A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking, 2nd Edition

A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking, 2nd Edition

by David A. Hunter
Released October 2014
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781118583081

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Book description

A thoroughly updated introduction to the concepts, methods, and standards of critical thinking, A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking: Deciding What to Do and Believe, Second Edition is a unique presentation of the formal strategies used when thinking through reasons and arguments in many areas of expertise. Pursuing an interdisciplinary approach to critical thinking, the book offers a broad conception of critical thinking and explores the practical relevance to conducting research across fields such as, business, education, and the biological sciences.

Applying rigor when necessary, the Second Edition maintains an informal approach to the fundamental core concepts of critical thinking. With practical strategies for defining, analyzing, and evaluating reasons and arguments, the book illustrates how the concept of an argument extends beyond philosophical roots into experimentation, testing, measurement, and policy development and assessment. Featuring plenty of updated exercises for a wide range of subject areas, A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking Deciding What to Do and Believe, Second Edition also includes:

  • Numerous real-world examples from many fields of research, which reflect the applicability of critical thinking in everyday life
  • New topical coverage, including the nature of reasons, assertion and supposing, narrow and broad definitions, circumstantial reasons, and reasoning about causal claims
  • Selected answers to various exercises to provide readers with instantaneous feedback to support and extend the lessons

A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking Deciding What to Do and Believe, Second Edition is an excellent textbook for courses on critical thinking and logic at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as an appropriate reference for anyone with a general interest in critical thinking skills.

Table of contents

  1. Preface
  2. Preface to First Edition
  3. Note to Instructors
  4. 1 The Nature and Value of Critical Thinking
    1. 1.1 The Nature of Critical Thinking
    2. 1.2 Critical Thinking and Knowledge
    3. 1.3 Knowledge and Truth
    4. 1.4 Knowledge and Belief
    5. 1.5 Knowledge and Justification
    6. 1.6 Good Reasons are Sufficient and Acceptable
    7. 1.7 When Evidence Conflicts
    8. 1.8 Critical Thinking and Personal Autonomy
    9. 1.9 Critical Thinking in Practice
  5. 2 Clarifying Meaning
    1. 2.1 The Place Of Definitions In Critical Thinking
    2. 2.2 Assertion
    3. 2.3 The Assertion Test
    4. 2.4 Constructing And Evaluating Definitions
    5. 2.5 Give A Slogan
    6. 2.6 Expand On The Slogan
    7. 2.7 Give Examples
    8. 2.8 Identify Contrasting Ideas
    9. 2.9 Thinking Critically About Frameworks
    10. 2.10 Clarifying Beliefs And Problems
    11. 2.11 Technical Definitions
    12. 2.12 Meaning In Advertisements
    13. 2.13 Critical Thinking In Practice
    14. Notes
  6. 3 Sufficient Reasons
    1. 3.1 Critical Thinking and Arguments
    2. 3.2 IDentifying Premises and Conclusions
    3. 3.3 Dependent and Independent Premises
    4. 3.4 SUB-Arguments
    5. 3.5 Evaluating Logical Support
    6. 3.6 Missing Premises
    7. 3.7 Piling on Independent Premises
    8. 3.8 Critical Thinking in Practice
  7. 4 Acceptable Reasons
    1. 4.1 Reliable Sources
    2. 4.2 Undermining and Overriding Evidence
    3. 4.3 Observation
    4. 4.4 Memory
    5. 4.5 Testimony
    6. 4.6 Advertising
    7. 4.7 News Reports
    8. 4.8 Measurement
    9. 4.9 Surveys
    10. 4.10 Critical Thinking in Practice
    11. Notes
  8. 5 Reasoning About Alternatives and Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
    1. 5.1 Reasoning About Alternatives
    2. 5.2 The Meaning of Disjunctions
    3. 5.3 Reasoning by Denying a Disjunct
    4. 5.4 False Disjunctions
    5. 5.5 When are Disjunctions Acceptable?
    6. 5.6 Exclusive Disjunctions
    7. 5.7 How to Criticize Reasoning About Alternatives
    8. 5.8 Reasoning About Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
    9. 5.9 The Meaning of Conditionals
    10. 5.10 Valid Reasoning About Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
    11. 5.11 Invalid Forms of Reasoning About Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
    12. 5.12 Making Necessary and Sufficient Conditions Explicit
    13. 5.13 When are Claims About Necessary and Sufficient Conditions Acceptable?
    14. 5.14 Reasoning with Definitions and Standards
    15. 5.15 Necessary and Sufficient Causal Conditions
    16. 5.16 Reasoning with Causal Claims
    17. 5.17 Discovering Causal Conditions
    18. 5.18 Critical Thinking in Practice
  9. 6 Reasoning by Analogy
    1. 6.1 REASONING BY PERFECT ANALOGY
    2. 6.2 IS REASONING BY PERFECT ANALOGY VALID?
    3. 6.3 WHEN IS AN ANALOGICAL CLAIM TRUE OR ACCEPTABLE?
    4. 6.4 REASONING USING REPRESENTATIONAL ANALOGY
    5. 6.5 REASONING WITH SAMPLES
    6. 6.6 WHEN ARE SAMPLES REPRESENTATIVE?
    7. 6.7 REASONING WITH MODELS AND MAPS
  10. 7 Critical Thinking in Action
    1. 7.1 Thinking Critically About a Discipline
    2. 7.2 Identifying a Discipline's Sources of Evidence
    3. 7.3 Identifying a Discipline's Forms of Reasoning
    4. 7.4 Critical-Thinking Questions
    5. 7.5 Thinking Critically in Your Own Decision Making
    6. 7.6 Thinking Critically in Discussion
    7. 7.7 From Theory to Practice: Applying What We Have Learned
  11. Appendix A Critical Thinking Mistakes
  12. Appendix B Critical Thinking Strategies
    1. B.1 General Purpose Critical Thinking Strategies
    2. B.2 Strategies for Being Reflective About Meaning
    3. B.3 Strategies for Analyzing Reasons and Arguments
  13. Index
  14. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): David A. Hunter
  • Release date: October 2014
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781118583081