Welcome

Welcome to this Tertiary English and Critical Thinking (CT) Paper.

The emphasis in this course is on developing critical thinking skills in order to read and write texts successfully in an academic setting. We will be proceeding week by week trying to develop these skills systematically.

Critical thinking involves a "mindset" - an attitude towards reading and interpreting information, as well as producing and writing information.

Here is a very basic list of some of the skills involved.

In this modern media-saturated world, critical thinkers are desparately needed.

Some of you are also studying Foundation Logic Skills. This is often called formal logic or symbolic logic and involves the manipulation of symbols.

In this paper we will be looking at more informal logic which involves examines how language is used to develop arguments concerning all sorts of topics.

Critical thinking (CT) involves not only the application of CT skills, but also having an attitude of mind that cares about what is really meant by the Truth

Here is a link to a podcast that discusses the very basics of critical thinking. And here is the transcript of the podcast.

Informal Logic Journal

Week 2

This week we move towards our first analysis of a simple text.
On the journey we will reflect on what constitutes a basic argument and try to identify premises and conclusions. The importance of clear defintions will be reflected on. We will also look at comparing and contrasting concepts and ideas. The difference between fact and opinion will also be on the menu.

Contention of the week: The driving age should be raised to 18.

A site to see arguments being developed.

Important sites

http://philosophy.lander.edu/logic/quizzes.html

http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/

http://www.poweroflogic.com/cgi/menu.cgi

http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/

http://www.studygs.net/crtthk.htm

Week 1

This purpose of this week is too introduce the concept of critical thinking.

Part of which will be introduce some of the key terms and ideas involved in critical thinking.

What then are some of the most important terms?

Critical
Reasoning
Arguments/rhetoric
Definitions        One helpful way to look at meanings
Premises
Assumptions
Comparative knowledge
Contextual knowledge
Ambiguity
Evidence
What is truth (fact or opinion)
Fallacy
Relevance
Necessary or/and sufficient conditions
Statistical reasoning
Rhetoric     (logos, pathos and ethos)