Tag: critical thinking

Critical Thinking: Definitions Pt. 2: Intensional vs Extensional Definitions, Genus and Differentia, Four Rules for Good Definitions

IntroductionDefinitions play important roles in arguments.  To see why, let’s consider the abortion debate.  Both sides agree that killing an innocent person is morally wrong.  So, what’s the ruckus about?  Often, those who are anti-abortion define human life and personhood as beginning at conception while those in the other camp say human life and personhood begin at […]

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Critical Thinking: Definitions: Vagueness, Ambiguity, Euphemisms, Emotional Language, and the Fallacy of Equivocation

IntroductionMany a philosopher has argued that “happiness” is the or one of the most important elements of human life.  Some even go so far as to say that an action is moral to the degree that it brings about happiness.  Whether we accept such assertions will have much to do with what is meant by “happiness.” If […]

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Critical Thinking: Non-Verbal Elements of Argument: Argument and Demonstrations, Symbols and Metaphors

IntroductionIn the previous section we talked about the 3 principles of communication and how we should use them to interpret speech acts.  Referring to the 3 principles of communication help us to identify hidden arguments, premises, and conclusions.  In this next section we will look specific ways that arguments, premises, and conclusions are hidden in […]

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Critical Thinking: Hidden Premises and Conclusions

NOTE: I’ve updated and improved this lesson on my new critical thinking website Reasoningforthedigitalage.com In the new version I present a more systematic way to identify hidden premises (i.e. enthymemes) IntroductionHere come the tricky part.  Who needs the Quickie-Mart?  Often identifying hidden premises and conclusions can require a little more cognitive effort than we have so far […]

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Critical Thinking: Extended Arguments and Inference Indicators

IntroductionUp until now we’ve been applying our analytical skills to relatively simple arguments.  Now we will begin to apply those skills to extended arguments.  What’s an extended argument?  Well, I’m glad you asked:  An extended argument is one that has a main conclusion supported by premises which themselves are in turn supported by sub-premises.  When […]

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Critical Thinking: Informal Fallacies Part 1: Red Herring and Straw Man

IntroductionIn the last post we looked at the properties of a strong argument: (a) premise acceptability and (b) logical force (i.e., validity).  The concept of validity can be further sub-divided into two components:  (i) premise relevance and (ii) premise sufficiency.  Now we’re going to look at the dark side of arguments:  fallacies.   Fallacies are […]

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Critical Thinking: Evaluating Logical Strength of Deductive and Inductive Arguments through Relevance and Sufficiency

IntroductionIn the previous post we talked about logical force or logical consequence (they are interchangeable).  These terms refer to the degree to which we must accept the conclusion if we’ve assumed the premises to be true.  When an argument has maximum logical force we say it is valid.  Generally, there are two types of logical force: deductive […]

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Critical Thinking: Burden of Proof, Strong Arguments, and How to Criticize.

IntroductionUp until now we’ve spent quite a bit of time looking at the role of biases in argument.  Understanding how they influence arguers and our perception of arguments is important; however we’re now going to move beyond the psychological aspects of analysis (tell me about your mother…) and start to hone our technical skills.The first […]

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Critical Thinking: Biases, Vested Interests, and Conflicts of Interests

IntroductionThe previous chapter on arguments focused on how differences in systems of beliefs give rise to arguments.  People with disparate systems of beliefs often hold differing values and beliefs, which in turn influence what they consider to be basic assumptions (to be used in an argument as premises).It should also be mentioned that sometimes the difference isn’t […]

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