunately, it’s a skill that can be learned. The Critical Thinking Tool Kit aims to get employees thinking better and faster with 35 hands-on activities and ready-to-use assessments. Team members work on challenging assumptions, brainstorming divergent ideas, and then pinpointing the ones that best benefit an organization. And they’ll learn to do it in real-life speed—quickly! The training exercises in The Critical Thinking Tool Kit offer an invigorating departure from the everyday—with the potential for big payoffs in the form of enhanced “on-your-feet” thinking, innovative problem-solving, and profitable idea generation from everyone on the team. "
The Basics of Critical Thinking by
The Basics of Critical Thinking book is designed to teach critical thinking to middle and upper elementary students. Many workbooks claim to teach or develop critical thinking skills, but most of these products never defined critical thinking or try to teach the meaning to students. This book instead defines and teaches critical thinking in a way all students can understand through easy to understand explanations, diagrams, and short engaging activities. In addition to being a course in critical thinking, the activities in this book can be used to supplement lessons in all subjects. Although this book teaches common argument forms, its primary focus is identifying and evaluating evidence - the very basis of critical thinking. Most propaganda, advertising schemes, legal trickery, and bad science are not the result of complex arguments; they are the result of half-truths and simple arguments. Students who successfully complete this book will have a fundamental set of critical thinking skills they can use their entire lives.
Being Logical by
Whether regarded as a science, an art, or a skill–and it can properly be regarded as all three–logic is the basis of our ability to think, analyze, argue, and communicate. Indeed, logic goes to the very core of what we mean by human intelligence. In this concise, crisply readable book, distinguished professor D. Q. McInerny offers an indispensable guide to using logic to advantage in everyday life. Written explicitly for the layperson, McInerny’s Being Logical promises to take its place beside Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style as a classic of lucid, invaluable advice. As McInerny notes, logic is a deep, wide, and wonderfully varied field, with a bearing on every aspect of our intellectual life. A mastery of logic begins with an understanding of right reasoning–and encompasses a grasp of the close kinship between logical thought and logical expression, a knowledge of the basic terms of argument, and a familiarity with the pitfalls of illogical thinking. Accordingly, McInerny structures his book in a series of brief, penetrating chapters that build on one another to form a unified and coherent introduction to clear and effective reasoning. At the heart of the book is a brilliant consideration of argument–how an argument is founded and elaborated, how it differs from other forms of intellectual discourse, and how it critically embodies the elements of logic. McInerny teases out the subtleties and complexities of premises and conclusions, differentiates statements of fact from statements of value, and discusses the principles and uses of every major type of argument, from the syllogistic to the conditional. In addition, he provides an incisive look at illogical thinking and explains how to recognize and avoid the most common errors of logic. Elegant, pithy, and precise, Being Logical breaks logic down to its essentials through clear analysis, accessible examples, and focused insights. Whether you are a student or a teacher, a professional sharpening your career skills or an amateur devoted to the fine points of thought and expression, you are sure to find this brief guide to effecting reasoning both fascinating and illuminating. From the Hardcover edition.
Critical Thinking for Psychology by
Critical thinking is taught at all universities, often put forward by lecturers as the key skill that can most dramatically improve a student's understanding of a course and transform their writing. It pervades research methods teaching, critical psychology, and a range of other core curriculum elements, in exactly the same way that critical thinking pervades any discipline, and indeed, life generally. But what is it, exactly, and how can we apply it specifically to the field of psychology? In his relaxed and accessible style, Mark Forshaw takes modern real-world examples from psychology and everyday life to lighten the learning of critical thinking, explaining what it entails, why it is important, and how it can be applied to this fascinating field of study.
Critical Thinking Unleashed (Elements of Philosophy) by
From alcohol and drug addiction to rage on national highways and in airports, many human beings have kept themselves in perpetual turmoil and despair. From encroachment on individual rights and liberties to wars of attrition and mass genocide, human history has continually repeated itself due to a failure to see the light. Containing numerous skill-building exercises, Critical Thinking Unleashed seeks to cultivate the reasoning skills required to overcome such destructive human tendencies and to live meaningful and productive lives in a democratic society. In contrast to other treatments of practical reasoning, Elliot D. Cohen not only teaches students how to identify and refute irrational premises--he also teaches them how to construct rational antidotes to combat the personal, social, and political obstacles they confront in everyday life. Moreover, Cohen encourages students to use the theories and ideas embodied in the history of philosophy in order to construct these rational guides, drawing examples from many contemporary sources. Demonstrating the practical relevance and import of many historically significant philosophers (e.g. Socrates, Aristotle, Epictetus, Hume, Kant, Mill, Sartre, and Nietzsche), the book presents a practical, non-technical, and comprehensive approach to critical thinking.
