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Copyright, iv
Preface, xi
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
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, 49
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
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
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, 190
14. Practice and Review, 193
Question Checklist for Critical Thinking, 193
Asking the Right Questions: A Comprehensive Example, 194
What Are the Issue and the Conclusion?, 196
What Are the Reasons?, 196
What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous?, 197
What Are the Value Conflicts and Assumptions?, 198
What Are the Descriptive Assumptions?, 198
Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning?, 199
How Good Is the Evidence?, 200
Are There Rival Causes?, 201
Are the Statistics Deceptive?, 201
What Significant Information Is Omitted?, 202
What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible?, 203
Final Word, 205
The Tone of Your Critical Thinking, 205
Strategies for Effective Critical Thinking, 206

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