About the Authors |
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iii | |
Preface |
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xv | |
Acknowledgments |
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xix | |
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xxi | |
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A Start-Up Definition of Critical Thinking |
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xxi | |
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An Expanded Conception of Critical Thinking |
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xxii | |
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How Skilled Are You as a Thinker? |
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xxiii | |
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Good Thinking Requires Hard Work |
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xxv | |
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The Roots of Critical Thinking |
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xxix | |
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Become a Critic of Your Thinking |
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xxx | |
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Establish New Habits of Thought |
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xxxii | |
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Develop Confidence in Your Ability to Reason and Figure Things Out |
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xxxiii | |
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An Overview of the Primary Concepts in Critical Thinking in Diagram Form |
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xxxvii | |
Chapter 1 Become A Fairminded Thinker |
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1 | (26) |
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Weak versus Strong Critical Thinking |
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1 | (4) |
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What Does Fairmindedness Require? |
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5 | (20) |
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Intellectual Humility: Strive to Discover the Extent of Your Ignorance |
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6 | (3) |
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Intellectual Courage: Develop the Courage to Challenge Popular Beliefs and Your Own Beliefs |
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9 | (2) |
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Intellectual Empathy: Learn to Enter Opposing Views Empathically |
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11 | (2) |
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Intellectual Integrity: Hold Yourself to the Same Standards to Which You Hold Others |
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13 | (2) |
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Intellectual Perseverance: Refuse to Give Up Easily; Work Your Way through Complexities and Frustration |
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15 | (1) |
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Confidence in Reason: Be Moved by Evidence and Good Reasoning as You Seek the Truth |
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16 | (3) |
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Intellectual Autonomy: Value Independence of Thought |
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19 | (2) |
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Recognize the Interdependence of Intellectual Virtues |
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21 | (4) |
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25 | (2) |
Chapter 2 The First Four Stages of Development At What Level of Thinking Would You Place Yourself? |
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27 | (16) |
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Stage 1: The Unreflective Thinker |
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28 | (1) |
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Stage 2: The Challenged Thinker |
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29 | (3) |
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Stage 3: The Beginning Thinker |
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32 | (4) |
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Stage 4: The Practicing Thinker |
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36 | (1) |
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A "Game Plan" for Improvement |
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37 | (1) |
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A Game Plan for Devising a Game Plan |
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37 | (3) |
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Integrating Strategies One by One |
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40 | (3) |
Chapter 3 Self-Understanding In A Complex World |
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43 | (14) |
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Monitor the Egocentrism in Your Thought and Life |
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44 | (1) |
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Make a Commitment to Fairmindedness |
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45 | (1) |
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Recognize the Mind's Three Distinctive Functions |
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46 | (1) |
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Understand That You Have a Special Relationship to Your Mind |
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47 | (5) |
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Connect Academic Subjects to Your Life and Problems |
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52 | (1) |
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Learn Both Intellectually and Emotionally |
