Summary of Galen A. Foresman, Peter S. Fosl & Jamie C. Watson's The Critical Thinking Toolkit

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 Statements and propositions are the most basic building blocks of logical arguments. They can only be true or false, and they can't be both true and false in the same sense under the same circumstances.
#2 A good critical thinker must learn to identify claims that are true, or most likely seem true, while avoiding claims that are best judged false. A good critical thinker will recognize and admit when they do not know whether a claim is true or false.
#3 The distinction between strong assertions and mere opinions is that strong assertions are claims that are true or false, while mere opinions are not. However, opinions are still claims that can be challenged and criticized.
#4 A simple claim is a single subject-predicate formula, for example, It is a cat. A complex claim is a claim logically composed of two or more claims or statements connected by special words or ideas called logical operators. The truth conditions of complex claims are determined not only by the simple claims from which they are constructed but also by the operators used to combine them.

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Épistémologie
• Logic
• Philosophy
• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 30 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669394754
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Galen A. Foresman and Peter S. Fosl & Jamie C. Watson's The Critical Thinking Toolkit
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Statements and propositions are the most basic building blocks of logical arguments. They can only be true or false, and they can't be both true and false in the same sense under the same circumstances.

#2

A good critical thinker must learn to identify claims that are true, or most likely seem true, while avoiding claims that are best judged false. A good critical thinker will recognize and admit when they do not know whether a claim is true or false.

#3

The distinction between strong assertions and mere opinions is that strong assertions are claims that are true or false, while mere opinions are not. However, opinions are still claims that can be challenged and criticized.

#4

A simple claim is a single subject-predicate formula, for example, It is a cat. A complex claim is a claim logically composed of two or more claims or statements connected by special words or ideas called logical operators. The truth conditions of complex claims are determined not only by the simple claims from which they are constructed but also by the operators used to combine them.

#5

A complex claim is made up of multiple simple claims, but it can be viewed as one big single claim because it is either true or false as a whole. The simple claims Earth exists and Martians exist have truth values, but combine them into a complex claim and the result has its own truth value.

#6

The truth value of different kinds of complex claims must be determined in different ways. For some complex claims, the truth or falsehood of the whole is completely determined by the truth values of the component claims and their logical relations.

#7

An argument is a special tool that systematically collects and arranges reasons in support of the truth of a claim. A argument is a set of claims in which one or more claims are intended to provide support or justification for the truth of another claim.

#8

Arguments, in the technical, logical sense, do not require a dispute, disagreement, or even dialogue. They do not involve yelling, screaming, or fisticuffs. They are typically composed of many arguments, and the opposing sides offer arguments in support of the claims they wish to establish.

#9

There is a difference between explanations and arguments. An explanation is a set of claims that functions to establish how or why something is the case. An argument, in contrast, undertakes to establish that some claim, normally a claim in question, is actually true.

#10

An explanation is a single claim upon which all the other claims are based. The truth of the explanandum is not at issue, but the explanans attempt to explain why this is so.

#11

An argument is made up of premises that serve as reasons to accept the conclusion. Premises are the foundation of an argument, and they work together to prove or demonstrate or justify the conclusion.

#12

An enthymeme is an informal argument that relies on premises not explicitly articulated. It is often a probable claim already accepted by the audience. In order to assess the merits of arguments, a critical thinker should look for enthymemes and flush out their implicit or assumed claims.

#13

The premises of an argument are made easy to identify by first identifying the argument's conclusion. Any claims that are there to support the truth of the conclusion become easier to discern.

#14

The presence of indicators clarifies the relationship of the claims in an argument. In an argument without indicators, a critical thinker must determine whether or not a given claim is best understood as a premise.

#15

The conclusion of an argument is the claim that the premises are to support or justify. The conclusion is the main point of the argument. Every argument has only one conclusion.

#16

When multiple conclusions can be drawn from a single set of premises, it is best to think of each conclusion as the result of a single argument. This is often the best practice because keeping arguments distinct, even when they share premises, can help prevent confusions that lead to error.