A Field Guide to Lies by
From The New York Times bestselling author of THE ORGANIZED MIND and THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON MUSIC, a primer to the critical thinking that is more necessary now than ever. We are bombarded with more information each day than our brains can process--especially in election season. It's raining bad data, half-truths, and even outright lies. New York Times bestselling author Daniel J. Levitin shows how to recognize misleading announcements, statistics, graphs, and written reports revealing the ways lying weasels can use them. It's becoming harder to separate the wheat from the digital chaff. How do we distinguish misinformation, pseudo-facts, distortions, and outright lies from reliable information? Levitin groups his field guide into two categories--statistical infomation and faulty arguments--ultimately showing how science is the bedrock of critical thinking. Infoliteracy means understanding that there are hierarchies of source quality and bias that variously distort our information feeds via every media channel, including social media. We may expect newspapers, bloggers, the government, and Wikipedia to be factually and logically correct, but they so often aren't. We need to think critically about the words and numbers we encounter if we want to be successful at work, at play, and in making the most of our lives. This means checking the plausibility and reasoning--not passively accepting information, repeating it, and making decisions based on it. Readers learn to avoid the extremes of passive gullibility and cynical rejection. Levitin's charming, entertaining, accessible guide can help anyone wake up to a whole lot of things that aren't so. And catch some lying weasels in their tracks!
Simple Rules by
HOW SIMPLICITY TRUMPS COMPLEXITY IN NATURE, BUSINESS, AND LIFE Complexity surrounds us. We have too much email, juggle multiple remotes, and hack through thickets of regulations from phone contracts to health plans. But complexity isn't destiny. Sull and Eisenhardt argue there's a better way. By developing a few simple yet effective rules, people can best even the most complex problems. In Simple Rules, Sull and Eisenhardt masterfully challenge how we think about complexity and offer a new lens on how to cope. They take us on a surprising tour of what simple rules are, where they come from, and why they work. The authors illustrate the six kinds o f rules that really matter - for helping artists find creativity and the Federal Reserve set interest rates, for keeping birds on track and Zipcar members organized, and for how insomniacs can sleep and mountain climbers stay safe. Drawing on rigorous research and riveting stories, the authors ingeniously find insights in unexpected places, from the way Tina Fey codified her experience at Saturday Night Live into rules for producing 30 Rock (rule five: never tell a crazy person he's crazy) to burglars' rules for robbery ("avoid houses with a car parked outside") to Japanese engineers mimicking the rules of slime molds to optimize Tokyo's rail system. The authors offer fresh information and practical tips on fixing old rules and learning new ones. Whether you're struggling with information overload, pursuing opportunities with limited resources, or just trying to change your bad habits, Simple Rules provides powerful insight into how and why simplicity tames complexity.
A Workbook for Arguments by
A Workbook for Arguments builds on Anthony Weston's A Rulebook for Arguments to provide a complete textbook for a course in critical thinking or informal logic. The second edition adds: Updated and improved homework exercises--nearly one third are new--to ensure that the examples continue to resonate with students. Increased coverage of scientific reasoning, demonstrating how scientific reasoning dovetails with critical thinking more generally Two new activities in which students analyze arguments in their original form, as provided in brief selections from the original texts. This edition continues to include The entire text of Rulebook, supplemented with extensive explanations and exercises. Homework exercises adapted from a wide range of arguments in a wide variety of sources. Practical advice to help students succeed. Model answers to odd-numbered problems, including commentaries on the strengths and weaknesses of selected sample answers and further discussion of some of the substantive intellectual, philosophical, or ethical issues they raise. Detailed instructions for in-class activities and take-home assignments. An appendix on mapping arguments, giving students a solid introduction to this vital skill in constructing complex and multi-step arguments and evaluating them.