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52 | (2) |
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Be Aware of How the Internet and Other Technologies Pervade and Affect Your Life |
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54 | (1) |
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How the Internet Works: The Big Picture |
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55 | (1) |
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Assess a Given Website Using Critical Thinking Standards |
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56 | (1) |
Chapter 4 The Parts of Thinking |
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57 | (32) |
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Reasoning Is Everywhere in Human Life |
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58 | (1) |
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59 | (8) |
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A First Look at the Elements of Thought |
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61 | (4) |
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An Everyday Example: Jack and Jill |
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65 | (1) |
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66 | (1) |
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How the Parts of Thinking Fit Together |
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66 | (1) |
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The Relationship between the Elements |
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67 | (1) |
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Critical Thinkers Think to Some Purpose |
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68 | (1) |
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Critical Thinkers Take Command of Concepts |
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69 | (3) |
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Critical Thinkers Assess Information |
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72 | (5) |
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72 | (1) |
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73 | (1) |
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74 | (3) |
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Critical Thinkers Distinguish between Inferences and Assumptions |
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77 | (6) |
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Critical Thinkers Think through Implications |
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83 | (2) |
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Critical Thinkers Think Across Points of View |
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85 | (3) |
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The Point of View of the Critical Thinker |
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88 | (1) |
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88 | (1) |
Chapter 5 Standards For Thinking |
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89 | (34) |
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Take a Deeper Look at Universal Intellectual Standards |
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91 | (13) |
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91 | (1) |
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92 | (2) |
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94 | (1) |
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95 | (1) |
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96 | (1) |
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97 | (1) |
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98 | (1) |
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99 | (1) |
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99 | (2) |
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101 | (3) |
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Bring Together the Elements of Reasoning and the Intellectual Standards |
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|
104 | (19) |
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Purpose, Goal, or End in View |
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105 | (1) |
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Question at Issue or Problem to Be Solved |
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106 | (2) |
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Point of View or Frame of Reference |
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108 | (1) |
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Information, Data, Experiences |
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108 | (1) |
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Concepts, Theories, Ideas |
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109 | (1) |
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110 | (1) |
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Implications and Consequences |
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110 | (1) |
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111 | (1) |
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Brief Guidelines for Using Intellectual Standards |
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112 | (11) |
Chapter 6 Ask Questions That Lead to Good Thinking |
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123 | (20) |
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The Importance of Questions in Thinking |
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123 | (1) |
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Questioning Your Questions |
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124 | (1) |
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Dead Questions Reflect Inert Minds |
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125 | (1) |
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Three Categories of Questions |