#17

The final conclusion of an argument is typically marked by a conclusion indicator. It is important to check the claim indicated by the conclusion indicator to see if that claim is, in fact, the logical, final conclusion of the argument.

#18

The following are simple arguments: Monday Night Football is the most watched television program in the United States. If you go to the store, then please purchase some milk and eggs. All the cars are vehicles with bad gasoline mileage.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

All arguments are intended to support the truth of their conclusions, but arguments can be structured in vastly different ways to achieve this goal. The logical structure of an argument determines the extent to which it will be truth preserving, and so it is a critical component of evaluating the success of an argument.

#2

There are two ways an argument can be poorly engineered: one or more of the premises is false, or the structure or form of the argument fails to provide adequate support for the conclusion.

#3

The conclusion of a valid deductive argument will definitely follow, is sure to follow, or certainly follows. The truth of the conclusion is entirely supported through the argument's structure and by the truth of the premises.

#4

The strength of an argument depends on the degree to which the premises support the conclusion. Inductive arguments are those that do not guarantee their conclusions, but they do give them enough support that they should be taken seriously.

#5

A conditional claim is a type of complex claim in which the truth of one claim depends on or is contingent upon the truth of another claim. For example, If Barack Obama is president, then the United States has a Democratic president is a conditional claim composed of two simple claims: Barack Obama is president and the United States has a Democratic president.

#6

A conditional statement is a logical system that uses only the minimal relationship. This means it's possible to accept a conditional statement as true simply when the consequent and antecedent are true as a matter of coincidence.

#7

The antecedent and consequent of a conditional claim are connected by a relationship called necessary and sufficient conditions. A necessary condition is a state of affairs that must occur for another state of affairs to occur.

#8

While breathable oxygen is a necessary condition for humans to live, it is not the only condition that needs to be met. Humans also need food, water, and an environment that isn't too hot or too cold.

#9

A sufficient condition is a condition that, when met, is enough to know that some other condition has also been met. Its truth assures that the consequent is also true. In Sammy's first sentence, the children's cleaning their rooms is enough to assure them that they're going to the movies, but not enough to guarantee it.

#10

The presence of human life is a sufficient condition for the presence of breathable oxygen. This does not mean that human life causes the presence of breathable oxygen. Statements of necessary and sufficient conditions do not imply any particular type of relationship between the antecedent and consequent.

#11

A biconditional is a complex claim that expresses a relationship of equivalence between two claims. It is used to connect two claims that are equivalent in the sense that they always have the same truth value.

#12

The virtue of consistency is one of the most important for critical thinking. It is a serious charge that can be made against someone who is accused of being inconsistent. Good critical thinkers are adept at recognizing inconsistencies, and they are tenacious about eliminating them in their own beliefs.

#13

Contrariety, contradiction, and inconsistency are all forms of inconsistency. A set of claims containing a contradiction is inconsistent, since it could never be the case that the contradictory claims could be true at the same time. A set of claims containing a contradiction will always contain at least one falsehood, which makes it impossible for all of the claims to be true at the same time.

#14

There are three classes of statements: contingent, self-contradicting, and tautologies. Contingent statements are simply statements that can be either true or false. Self-contradicting statements are those that are always false, and tautologies are those that are always true.

#15

Words and ideas are often difficult to define. However, definitions are important for critical thinking. They help us understand the meanings of words and concepts, and they help us organize our thoughts.

#16

There are words that can only be defined by pointing to something in our experience, called ostensive definition. Some words, such as friend, are used in many different ways and contexts, and it can be difficult to determine what their precise meaning is.

#17

The extensional meaning of a concept is just the set of things objectively picked out by the concept. The intensional meaning of a concept, by contrast, is what people think or believe or otherwise subjectively take a concept to mean.

#18

Definitions often accomplish their task of setting the proper boundaries among concepts and tailoring terms to their proper extension by nesting them among broader but interlocking terms.

#19

Every definition has two parts, the definiendum and the definiens. The definiendum is the word or