PHL 302 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Relativism, Critical Thinking

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHL 302
• Professor: Meredith Schwartz

Document Summary

Phl 302-week 5 class note- the nature and value of critical thinking. Critical thinking is reasonable and reflective thinking aimed at deciding what to believe and what to do. Critical thinking can help us to attain knowledge. Critical thinking is divided into two parts: reasonable and reflective: >require certain rules/strategies/method trying to figure out the person s reasons. >reflective: -> need to ask ourselves if we are using the correct methods. > knowledge: person believe in something, it is true, therefore it is justified. >to know something, you must have all three aspects: believe in it, true and justified. >example 1 : jones believes there is water in desert but it is only a mirage. It is false because it is only a mirage. It is justified because jones saw it with his own eyes. However, in this scenario, jones is just unlucky. It is false because santa claus is justified because his mother told him that there is santa.