Critical Thinking Fundamentals

Critical Thinking Definition

• Critical Thinking is the careful, deliberate determination of whether we should accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim.
• Critical Thinking involves a determination of the degree of confidence with which to accept or reject a claim.
• A critical thinker is concerned about how well a belief or claim is supported by reasons (premises).
• Critical thinking helps to expose fallacies or errors in reasoning.

Analyzing Statements

• A critical thinker analyses statements and arguments by breaking them down into constituent parts.
• Critical thinkers evaluate these statements to distinguish good (correct) from bad (incorrect) reasoning.

Critical Thinking Purpose

• Critical thinking aims to respond to and solve practical problems of existence.
• The value of critical thinking lies in its application to real-world issues.
• This course is designed around critical thinking and practical reasoning.

Course Goals

• The course equips individuals with concepts, methods, tools, principles, and techniques.
• The course helps establish and differentiate logical truth (linguistic certainties) from empirical truth (observation-based contingencies).

Critical Thinking as a Universal Skill

• Critical Thinking is topic-neutral, transcending disciplines.
• Critical thinking applies across academic fields and aspects of everyday life, including medicine, law, politics, religion, culture, and military practices.

Benefits of Critical Thinking

• Critical thinkers make better decisions because they are less gullible.
• Critical thinkers are clear about their beliefs, not merely following the crowd.
• Critical thinkers are effective communicators, presenting points of view in a clear, structured, and reasoned manner.

Critical Thinking as Problem Solving

• Critical thinkers are invaluable problem-solvers, accommodating other views.
• Critical thinkers examine, assess, and evaluate issues on merit.

Critical Thinking Skills

• Open-mindedness
• Inquiring mind with constant question-asking
• Analytical skills
• Evaluative skills
• Communicative skills

Course Objectives

• Equipping students for effective speaking
• Sound reasoning and analysis
• Conceptual clarity
• Skill in recognizing, diagnosing, and solving problems in the work environment and everyday life

Sentence-Shaped Thought

• Thoughts are often captured or expressed in language
• "Sentence shaped thought" means our thought is shaped into a sentence.
• Unit 1 aims to help students understand the need to subject thoughts (both their own and others') to scrutiny.

Effective Communication

• As a critical thinker, you should say what you mean and mean what you say.
• If you do not mean what you say, it is difficult to trust your words at all.

Unit 1 Objectives

• Distinguish a declarative sentence from an imperative and an interrogative sentence
• Recognize sentence fragments and emotive expressions
• Understand why declarative sentences alone have a 'truth-value'
• Identify the three types of declarative statements (factual, value judgments, and definitions)
• Distinguish between sentences and statements
• Recognize implicit and explicit meanings of expressions

Unit 1 Topics

• Types of sentence-shaped thought: interrogative, imperative, and declarative
• Recognizing sentence fragments and emotive expressions
• Types of declarative statements: factual statements, value judgments, and definitions
• Distinguishing a sentence from a statement

Unit 1 Assignment

• Read Unit 1 of the Recommended Text (pages 4-12).
• Study the slides posted in resources and announcements.
• Be aware of the open date for assessment one (week three).

Types of Sentences: Interrogatives

• Interrogatives (questions) are sentences used to seek information.
• Interrogatives do not have a truth-value and are not truth bearers.

Types of Sentences: Imperatives

• Imperatives (commands, requests, directives, instructions) are sentences that express a demand for someone to perform an action.
• Imperatives do not have a truth-value and are not truth bearers.

Types of Sentences: Declaratives

• Declaratives (statements, propositions, assertions) are sentences that convey information and can be either true or false, because they have a truth-value.
• Only declaratives can be either true or false (have a truth-value).

Recognizing Sentence Fragments

• Sentence fragments are incomplete sentences that do not express a complete thought.
• Sentence fragments have no truth value and are not truth bearers.

Recognizing Emotive Expression

• Emotive expressions are sentences that express feelings or exclamations.
• Emotive expressions have no basis for rational evaluation, have no truth-value, and are not truth bearers.

Types of Declaratives: Factual Statements

• Factual statements objectively describe what is through sense observation.
• A factual statement may be factually true or factually false, but its truth or falsity does not depend on the subject's viewpoint.

Types of Declaratives: Value Judgments

• Value judgments subjectively prescribe or evaluate how something should be.
• Value judgements express the viewpoint of the subject, rather than stating facts about the object.

Moral Value Judgements

• Moral value judgments include statements such as "Abortion is evil"
• Moral value judgments include statements such as "You should not talk back at your supervisor."

Non-Moral Value Judgements

• Non-moral value judgments include statements such as "He is a good boxer“
• Non-moral value judgments include statements such as "My phone has a good screen“
• Metaphors are another way of expressing a value judgement

Types of Declaratives: Definitions

• A definition is a sentence that gives meaning to a word.
• A definition can be either true or false, depending on whether the meaning is correct.

Definition Parts

• Definiendum: The word being defined
• Definiens: The part of the definition which gives the meaning

Sentences vs. Statements

• A sentence is a collection of words with a complete thought or meaning
• A statement is a type of sentence that can be either true or false.
• All statements are sentences, but not all sentences are statements.
• Sentences can be statements, questions or commands