Lecture 14 - Critical Thinking 3

• Why study critical thinking?
• How to think critically
• Spotting flawed arguments
• Dealing with them

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Why study critical thinking?

• Critical thinking is a good habit to get into.
• It makes it harder for people to deceive you.
• Many argument techniques rely on unthinking responses.
• Pushing your buttons!
• Useful in politics
• Useful in negotiations - workload, contract, salary...

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How to think critically

• Question *everything* you hear.
• Think about every statement.
• Be conscious of your emotional responses
• Be aware of argumentative techniques
  • Practice spotting them
  • Practice thinking up counter-arguments and other explanations

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Spotting Flawed Arguments

Argument types:

• Red Herrings
• Emotional Manipulation
• Appeals to authority
• Personal attacks (ad hominem)
• Misleading use of evidence (such as statistics and graphs)
• The truth but not the whole truth
  • particularly common in politics these days
  • I was never told (but I read about it)
  • I didn't meet with him (but we spoke on the phone)
  • He never came to my office (but I had dinner at his house)
  • Universities now receive more funding than ever before
  • No staff will be sacked (but no contracts will be renewed)

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Dealing with Flawed Arguments

What options do you have in the face of these statements?

• Other people are saying this about you...
• This is what everyone else is doing.
• I've tried that, it doesn't work.
• I have no choice but to do things this way, there's nothing I can do for you.
• You are just being difficult.