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126 | (4) |
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Become a Socratic Questioner |
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130 | (11) |
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Focus Your Thinking on the Type of Question Being Asked |
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132 | (2) |
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Focus Your Questions on Universal Intellectual Standards for Thought |
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134 | (1) |
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Focus Your Questions on the Elements of Thought |
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135 | (2) |
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Focus Your Questions on Prior Questions |
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137 | (1) |
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Focus Your Questions on Domains of Thinking |
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|
138 | (3) |
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|
141 | (2) |
Chapter 7 Master the Thinking, Master the Content |
|
143 | (10) |
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Go Beyond Superficial Memorization to Deep Learning |
|
|
144 | (1) |
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The Relation of Content to Thinking |
|
|
145 | (1) |
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Understand Content through Thinking and Thinking through Content |
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|
146 | (3) |
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Learning Any Content Entails Figuring Things Out Within the Content |
|
|
147 | (1) |
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All Content Is Organized by Concepts |
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147 | (1) |
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All Content Is Logically Interdependent |
|
|
148 | (1) |
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Think through Your Classes Using Your Knowledge of Thinking |
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149 | (1) |
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150 | (3) |
Chapter 8 Discover How the Best Thinkers Learn |
|
153 | (38) |
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Twenty Ideas for Improving Your Studies |
|
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154 | (2) |
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The Logic of a Typical College Class |
|
|
156 | (4) |
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Becoming a Skilled Thinker |
|
|
157 | (1) |
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The Design of a Typical College Class and the Typical College Student |
|
|
158 | (2) |
|
Figure Out the Underlying Concept of Your Courses |
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160 | (2) |
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Figure Out the Form of Thinking Essential to Courses or Subjects |
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|
162 | (2) |
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Think Within the Logic of the Subject |
|
|
164 | (1) |
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The Logic of Six Academic Disciplines |
|
|
165 | (18) |
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165 | (1) |
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166 | (1) |
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The Logic of Aerospace Engineering |
|
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167 | (1) |
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The Logic of Electrical Engineering |
|
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168 | (1) |
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169 | (3) |
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The Logic of Biochemistry |
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|
172 | (11) |
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Make the Design of the Course Work for You |
|
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183 | (1) |
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Sample Course: American History, 1600-1800 |
|
|
183 | (1) |
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Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening, and Thinking |
|
|
183 | (2) |
|
Figure Out the Logic of an Article or Essay |
|
|
185 | (2) |
|
Figure Out the Logic of a Textbook |
|
|
187 | (1) |
|
Criteria for Evaluating an Author's Reasoning |
|
|
188 | (3) |
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A Test to Repeat in Every Class and Subject |
|
|
189 | (2) |
Chapter 9 Redefine Grades as Levels of Thinking and Learning |
|
191 | (10) |
|
Develop Strategies for Self-Assessment |
|
|
192 | (1) |
|
Use Profiles to Assess Your Performance |
|
|
192 | (3) |
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Exemplary Students (Grade of A) |
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193 | (1) |
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High-Performing Students (Grade of B) |
|
|
193 | (1) |
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Mixed-Quality Students (Grade of C) |
|
|
194 | (1) |
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Low-Performing Students (Grade of D or F) |
|
|
194 | (1) |
|
Apply Student Profiles to Assess Your Performance Within Subjects |
|
|
195 | (4) |
|
Exemplary Thinking as a Student of Psychology (Grade of A) |
|
|
195 | (1) |
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High-Performing Thinking as a Student of Psychology (Grade of B) |
|
|
196 | (1) |
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Mixed-Quality Thinking as a Student of Psychology (Grade of C) |
|
|
197 | (1) |
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Low-Performing Thinking as a Student of Psychology (Grade of D or F) |
