SSH 105 Lecture 2: Critical Thinking Chapter 2 Notes

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Social Sciences and Humanities
• Course: SSH 105
• Professor: Andrew Hunter

Document Summary

Common barriers to critical thinking (impediments): (category 1) psychological factors (fear, attitudes, motivations and desires) Hindrances that arise because of how we think. Self-interested thinking: accepting a claim solely because it advances/coincides with our interests. Critical thinking can be undermined (ex. wishful thinking) Peer pressure: group pressure to accept/reject a claim solely based on what one"s peers think/do. Appeal to popularity (or to the masses): the fallacy (false notion) of arguing that a claim must be true merely because a large number of people believe it. Our group is the best: the pressure that comes from assuming that our own group is the best. Stereotyping: drawing conclusions about people without sufficient reasons (ex. religions, political parties, social classes etc. : (category 2) philosophical beliefs (our beliefs about beliefs) Those that occur because of what we think. Subjectivism: the view that propositions have no truth-values (neither true nor false)