Zelda, thanks for the postings. I'm a strong believer in good "critical thinking" skills, as taught me by the Army about 10 years ago in leadership course at Fort Belvoir, VA.
There's a notable effort being made to teach people how to think critically, as per their website at:
CriticalThinking.org - Center for Critical Thinking
For those perusing this thread, critical thinking doesn't mean being critical and nasty, it means approaching a topic or discussion in a measured way to look for the logical fallacies and all the other sins of sloppy thinking.
Here's the gist of what I learned.
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Enemies of Critical Thinking, Compiled by Linda B. Nilson, Director, Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University.
Enemy #1: Logical Fallacies
Non sequitur: Occurs when one statement is not logically connected to another. (AKA ‘disjointed,’ ‘hit or miss,’ ‘all over the map.’)
Ad hominem: Occurs when the writer (or speaker) personally attacks his or her opponents instead of finding fault with their argument. (A serious breach of professional behavior. Attack the idea, not the person.)
Straw man: Occurs when the writer directs the argument against a claim that nobody actually holds or that everyone agrees is weak; often involves misrepresentation or distortion of the opposing argument. (“Much ado about nothing.â€)
Red herring: Occurs when a writer raises irrelevant issues to draw attention away from the central issue. (A diversionary tactic.)
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc: Occurs when the writer implies that because one event follows another, the first caused the second. Chronology is not the same as causality.
Sequential fallacy: Occurs when the writer implies that two simultaneous events are causally related.
Begging the question: Occurs when the believability of the support itself depends upon the believability of the claim. Another name for this kind of fallacy is circular reasoning.
Failing to accept the burden of proof: Occurs when the writer asserts a claim but provides no support for it. (PROVE IT!)
Hasty generalization: Occurs when the writer asserts a claim on the basis of an isolated example. (If one cop eats donuts, don't assume that all cops will do the same.)
Sweeping generalizations: Occurs when the writer fails to qualify the applicability of the claim and asserts that it applies to "all" instances instead of to "some" instances. (It’s advisable to avoid use of superlatives in writing or thinking, i.e., be cautious using words like ‘all’ or ‘every’ as they leave no room for flexibility or reasonableness.)
Overgeneralizations: Occurs when writer fails to qualify a claim and asserts that it is "certainly true" rather than it "may be true."
Slippery slope: Occurs when the writer argues that taking one step will lead inevitably to a next step, one that is undesirable. (Remember the so-called ‘domino theory’ used to justify American involvement in the war in South Vietnam? This theory held that “if South Vietnam fell to communists, then all of Southeast Asia would in-turn fall like domino’s, one after another.)
Equivocation: Occurs when a writer uses the same term in two different senses in an argument.
Oversimplification: Occurs when an argument obscures or denies the complexity of the issue.
Either-or reasoning, or false division: Occurs when a writer reduces the issue to only two alternatives that are polar opposites. (A childlike good/bad view of the world. Few things are purely black or white, most issues have many shades of gray, few solutions are ‘best’ as there are many ways to skin the proverbial cat. George Bush with his war in Iraq "If you don't support the war then you're supporting the terrorists.)
Double standard: Occurs when two or more comparable things are judged according to different standards; often involves holding the opposing argument to a higher standard than the one to which the writer holds his or her own argument.
Reification: Occurs when the writer portrays the symbol as the actual thing and therefore misplaces his or her response to the thing onto the symbol.
Ambiguous words or phrases: Occurs when the writer uses words or phrases that have unclear, unspecific or many different meanings without clarifying his or her specific meaning. These are often used to evoke a purely emotional response.
Emotional appeal: Occurs when the writer tries to excite or appeal to only the reader's emotions.
Ethical appeal: Occurs when the writer tries to convince readers to accept an argument on the basis of his or her moral credentials. (Many televangelists turned out to be crooks! Many "family values" politicians turned out not so.)
Appeal to tradition: Occurs when the writer's grounds rest solely on the "goodness" of what has been done in the past.
Appeal to ignorance: Occurs when the writer argues that something is valid because it is not known to be false.
Add to the above warning signs those of shoddy and deceptive research, such as unacceptable violations of scientific methods and statistical assumptions. (Statistics is a science all its own. If in need of statistical support, consult someone trained in statistics. ORSA’s can help with the use and validity of statistical measures.)
Enemy #2: Psycho-logical Fallacies
Assimilation: Occurs when a person distorts his or her perception and/or memory of an object, event or person to fit into his or her existing beliefs or attitudes.
Denial: Occurs when a person refuses to acknowledge certain impulses or emotions in oneself. Typically, they also become insensitive to or critical of similar impulses or emotions in others.
Displacement: Occurs when a person transfers an emotion from its original focus to another object, person or event.
Externalization: Occurs when a person's unresolved inner conflicts or emotions distort their perception of another person, event or issue.
Projection: Occurs when a person ascribes to others his or her own attitudes, emotions, beliefs or thoughts.
Rationalization: Occurs when a person attributes his or her opinions or behavior to causes that seem valid but are not the true, possibly unconscious causes.
Regression: Occurs when a person reverts to a developmentally earlier or less adapted pattern of feeling or behavior.
Repression: Occurs when a person rejects consciousness of painful or disagreeable impulses, emotions, thoughts or memories.
Resistance: Occurs when a person opposes an attempt to bring repressed impulses, emotions, thoughts or memories to consciousness.
Selective Perception/Recall: Occurs when a person fails to perceive/recall what threatens his or her existing beliefs or attitudes.
Sublimation: Occurs when a person diverts the energy of a biological impulse from its immediate goal to a higher social, moral or aesthetical goal.
Suppression: Occurs when one consciously inhibits an impulse, emotion, thought or memory.
Transference: Occurs when one shifts emotions, especially those experienced in childhood, from one person or object to another, especially the transfer of feelings about a parent to a therapist.
Withdrawal: Occurs when a person removes his or her energy or consciousness from situation that is currently threatening or painful.
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It's not about telling anyone WHAT to think (form of enslavement?). It's about teaching HOW to think (very liberating!).
s/Mike
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