Critical Thinking about Research by
To become informed consumers of research, students need to thoughtfully evaluate the research they read rather than accept it without question. This second edition of a classic text gives students what they need to apply critical reasoning when reading behavioral science research. It updates the original text with recent developments in research methods, including a new chapter on meta-analyses. Part I gives a thorough overview of the steps in a research project. It focuses on how to assess whether the conclusions drawn in a behavioral science report are warranted by the methods used in the research. Topics include research hypotheses, sampling, experimental design, data analysis, interpretation of results, and ethics. Part II allows readers to practice critical thinking with a series of fictitious journal articles containing built-in flaws in method and interpretation. Clever and engaging, each article is accompanied by a commentary that points out the errors of procedure and logic that have been deliberately embedded in the article. This combination of instruction and practical application will promote active learning and critical thinking in students studying the behavioral sciences.
Critical Inquiry by
This informative book is a necessary companion for anyone seeking to uncover the secret of successful persuasion: to organize, construct, and communicate arguments. It is at once comprehensive and accessible, an authoritative guide to logical thinking and effective communication. First, the text defines the nature and uses of argument, explaining how to read argument carefully. Such analysis then requires the student to reconstruct arguments in his or her own words. Finally, the reader is taught how to create a critical, reasoned response, thus constructing his or her own argument. To increase its accessibility and expand its range of application,Critical Inquiry uses (in addition to textual examples) advertisements from print media as "texts" for applying its principles to subjects outside the traditional mode of academic presentation. Throughout, carefully selected reading questions and exercises pace the reader and ensure that the material is securely grasped and successfully applied.
Thinking for Yourself by
Intended to teach critical thinking through writing, and to improve writing skills by emphasizing critical thinking.
Asking the Right Questions by
Used in a variety of courses in various disciplines,Asking the Right Questions helps bridge the gap between simply memorizing or blindly accepting information, and the greater challenge of critical analysis and synthesis. Specifically, this concise text teaches how to think critically by exploring the components of arguments--issues, conclusions, reasons, evidence, assumptions, language--and on how to spot fallacies and manipulations and obstacles to critical thinking.
Accidental Genius by
When it comes to creating ideas, we hold ourselves back. That's because inside each of us is an internal editor whose job is to forever polish our thoughts so we sound smart and in control and so we fit into society. But what happens when we encounter problems where such conventional thinking fails us? How do we get unstuck? For Mark Levy, the answer is freewriting, a technique he's used for years to solve all types of business problems and generate ideas for books, articles, and blog posts. Freewriting is deceptively simple: start writing as fast as you can, for as long as you can, about a subject you care deeply about, while ignoring the standard rules of grammar and spelling. Your internal editor won't be able to keep up with your output--you'll generate breakthrough ideas and solutions that you couldn't have created any other way. Levy shares his six secrets to freewriting as well as fifteen problem-solving and creativity-stimulating principles you can use if you need more firepower--seven of which are new to this edition. Also new to this edition: an extensive section on how to refine your raw freewriting into something you can share with the world.
Critical Thinking and Language by
This book clarifies the idea of critical thinking by investigating the 'critical' practices of academics across a range of disciplines. Drawing on key theorists - Wittgenstein, Geertz, Williams, Halliday - and using a 'textographic' approach, the book explores how the concept of critical thinking is understood by academics and also how it is constructed discursively in the texts and practices they employ in their teaching. Critical thinking is one of the most widely discussed concepts in debates on university learning. For many, the idea of teaching students to be critical thinkers characterizes more than anything else the overriding purpose of 'higher education'. But whilst there is general agreement about its importance as an educational ideal, there is surprisingly little agreement about what the concept means exactly. Also at issue is how and what students need to be taught in order to be properly critical in their field. This searching monograph seeks answers to these important questions.
Breakthroughs in Science Skills by
Breakthroughs helps students master the essentials of math and problem-solving, sharpens critical-thinking skills for social studies, science, and reading, and develops effective writing skills.
Ethics and Science by
Who owns your genes? What does climate science imply for policy? Do corporations conduct honest research? Should we teach intelligent design? Humans are creating a new world through science. The kind of world we are creating will not simply be decided by expanding scientific knowledge, but will depend on views about good and bad, right and wrong. These visions, in turn, depend on critical thinking, cogent argument and informed judgement. In this book, Adam Briggle and Carl Mitcham help readers to cultivate these skills. They first introduce ethics and the normative structure of science and then consider the 'society of science' and its norms for the responsible conduct of research and the treatment of human and animal research subjects. Later chapters examine 'science in society' - exploring ethical issues at the interfaces of science, policy, religion, culture and technology. Each chapter features case studies and research questions to stimulate further reflection.