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197 | (2) |
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|
199 | (2) |
Chapter 10 Make Decisions and Solve Problems |
|
201 | (26) |
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|
201 | (9) |
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Evaluating Patterns in Decision-Making |
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|
202 | (1) |
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|
203 | (1) |
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The Logic of Decision-Making |
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|
203 | (3) |
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Dimensions of Decision-Making |
|
|
206 | (1) |
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The Early Decisions (TWo to Eleven Years of Age) |
|
|
207 | (1) |
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Adolescent Decisions (1Welve to Seventeeen Years of Age) |
|
|
208 | (2) |
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|
210 | (15) |
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Becoming an Activist Problem-Solver |
|
|
210 | (1) |
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Evaluating Patterns in Your Problem-Solving |
|
|
211 | (2) |
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213 | (1) |
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Dimensions of Problem-Solving |
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213 | (5) |
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Avoiding the Pitfalls of Problem-Solving |
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|
218 | (3) |
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Analyzing Problems Using the Elements of Thought |
|
|
221 | (2) |
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The Art of Problem-Solving |
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|
223 | (2) |
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|
225 | (2) |
Chapter 11 Argumentation Theory and Critical Thinking |
|
227 | (10) |
|
Analyzing and Assessing Arguments-General Guidelines |
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|
229 | (4) |
|
Analyzing the Logic of a Given Argument |
|
|
233 | (1) |
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Evaluating an Author's Reasoning Within an Argument |
|
|
234 | (3) |
Chapter 12 Deal with Your Irrational Mind |
|
237 | (48) |
|
Take Charge of Your Egocentric Nature |
|
|
242 | (27) |
|
Understand Egocentric Thinking |
|
|
244 | (2) |
|
Understand Egocentrism as a Mind within the Mind |
|
|
246 | (2) |
|
Successful Egocentric Thinking |
|
|
248 | (1) |
|
Unsuccessful Egocentric Thinking |
|
|
249 | (2) |
|
Rational, Reasonable Thinking |
|
|
251 | (4) |
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|
255 | (10) |
|
Egocentric Pathological Tendencies of the Human Mind |
|
|
265 | (1) |
|
Challenge the Egocentric Pathological Tendencies of Your Mind |
|
|
266 | (1) |
|
Defense Mechanisms of the Mind |
|
|
267 | (2) |
|
The Challenge of Rationality |
|
|
269 | (1) |
|
Take Charge of Your Sociocentric Tendencies |
|
|
269 | (15) |
|
The Nature of Sociocentrism |
|
|
270 | (4) |
|
Primary Forms of Sociocentric Thought |
|
|
274 | (6) |
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|
280 | (1) |
|
Sociocentric Thinking Is Unconscious and Potentially Dangerous |
|
|
280 | (1) |
|
Sociocentric Uses of Language |
|
|
281 | (1) |
|
Disclose Sociocentric Thinking through Conceptual Analysis |
|
|
282 | (1) |
|
Reveal Ideology at Work through Conceptual Analysis |
|
|
283 | (1) |
|
|
284 | (1) |
Chapter 13 Develop as an Ethical Reasoner |
|
285 | (24) |
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Why People Are Confused about Ethics |
|
|
286 | (2) |
|
The Fundamentals of Ethical Reasoning |
|
|
288 | (19) |
|
Ethical Concepts and Principles |
|
|
289 | (3) |
|
The Universal Nature of Ethical Principles |
|
|
292 | (2) |
|
Distinguishing Ethics from Other Domains of Thinking |
|
|
294 | (10) |
|
Understanding Our Native Selfishness |
|
|
304 | (3) |
|
|
307 | (2) |
Chapter 14 How to Detect Media Bias and Political Propaganda |
|
309 | (48) |
|
Why Critical Thinking Is Essential to Making Sense of the News |
|
|
309 | (8) |
|
|
311 | (1) |
|
Political Views in the News: Understanding the Liberal-Minded Person |
|
|
312 | (2) |
|
The Logic of the News Media |
|
|
314 | (1) |
|
Political Influences, Advertising, and Group Think |
|
|
314 | (2) |
|
Technological Noise in the News |
|
|
316 | (1) |
|
What We Need the News Media to Do for Us |
|
|
316 | (1) |
|
Current Trends Affecting How We See the News |
|
|
317 | (4) |
|
Key Critical Thinking Questions to Ask When Seeking the News |
|
|
317 | (1) |
|
Realities That Impede Our Ability to Get Objective News |
|
|
318 | (2) |
|
|
320 | (1) |
|
Social Media Is an Unreliable News Source |
|
|
321 | (1) |
|
Critical Thinking Tools For Understanding Human Reasoning And Media Logic |
|
|
321 | (8) |
|
Questioning the Reasoning Embedded in a News Article |
|
|
322 | (3) |
|
Intellectual Standards for Assessing News Articles, Editorials, and Stories |
|
|
325 | (1) |
|
Characteristics of the Disciplined Mind That Help Us Detect Bias |
|
|
325 | (4) |
|
Objectivity, Biases, And Underlying Agendas |
|
|
329 | (13) |
|
Democracy and the News Media |
|
|
330 | (1) |
|
Myths That Obscure the Logic of the News Media |
|
|
331 | (1) |
|
Bias and Objectivity in the News Media |
|
|
331 | (3) |
|
How the News Media View Objectivity Today |
|
|
334 | (1) |
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|
335 | (2) |
|
The Perception of Bias in the Mainstream |
|
|
337 | (1) |
|
Propaganda and News Story Writing |
|
|
337 | (2) |
|
Protecting the Home Audience from Guilt Feelings |
|
|
339 | (1) |
|
How the News Media Foster Sociocentric Thinking |
|
|
340 | (2) |
|
Become An Astute Media Consumer |
|
|
342 | (12) |
|
How to Obtain Useful Information from Propaganda and Typical News Stories |
|
|
342 | (1) |
|
