CS COMP 149 - “How to Solve It”
Principles - Critical Thinking - Fall-Spring
| Rubrics Groups Evaluations Score Sheets Portfolio Projects Presentations Role of English How to Solve It |
Principles Critical thinking is based on concepts and principles, not on hard and fast, or step-by-step, procedures. Critical thinking is principle based keeping us from forms of self-deception, individually and socially. A principle is a basic rule of personal conduct that guides or influences your thoughts or actions such as "the principles of democracy." For example: the ethics and behavior of someone may be seen as a set of principles that the individual obeys. These principles form the basis for their ethics. Critical Thinkers are not interested in feelings or opinions, but analyses, understandings, proofs and arguments. To practice arguments you should start with what is called a justified belief. For a belief to be justified there must be strong evidence for it. If a belief is not justified it is just an opinion and opinions are like noses. "Everybody has one and most of them smell!" A justified belief tries to be objective, to look at the facts and the evidence and tries not to be subjective. There is no such thing as "true to me." People may believe different things to be true, but that doesn't mean different things are true. Critical thinking involves acquiring information and evaluating it to reach a well-justified conclusion or answer. Critical thinking skills include: humility, empathy, integrity, and fair-mindedness. It requires us to analyze, evaluate, and restructure our thinking, decreasing thereby the risk of acting on, or thinking with a false premise. Critical thinking does not guarantee that we will arrive at truth, but it does make it more likely than any of the alternatives. For example, you can believe in god ("I believe")("What they tell me") of how the universe was formed or perhaps common explanations of the meaning of the phrases in the Koran, Bible or Torah. For example: If you read the original text of a religious book, agreed upon by a variety of religious scholars to be the original text or a proper translation of one, you gain insight into what the writer said. If you then think about what was written, read what a variety of other scholars have to say on the same subject and independently come to YOUR OWN understanding of the meaning of the writer, then that is a form of critical thinking. If you follow blindly, without question what some "expert" has told you, that is NOT critical thinking. Critical thinking can be flawed by: and still be skeptical or critical of popular opinions
Given the nature of the process, critical thinking is never final. You can arrive at a temporary conclusion, given the evidence and based on an evaluation. However, the conclusion must always remain subject to further evaluation and change if new information is found to contradict old, or form new conclusions. |
First Semester Second Semester Critical Thinking: Goals Introduction What is it? Abstract Reasoning Arguments & Claims Principles Modeling & Questions Common Concepts References *Vocabulary *Carlin Oxymorons *6 Basic Mistakes *Baloney Detection *Irrationalities,Fallacies *7 Rules Thinking Skills *Knowledge for Business *The Plan *Dangerous Ideas |