Using Internet Primary Sources to Teach Critical Thinking Skills in Mathematics by
Mathematics teachers and school library media specialists will find this book a valuable resource for using the Web to promote critical thinking in the high school mathematics classroom. It is filled with instructional strategies and an expansive set of activities that cover a broad array of mathematics topics spanning from prealgebra through calculus. Teachers using the questions and activities in this book will help their students meet the standards set forth by the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics. Various types of mathematics related sources on the Internet are outlined within this book, including data and simulations related to real world situations such as saving funds and computing interest earned for college, purchasing a home, or decoding train and plane schedules. The author develops a framework for critical thinking in mathematics and helps teachers create a supportive classroom environment. Each activity highlights a web source, the mathematics topics involved, the appropriate grade levels of study, possible student investigations, and related web sources for continued exploration, promoting a student-centered inquiry.
Distilling Ideas by
Mathematics is not a spectator sport: successful students of mathematics grapple with ideas for themselves. Distilling Ideas presents a carefully designed sequence of exercises and theorem statements that challenge students to create proofs and concepts. As students meet these challenges, they discover strategies of proofs and strategies of thinking beyond mathematics. In order words, Distilling Ideas helps its users to develop the skills, attitudes, and habits of mind of a mathematician and to enjoy the process of distilling and exploring ideas. Distilling Ideas is an ideal textbook for a first proof-based course. The text engages the range of students' preferences and aesthetics through a corresponding variety of interesting mathematical content from graphs, groups, and epsilon-delta calculus. Each topic is accessible to users without a background in abstract mathematics because the concepts arise from asking questions about everyday experience. All the common proof structures emerge as natural solutions to authentic needs. Distilling Ideas or any subset of its chapters is an ideal resource either for an organized Inquiry Based Learning course or for individual study. A student response to Distilling Ideas: ""I feel that I have grown more as a mathematician in this class than in all the other classes I've ever taken throughout my academic life.
Computational Logic and Human Thinking by
The practical benefits of computational logic need not be limited to mathematics and computing. As this book shows, ordinary people in their everyday lives can profit from the recent advances that have been developed for artificial intelligence. The book draws upon related developments in various fields from philosophy to psychology and law. It pays special attention to the integration of logic with decision theory, and the use of logic to improve the clarity and coherence of communication in natural languages such as English. This book is essential reading for teachers and researchers who may be out of touch with the latest developments in computational logic. It will also be useful in any undergraduate course that teaches practical thinking, problem solving or communication skills. Its informal presentation makes the book accessible to readers from any background, but optional, more formal, chapters are also included for those who are more technically oriented.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by
Major New York Times bestseller Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012 Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011 A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year One of The Wall Street Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Kahneman's work with Amos Tversky is the subject of Michael Lewis's The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds In the international bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation--each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions. Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives--and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow is destined to be a classic.
Understanding Social Issues by
This supplemental text offers students the opportunity to do meaningful, hands-on research on current social issues, using contemporary and historical data. Utilizing an interactive workbook format, students are introduced to a number of interesting topics, such as the value of a college education and changing immigration patterns in the United States. Each module asks students to think about how each of these problems affects them personally and impacts society. By answering these types of questions, students come to understand that social issues are not made up of abstract concepts.
The Economics Anti-Textbook by
Mainstream textbooks present economics as an objective science free from value judgements; that settles disputes by testing hypotheses; that applies a pre-determined body of principles; and contains policy prescriptions supported by a consensus of professional opinion. The Economics Anti-Textbook argues that this is a myth - one which is not only dangerously misleading but also bland and boring. It challenges the mainstream textbooks' assumptions, arguments, models and evidence. It puts the controversy and excitement back into economics to reveal a fascinating and a vibrant field of study - one which is more an 'art of persuasion' than it is a science.The Economics Anti-Textbook's chapters parallel the major topics in the typical text, beginning with a boiled-down account of them before presenting an analysis and critique. Drawing on the work of leading economists, the Anti-Textbook lays bare the blind spots in the texts and their sins of omission and commission. It shows where hidden value judgements are made and when contrary evidence is ignored. It shows the claims made without any evidence and the alternative theories that aren't mentioned. It shows the importance of power, social context and legal framework.The Economics Anti-Textbook is the students' guide to decoding the textbooks and shows how real economics is much more interesting than most economists are willing to let on.
