CONTENTS Preface xi Chapter 1 The Benefit and Manner of Asking the Right Questions 001 The Noisy, Confused World We Live In 001 Experts Cannot Rescue Us, Despite What They Say 005 The Necessity of Relying on Our Mind 007 Critical Thinking to the Rescue 007 The Sponge and Panning for Gold: Alternative Thinking Styles 009 Weak-Sense and Strong-Sense Critical Thinking 013 The Importance of Practice 015 Critical Thinking and Other People 017 Primary Values of a Critical Thinker 019 Keeping the Conversation Going 021 Creating a Friendly Environment for Communication 025 Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers 025 Chapter 2 What Are the Issue and the Conclusion? 031 Kinds of Issues 033 Searching for the Issue 035 Searching for the Author’s or Speaker’s Conclusion 037 Clues to Discovery: How to Find the Conclusion 039 Practice Exercises 041 Sample Responses 043 Chapter 3 What Are the Reasons? 049 Initiating the Questioning Process 053 Words That Identify Reasons 057 Keeping the Reasons and Conclusions Straight 057 Reasons First, Then Conclusions 057 Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers 061 Practice Exercises 065 Sample Responses 069 Chapter 4 What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous? 073 The Confusing Flexibility of Words 075 Locating Key Terms and Phrases 077 Checking for Ambiguity 079 Determining Ambiguity 081 Context and Ambiguity 085 Ambiguity, Definitions, and the Dictionary 085 Limits of Your Responsibility to Clarify Ambiguity 089 Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers 089 Practice Exercises 095 Sample Responses 097 Chapter 5 What Are the Value and Descriptive Assumptions? 103 General Guide for Identifying Assumptions 107 Value Conflicts and Assumptions 109 From Values to Value Assumptions 111 Typical Value Conflicts 113 The Communicator’s Background as a Clue to Value Assumptions 113 Consequences as Clues to Value Assumptions 115 More Hints for Finding Value Assumptions 117 The Value of Knowing the Value Priorities of Others 117 Values and Relativism 119 Identifying and Evaluating Descriptive Assumptions 119 Illustrating Descriptive Assumptions 121 Common Descriptive Assumptions 123 Clues for Locating Assumptions 125 Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers 127 Practice Exercises 135 Sample Responses 137 Chapter 6 Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning? 141 A Questioning Approach to Finding Reasoning Fallacies 145 Evaluating Assumptions as a Starting Point 145 Discovering Other Common Reasoning Fallacies 151 Looking for Diversions 161 Sleight of Hand: Begging the Question 163 Summary of Reasoning Errors 165 Expanding Your Knowledge of Fallacies 167 Practice Exercises 167 Sample Responses 171 Chapter 7 The Worth of Personal Experience, Case Examples, Testimonials, and Statements of Authority as Evidence 175 Fact or Opinion? 177 The Need for Dependable Evidence 179 Sources of Evidence 181 Personal Experience as Evidence 183 Case Examples as Evidence 185 Testimonials as Evidence 185 Appeals to Authority as Evidence 189 Practice Exercises 193 Sample Responses 197 Chapter 8 How Good Is the Evidence: Personal Observation and Research Studies? 199 Personal Observation as Evidence 199 Biased Surveys and Questionnaires 201 Research Studies as Evidence 205 General Problems with Research Findings 207 Generalizing From the Research Sample 215 Generalizing From the Research Measures 217 When You Can Most Trust Expert Opinion 221 Research and the Internet 223 Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers 225 Practice Exercises 231 Sample Responses 233 Chapter 9 Are There Rival Causes?
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