ITM 207 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Cultural Bias, Dependent Clause, Argument From Analogy
9 May 2018
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SSH 105: Critical thinking
Chapter 1:
The Nature and Value of Critical Thinking:
- Factual evidence: Decision on the weather or the Blue Jays. Taking a stand on the facts
- Evaluative matter: Whether the movie was good or not or the restaurant was good or
bad. Taking a stand on what is good or better
- The Oretical Reasoning: Deciding what to believe involves reasoning what the facts are
- Deciding requires two parts
o 1. What to value or to strive fo. Matte of deidig o oe’s goal o ed
o 2. Then one must decide how to best achieve that end
- Example: Should I go for a run or keep working on my book? I feel that running and
staying in shape is an important part of my life.
- You must make a decision about what to value and what kind of shape you want your
life to take
- Practical reasoning: Deciding what to do involves reasoning about what to do and how
to do it
- Critical thinking is reasonable thinking
- Part of what makes critical thinking critical is that it is governed by rules and methods
- Critical thinking about what to believe or what to do is reasonable, in that it demands
that we have reasons, and good ones, for the decisions we make.
- One difficulty with critical thinking is having good reasons for the decisions we make
- Example: It’s ot eough to eliee that it’s su out. We ust hae good easos
- Critical thinking demands for us to have good reasons for the decisions we do
- Critical thinking is reflective in the sense that it involves thinking about a problem at
several different levels or from several different angles all at once, including thinking
about what the right method is for answering or solving the problem.
- Open ended: When a problem is not clear from the outset and what would count as a
solution to it
- An argument is a series of statements, some of which (the premises) are meant to
provide logical support for another (the conclusion).
- Critical thinking is valuable for two reasons:
o 1. Thinking critically increases our chances or gaining knowledge and knowledge
is valuable
o 2. Thikig itiall is essetial to akig up oe’s o id aout hat to
believe or what to do, which is essential to being autonomous and being
autonomous is valuable
- Citial thikig does’t ol ai at just haig opiios aout hat is tue o aout
hat e do, ut e at to ko hat the ae. What’s tue o ot
- Example: We at to ko hethe it’s su out or if HIV causes aids
- Knowledge is justified, true belief
- A list of all the truths would not tell us what it is for something to be true. It would not
reveal the nature of truth
- To give the definition of truth, we would have to say what it is for something to be true
- Realist:
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o 1. Thinks that there are truths about the subject matter
o 2. That what those truths are is independent of what anybody thinks they are.
Fo the ealist, tuth is sipl out thee
- Example: Guessing the number of jellybeans in a jar but there is only one right answer
- When a realist says there is just one truth about the number of beans in the jar, she
does not mean there is only one way to say what the truth is
- Being a realist could also mean that we could all be mistaken about or ignorant of the
facts in that subject area
- Being a realist simply requires thinking that the facts in that subject area are not
determined by or dependent on our beliefs about them. They are what they are,
regardless of what we might think that they are
- Relativist: There are truths about the subject but they depend on what we (or someone)
believe they are.
- Example: Saying there is no single right answer about the number of jellybeans in a jar.
It all depends
- No such things as single, unique truth
- There are not just different ways to state the truth, there are different truths
- Subjective relativist: Thinks that the truth in any subject matter is whatever any one
idiidual takes it to e. That ight e tue fo ou, ut it is ot tue fo e
- Social relativist: Holds that the truth in the subject matter is whatever the majority of
the soiet o ultue takes it to e. If it’s tue fo us, ee if it’s ot tue fo ou o fo
the
- All versions of relativism are common because the idea that the facts are what they are
because we are the way we are
- Nihilist: Holds that there are no truths about that subject matter
- No facts to be right or wrong about or facts that depend on us in some way
- There is no such thing as truth in the subject area and no such thing as knowing the
truth. Nothing to be known at all
- Example: Saying that there is no right answer about how many jellybeans there are in
the jar
- Relativism and the argument from disagreement:
o There is considerable sincere about disagreement over morality
o If there is considerable sincere disagreement over the facts in some area, then
relativism is true of that subject area
o So, relativism is true of morality
- The second point is false because even if you have different views on a subject matter,
does’t ea ou ae ight ad theefoe eas oal elatiis is ot tue
- Example: If ou steal soethig, ut soeoe sas that it is oka ad that it’s ot ad,
does’t ea that peso is ight. In that case, moral relativism is not true
- Validity: An argument is valid when its premises and conclusions are true
- It’s ot possile fo the peises to e tue ad the olusio to e false
- Example: It rained today, so the ground is wet. If it rains, the ground cannot be dry
- Considerable sincere about disagreement over morality:
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o It’s etail tue that thee is osideale siee disageeet oe oal
facts such as euthanasia, abortion or capital punishment
o Societies have different views about what morality requires or permits which
leads to sincere disagreement
- Considerable sincere disagreement over the facts in some area, then relativism is true
in that area:
o There is far more considerable agreement than there is disagreement in physics
o “ie thee is a ee eistee of osideale disageeet, it does’t sho
that relativism is the right attitude to take
- As a good critical thinker, we ought to believe that moral relativism is true unless we
have good reasons to believe that it is true
- Evaluating an argument:
o Is the argument valid?
o Are its premises true?
- Unjustified relativism and unjustified nihilism are impediments to critical thinking. You
must have good reasons
- We must work under the assumption that realism is the proper attitude to take
- Knowledge and belief:
- Knowledge is justified true belief
- To know something, you must believe it
- Belief is an attitude of acceptance and requires reasons of a special kind
- Freedom of action brings great responsibility and is also limited
- Whe e do’t hae eough eidee, the easoale thig to do is to ithhold elief,
to be agnostic
- Freedom of belief does not mean that we do not need to have good reasons for our
beliefs
- Knowledge and justification:
- A belief is justified by having good reasons and that the believer has adequate or
satisfactory reasons to have that belief
- Producing reasons: Are reasons that makes someone believe something in the first
place
- Sustainable reasons: Are reasons that this belief is now based on
- It’s possile fo the poduig easos to ot e the sustaiig easos o ie esa
- As our evidence grows, this will affect the reasons we have for what we believe
- Whe ou ask soeoe h the eliee soethig, it’s ipotat to ask the h
they believe it, not why he originally believe it as that may have changed
- Emotional and pragmatic reasons:
- Sometimes when we believe something, it makes us feel at one with our natural
environment and gives us a deep sense of connectedness and meaning
- Some of our beliefs are simply so fundamental that giving them up would cause a huge
and unpleasant upheaval in our personal worldwide view, and the desire to avoid this
can itself be the reason to keep the belief
- Moral and religious beliefs do not have to be produced or sustained by emotional
reasons
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