How to think strategically : your roadmap to innovation and results by 
The Oxford Handbook of Emotion, Social Cognition, and Problem Solving in Adulthood by
Over the last decade, the field of socio-emotional development and aging has rapidly expanded, with many new theories and empirical findings emerging. This trend is consistent with the broader movement in psychology to consider social, motivational, and emotional influences on cognition andbehavior.The Oxford Handbook of Emotion, Social Cognition, and Problem Solving in Adulthood provides the first overview of a new field of adult development that has emerged out of conceptualizations and research at the intersections between socioemotional development, social cognition, emotion, coping, andeveryday problem solving. This field roundly rejects a universal deficit model of aging, highlighting instead the dynamic nature of socio-emotional development and the differentiation of individual trajectories of development as a function of variation in contextual and experiential influences. Itemphasizes the need for a cross-level examination (from biology and neuroscience to cognitive and social psychology) of the determinants of emotional and socio-emotional behavior.This volume also serves as a tribute to the late Fredda Blanchard-Fields, whose thinking and empirical research contributed extensively to a life-span developmental view of emotion, problem solving, and social cognition. Its chapters cover multiple aspects of adulthood and aging, presentingdevelopmental perspectives on emotion; antecedents and consequences of emotion in context; everyday problem solving; social cognition; goals and goal-related behaviors; and wisdom. The landmark volume in this new field, The Oxford Handbook of Emotion, Social Cognition, and Problem Solving inAdulthood is an important resource for cognitive, developmental, and social psychologists, as well as researchers and graduate students in the field of aging, emotion studies, and social psychology.
Critical Thinking - Unfinished Business by
The concept of critical thinking has found its way into course descriptions,textbook titles, and even college mission statements. Yet far from being satis ed with these successes, scholars in the eld believe that much un nished business remains: critical thinking has not found its way into many classrooms. <br />This volumepresents blueprints to professional development plans that focus on a solution to the problem with best practices from colleges that have already begun to implement such plans, and methods for assessing programs that emerge from them. Finally, the volume connects the teaching of critical thinking to the Learning College, an idea developed by Terry O Banion, president of the League for Innovation in the Community College, that calls on institutions to place learning rst by offering multiple options for learning and documenting that students demonstrate improved learning. <br /> <br />This is the 130th volume of New Directions for Community Colleges, the quarterly report series from Jossey-Bass.
Critical Thinking and Learning by
The editors of this book employ social, cognitive, linguistic, and political theoretical innovations to develop a new conception of critical thinking. They examine how such a construct might be taught in a variety of social settings and disciplines. Using a host of previously neglected perspectives--sociocognition, issues of political economy, complexity theory, and critical theoretical notions of epistemology and power theory--the editors and authors present a conceptually sophisticated yet accessible compendium on critical thinking. The introduction guides readers through the reconceptualization process. Specific entries focus on particular dimensions of the challenges to old-style critical thinking. In this context, readers can choose entries that discuss various means of engaging students in the critical complex perspective of critical thinking. The encyclopedia is aware of both theoretical concerns and the everyday realities of schooling in the 21st century. As such, it rounded in a respectful view of teachers that assumes they are capable of levels of expertise unacknowledged by many contemporary articulations of school reform. The educational, cognitive, and professional vision developed in the encyclopedia offers a profound alternative to the top-down impositional models now sweeping the nation's school districts.
Critical Thinking Skills by
Become an effective critical thinker in just 20 minutes a day! At work, at school, and at home, critical thinking skills are essential for success. Learning to think critically will improve your decision-making and problem-solving skills, giving you the tools you need to tackle the tough decisions and choices you face.
Teaching Controversial Issues by
2018 Delta Kappa Gamma Educators Book Award In this book, eminent educational philosopher Nel Noddings and daughter Laurie Brooks explain how teachers can foster critical thinking through the exploration of controversial issues. The emphasis is on the use of critical thinking to understand and collaborate, not simply to win arguments. The authors describe how critical thinking that encourages dialogue across the school disciplines and across social/economic classes prepares students for participation in democracy. They offer specific, concrete strategies for addressing a variety of issues related to authority, religion, gender, race, media, sports, entertainment, class and poverty, capitalism and socialism, and equality and justice. The goal is to develop individuals who can examine their own beliefs, those of their own and other groups, and those of their nation, and can do so with respect and understanding for others' values. Book Features: Underscores the necessity of moral commitment in the use of critical thinking. Offers assistance for handling controversial issues that many teachers find unsettling. Proposes a way for students and teachers to work together across the disciplines.