Critical Thinking
crit·i·cal think·ing
noun
The objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.
Objective- Analysis- Evaluation
noun
The objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.
Objective- Analysis- Evaluation
Ethos....Pathos....Logos
Aristotle’s "ingredients for persuasion" – otherwise known as "appeals"
They are all means of persuading others to take a particular point of view.
Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing
someone of the character or credibility of the persuader.
Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an
audience of an argument by creating an emotional response.
Logos is an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason.
Read more at http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-ethos-logos-and-pathos.html#gSWRrvH6ZEAldokF.99
Aristotle’s "ingredients for persuasion" – otherwise known as "appeals"
They are all means of persuading others to take a particular point of view.
Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing
someone of the character or credibility of the persuader.
Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an
audience of an argument by creating an emotional response.
Logos is an appeal to logic, and is a way of persuading an audience by reason.
Read more at http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-ethos-logos-and-pathos.html#gSWRrvH6ZEAldokF.99
Here's another way to look at it:
Philosophers that helped to create these concepts
Socrates: A big-city philosopher in ancient Athens. Accused and convicted of corrupting the youth, his only real crime was embarrassing and irritating a number of important people.
His punishment was death.
Famous quote: "The unexamined life is not worth living."
His punishment was death.
Famous quote: "The unexamined life is not worth living."
Plato: An aristocratic man with plenty of money and he was in great shape, Plato at one time won two prizes as a championship wrestler. He became an enthusiastic and talented student of Socrates and
wrote famous dialogues featuring his teacher verbally grappling with opponents. This wrestler believed in pre-existence and immortality of the soul, holding that life is nothing more than the imprisonment
of the soul in a body.
Famous For: Writing the treatise "The Republic" on the ideal society, in which he expressed the thought that a philosopher, of all people, should be king.
wrote famous dialogues featuring his teacher verbally grappling with opponents. This wrestler believed in pre-existence and immortality of the soul, holding that life is nothing more than the imprisonment
of the soul in a body.
Famous For: Writing the treatise "The Republic" on the ideal society, in which he expressed the thought that a philosopher, of all people, should be king.
Aristotle: Plato's best student. He went on to become the very well-paid tutor of Alexander the Great,
probably the highest paid philosopher in history. Aristotle started his own philosophical school when he was 50 years old. Although he lived only ten more years, he produced nearly a thousand books and pamphlets, only a few of which have survived.
This great thinker was called a peripatetic philosopher because he liked to lecture to his students while taking a walk. Another group of philosophers were called stoics because they preferred sitting around on porches when they shot the breeze. A key theme in Aristotle's thought is that happiness is the goal of life. He decided to go into exile when conditions in Athens became a little politically dangerous for him, in his words, "...lest Athens sin twice against philosophy".
Famous For: The founder of logical theory. Aristotle believed that the greatest human endeavor is the use of reason in theoretical activity. One of his best known ideas was his conception of "The Golden Mean" (to avoid extremes) which is the counsel of moderation in all things.
probably the highest paid philosopher in history. Aristotle started his own philosophical school when he was 50 years old. Although he lived only ten more years, he produced nearly a thousand books and pamphlets, only a few of which have survived.
This great thinker was called a peripatetic philosopher because he liked to lecture to his students while taking a walk. Another group of philosophers were called stoics because they preferred sitting around on porches when they shot the breeze. A key theme in Aristotle's thought is that happiness is the goal of life. He decided to go into exile when conditions in Athens became a little politically dangerous for him, in his words, "...lest Athens sin twice against philosophy".
Famous For: The founder of logical theory. Aristotle believed that the greatest human endeavor is the use of reason in theoretical activity. One of his best known ideas was his conception of "The Golden Mean" (to avoid extremes) which is the counsel of moderation in all things.
There are three steps to argument identification
which is a part of critical thinking.
Understand the Context:
Is someone trying to convince you of something?
Identify the Conclusion:
What are they trying to convince you of?
Identify the Reasons:
Why do they think you should believe them?
(http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/crit_think/ctw-m/ident.htm)
which is a part of critical thinking.
Understand the Context:
Is someone trying to convince you of something?
Identify the Conclusion:
What are they trying to convince you of?
Identify the Reasons:
Why do they think you should believe them?
(http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/crit_think/ctw-m/ident.htm)
A fun Monty Python parady video regarding argument strategies.
Logic and consistency
In addition to exploring Critical Thinking through the lens of persuasion, it is important to understand critical thinking's relationship to clarity. As such the basics of logic in argumentation are important to understand. These concepts include definition, assumption, relations, and common logical fallacies.
Below is a link to download a PowerPoint containing a brief lecture delivered to the Capstone class on these subjects. |
critical_thinking_consistency_ethics_and_belief..pptx |
An exploration of symbolic logic leads naturally into some basic concepts in epistemology. Most modern explanations are rooted in some form of empiricism. Underlying the theory of empiricism is (often) the idea of Correspondence as a measure of truth. The correspondence theory of truth holds that our language of explanation is truth if its objects (words) and rules of it's relations correspond to the real world. This common epistemological view underpins the importance of consistency in concepts and the linguistic expressions that compose arguments. It also however introduces us to the issue of skepticism about explanations, and the issue of constructionism in categories.