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30 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Universal elements of reasoning
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Purposes Information
Questions Concepts Assumptions Inferences Implications Points of View |
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Point of View
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Each of us is at the center of our own point of view. We see from our vantage point. The critical thinker must be able to identify within which point of view reasoning occurs.
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Purpose
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Purpose is the goal or objective of reasoning. It describes the desired outcome or intent
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Questions
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critical thinker should ask...
What question needs to be answered?or What problem needs to be solved? or What issue needs to be resolved?As an aspiring critical thinker, you need to learn how to clearly frame the question, problem, or issue at which your reasoning is directed |
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Assumptions
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These encompass everything we take for granted as true in order to figure out something else.
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Implications
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The implications of our reasoning are what extend beyond the position we reach. They form the answer to the question, "What follows from our reasoning?"
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Information
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Information takes many forms: statistical data, our observations, others' testimony, etc. In thinking critically about an issue, we must determine what information is relevant to it.
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Concepts
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These are general categories or ideas by which we interpret or classify information used in our thinking. When we think about anything (for example, a new law), we reason based on some concept of that thing (for example, its fairness or unfairness).
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Inferences
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In reasoning, we sometimes begin with something we know (or at least, which we believe we know) and figure out something else based on it.
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Paul and Elder
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Our purpose affects how we ask questions
→ How we ask questions affects the information we gather → The information we gather affects the inferences we make from it → What we infer from the information affects how we conceptualize it → How we conceptualize the information affects the assumptions we make → The assumptions we make affect the implications that follow from our thinking → The implications affect how we see things - i.e., our point of view |
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Clarity
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We must be clear in our own mind about what we mean
We must express what we mean clearly so others understand us |
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Accuracy
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We think accurately when our reasoning expresses how things actually are
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Precision
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Reasoning is precise when it is specific, exact, and sufficiently detailed
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Relevance
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Something is relevant when it pertains to the problem we seek to solve
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Depth
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plumbs beneath the surface of an issue or problem to identify the underlying complexities; and addresses those complexities in an intellectually responsible way
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Breath
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Our reasoning is broad when it considers the issue at hand from every relevant viewpoint
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Logic
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Thinking is logical when thoughts and the order in which they are organized are mutually supportive and make sense in combination
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Significance
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Our reasoning should concentrate on the most important information relevant to the issue at hand
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Fairness
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Our thinking is fair when it is justified
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Inert Information
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Memorizing information without understanding it describes inert information.
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Activated Ignorance
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Activated ignorance entails mentally taking in and actively using false information.
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Questions of Fact
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Have only 1 answer
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Questions of preference
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Many answers based on subjective likes
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Questions of judgement
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More than one answer, with some better than others
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Common factor
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In analyzing causation, looking for a single shared factor
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Single difference
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In analyzing causation, looking for a causal factor that is present in one situation but absent in another, similar, situation
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Concomitant variation
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In analyzing causation, looking for a pattern of variation between a possible cause and a possible effect
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Process of elimination
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In analyzing causation, successively ruling out non-causal actors until one correct causal factor remains
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Activated knowledge
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Taking into the mind, and actively using information that is true and also, when understood insightfully, leads us by implication to more and more knowledge
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Uncritical thinkers
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Intellectually unskilled thinkers
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