Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking ...

[Pages:34]Eighth Edition

Asking the Right Questions

ai ai GQ ?

A Guide to Critical Thinking

M. Neil Browne Stuart M. Keeley

Bowling Green State University

^ ^ ^ ^ ? ? ? H Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Browne, M. Neil, (date)

Asking the right questions: a guide to critical thinking/M. Neil Browne, Stuart M.

Keeley.--8th ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 0-13-220304-9

1. Criticism. 2 . Critical thinking. I. Keeley, Stuart M., 1941 II. Title.

PN83.B785 2007

808--dc22

2005032905

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Contents

Preface viii

1 The Benefit of Asking the Right Questions 1

Introduction 1 Critical Thinking to the Rescue 2 The Sponge and Panning for Gold: Alternative Thinking Styles 3 An Example of the Panning-for-Gold Approach 5 Panning for Gold: Asking Critical Questions 7 The Myth of the "Right Answer" 7 Thinking and Feeling 8 The Efficiency of Asking the Question, "Who Cares?" 9 Weak-Sense and Strong-Sense Critical Thinking 10 The Satisfaction of Using the Panning-for-Gold Approach 11 Trying Out New Answers 11 Effective Communication and Critical Thinking 12 The Importance of Practice 12 The Right Questions 13

2 What Are the Issue and the Conclusion? 15

Kinds of Issues 16 Searching for the Issue 17 Searching for the Author's or Speaker's Conclusion 18 Clues to Discovery: How to Find the Conclusion 19 Critical Thinking and Your Own Writing and Speaking 21 Practice Exercises 22

3 What Are the Reasons? 25

Reasons + Conclusion = Argument 26 Initiating the Questioning Process 27 Words That Identify Reasons 29

iii

iv

Contents

Kinds of Reasons 29 Keeping the Reasons and Conclusions Straight 31 Reasons First, Then Conclusions 32 "Fresh" Reasons and Your Growth 32 Critical Thinking and Your Own Writing and Speaking 33 Practice Exercises 33

4 What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous? 37

The Confusing Flexibility of Words 38 Locating Key Terms and Phrases 39 Checking for Ambiguity 40 Determining Ambiguity 41 Context and Ambiguity 43 Ambiguity, Definitions, and the Dictionary 44 Ambiguity and Loaded Language 46 Limits of Your Responsibility to Clarify Ambiguity 48 Ambiguity and Your Own Writing and Speaking 48 Summary 49 Practice Exercises 50

5 What Are the Value Conflicts and Assumptions? 53

General Guide for Identifying Assumptions 55 Value Conflicts and Assumptions 56 Discovering Values 57 From Values to Value Assumptions 58 Typical Value Conflicts 60 The Communicator's Background as a Clue to

Value Assumptions 61 Consequences as Clues to Value Assumptions 61 More Hints for Finding Value Assumptions 63 Avoiding a Typical Difficulty When Identifying Value Assumptions 64 Finding Value Assumptions on Your Own 65 Values and Relativism 67 Summary 68 Practice Exercises 68

6 What Are the Descriptive Assumptions? 71

Illustrating Descriptive Assumptions 72 Clues for Locating Assumptions 74 Applying the Clues 76 Avoiding Analysis of Trivial Assumptions 78 Assumptions and Your Own Writing and Speaking 78

Contents

v

Summary 79 Practice Exercises 79

7 Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning? 83

A Questioning Approach to Finding Reasoning Fallacies 85 Evaluating Assumptions as a Starting Point 86 Discovering Other Common Reasoning Fallacies 88 Looking for Diversions 94 Sleight of Hand: Begging the Question 96 Summary of Reasoning Errors 97 Expanding Your Knowledge of Fallacies 99 Fallacies and Your Own Writing and Speaking 99 Practice Exercises 99

8 How Good Is the Evidence: Intuition, Personal Experience, Testimonials, and Appeals to Authority? 103

The Need for Evidence 104 Locating Factual Claims 105 Sources of Evidence 106 Intuition as Evidence 107 Dangers of Appealing to Personal Experience as Evidence 108 Personal Testimonials as Evidence 109 Appeals to Authority as Evidence 110 Summary 113 Practice Exercises 114

9 How Good Is the Evidence: Personal Observation, Research Studies, Case Examples, and Analogies? 117

Personal Observation 117 Research Studies as Evidence 118 Generalizing from the Research Sample 123 Biased Surveys and Questionnaires 124 Critical Evaluation of a Research-Based Argument 126 Case Examples as Evidence 128 Analogies as Evidence 129 Summary 133 Practice Exercises 134

10 Are There Rival Causes? 137

When to Look for Rival Causes 138 The Pervasiveness of Rival Causes 139

vi

Contents

Detecting Rival Causes 141 The Cause or A Cause 142 Rival Causes and Scientific Research 143 Rival Causes for Differences Between Groups 144 Confusing Causation with Association 146 Confusing "After this" with "Because of this" 147 Explaining Individual Events or Acts 149 Evaluating Rival Causes 150 Evidence and Your Own Writing and Speaking 150 Summary 150 Practice Exercises 151

11 Are the Statistics Deceptive? 155

Unknowable and Biased Statistics 156 Confusing Averages 156 Concluding One Thing, Proving Another 158 Deceiving by Omitting Information 159 Risk Statistics and Omitted Information 161 Summary 162 Practice Exercises 163

12 What Significant Information Is Omitted? 167

The Benefits of Detecting Omitted Information 168 The Certainty of Incomplete Reasoning 168 Questions that Identify Omitted Information 170 The Importance of the Negative View 174 Omitted Information That Remains Missing 175 Missing Information and Your Own Writing and Speaking 176 Practice Exercises 176

13 What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible? 181

Assumptions and Multiple Conclusions 182 Dichotomous Thinking: Impediment to Considering Multiple Conclusions 182 Two Sides or Many? 183 Searching for Multiple Conclusions 185 Productivity of If-Clauses 186 Alternative Solutions as Conclusions 187 The Liberating Effect of Recognizing Alternative Conclusions 188 All Conclusions Are Not Created Equal 188 Summary 189 Practice Exercises 196

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