Steps in Becoming a Critical Consumer of the News |
|
|
343 | (1) |
|
Media Awareness of Media Bias |
|
|
344 | (1) |
|
Sensitivity to Advertisers |
|
|
345 | (1) |
|
Sensitivity to Politicians and the Government |
|
|
345 | (1) |
|
Sensitivity to Powerful Interests |
|
|
346 | (1) |
|
Sensitivity to Their Competitors |
|
|
347 | (1) |
|
The Bias Toward Novelty and Sensationalism |
|
|
347 | (2) |
|
Critical Consumers of the News |
|
|
349 | (1) |
|
Dominant and Dissenting Views: Finding Alternative Sources of Information |
|
|
350 | (1) |
|
Buried, Ignored, or Underreported Stories |
|
|
351 | (1) |
|
Using the Internet in Seeking the News |
|
|
352 | (1) |
|
Additional Alternative News Sources |
|
|
352 | (1) |
|
Readings That Help You Become a More Independent Thinker |
|
|
353 | (1) |
|
|
354 | (2) |
|
Is It Possible for the News Media to Reform? |
|
|
354 | (1) |
|
Is the Emergence of a "Critical Society" Possible? |
|
|
355 | (1) |
|
|
356 | (1) |
Chapter 15 Fallacies: The Art of Mental Trickery and Manipulation |
|
357 | (48) |
|
Truth and Deception in the Human Mind |
|
|
358 | (1) |
|
|
359 | (3) |
|
Uncritical Persons (Intellectually Unskilled Thinkers) |
|
|
359 | (1) |
|
Skilled Manipulators (Weak-Sense Critical Thinkers) |
|
|
360 | (1) |
|
Fairminded Critical Persons (Strong-Sense Critical Thinkers) |
|
|
361 | (1) |
|
The Concept of Fallacies of Thought |
|
|
362 | (3) |
|
|
362 | (1) |
|
Mistakes versus Fallacies |
|
|
363 | (1) |
|
No Exhaustive List of Fallacies |
|
|
364 | (1) |
|
|
365 | (2) |
|
Analyzing Generalizations |
|
|
367 | (6) |
|
|
371 | (1) |
|
|
371 | (2) |
|
Forty-Four Foul Ways to Win an Argument |
|
|
373 | (18) |
|
Fallacy Detection: Analyzing a Speech from the Past |
|
|
391 | (4) |
|
Fallacy Detection: Analyzing a More Current Presidential Speech |
|
|
395 | (3) |
|
Fallacy Detection: Analyzing a Speech from a Presidential Candidate |
|
|
398 | (3) |
|
|
401 | (1) |
|
|
401 | (4) |
Chapter 16 Learning and Using Information Critically and Ethically: Part I, Critique of Disciplines |
|
405 | (20) |
|
The Ideal of Knowledge Acquisition |
|
|
405 | (1) |
|
True Loyalty to a Discipline |
|
|
406 | (1) |
|
The Gap Between Fact and Ideal |
|
|
407 | (2) |
|
The Ideal Compared to the Real |
|
|
409 | (1) |
|
|
410 | (2) |
|
|
410 | (2) |
|
The Ideal of Science: Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, Geology, Biology |
|
|
412 | (3) |
|
The Ideal of Science: History, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Psychology |
|
|
415 | (4) |
|
The Social Studies as Taught and Practiced |
|
|
418 | (1) |
|
The Ideal of the Arts and Humanities |
|
|
419 | (3) |
|
Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Dance, Literature, Philosophy |
|
|
419 | (3) |
|
|
422 | (3) |
Chapter 17 Learning and Using Information Critically and Ethically: Part II |
|
425 | (28) |
|
The Method and A Model Case |
|
|
425 | (1) |
|
|
426 | (2) |
|
|
428 | (1) |
|
Recognize the Mental Nature of Knowledge |
|
|
428 | (1) |
|
Develop Awareness of the Harm from Misuse of Information |
|
|
429 | (3) |
|
Question Academic and "Expert" Information |
|
|
432 | (1) |
|
Question the Status of Knowledge in a Field |
|
|
433 | (1) |
|
A Model Case: Questioning Psychology and the Mental Health Professions |
|
|
434 | (2) |
|
|
436 | (3) |
|
Scientific Studies in Psychology |
|
|
439 | (1) |
|
A Dark Side of the Mental Health Professions |
|
|
439 | (2) |
|
Legitimizing Deeply Held Social Beliefs |
|
|
441 | (5) |
|
Questioning Psychotherapy |
|
|
446 | (2) |
|
Learning from Suspect Claims of Psychology and the Mental Health Professions |
|
|
448 | (2) |
|
Thinking Psychologically: A Postscript |
|
|
450 | (3) |
|
|
450 | (3) |
Chapter 18 Strategic Thinking: Part I |
|
453 | (16) |
|
Understanding and Using Strategic Thinking |
|
|
453 | (3) |
|
Components of Strategic Thinking |
|
|
456 | (1) |
|
The Beginnings of Strategic Thinking |
|
|
456 | (13) |
|
Key Idea #1: Thoughts, Feelings, and Desires Are Interdependent |
|
|
457 | (3) |
|
Key Idea #2: There Is a Logic to This, and You Can Figure It Out |
|
|
460 | (5) |
|
Key Idea #3: For Thinking to Be of High Quality, We Must Routinely Assess It |
|
|
465 | (4) |
Chapter 19 Strategic Thinking: Part II |
|
469 | (16) |
|
Key Idea #4: Our Native Egocentrism Is a Default Mechanism |
|
|
469 | (4) |
|
Key Idea #5: We Must Become Sensitive to the Egocentrism of Those Around Us |
|
|
473 | (2) |
|
Key Idea #6: The Mind Tends to Generalize Beyond the Original Experience |
|
|
475 | (2) |
|
Key Idea #7: Egocentric Thinking Appears to the Mind as Rational |
|
|
477 | (1) |
|
Key Idea #8: The Egocentric Mind Is Automatic in Nature |
|
|
478 | (2) |
|
Key Idea #9: We Often Pursue Power through Dominating or Submissive Behavior |
|
|
480 | (1) |
|
Key Idea #10: Humans Are Naturally Sociocentric Animals |
|
|
481 | (2) |
|
Key Idea #11: Developing Rationality Requires Work |
|
|
483 | (1) |
|
|
484 | (1) |
Chapter 20 Becoming An Advanced Thinker: Our Conclusion |
|
485 | (8) |
|
Practicing Skilled Thinking |
|
|
485 | (1) |
|
Stage 5: Reaching the Advanced Stage of Development |
|
|
486 | (2) |
|
Stage 6: Becoming an Accomplished Thinker |
|
|
488 | (2) |
|
Qualities of Mind of an Accomplished Thinker |
|
|
490 | (1) |
|
The Inner Logic of the Accomplished Thinker |
|
|
491 | (1) |
|
|
491 | (2) |
Appendices |
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A A Brief History of The Idea of Critical Thinking |
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493 | (8) |
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B Sample Analysis of The Logic of... |
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501 | (10) |
A Glossary of Critical Thinking Terms and Concepts |
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511 | (48) |
Notes |
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559 | (4) |
References |
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563 | (4) |
Index |
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567 | |