Thinking Critically

by Chaffee, John

• ISBN13: 9780618947195
• ISBN10: 0618947191
• Edition: 9th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-12-26
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Thinking Critically teaches the fundamental thinking, reasoning, reading, and writing abilities that students need for success. The text begins with basic skills related to personal experience and then carefully progresses to the more sophisticated reasoning skills required for abstract, academic contexts. The Ninth Edition maintains the hallmarks that make Thinking Critically an effective tool for both instructors and students. Each chapter provides an overview of an aspect of critical thinking, such as problem-solving, perception, and the nature of beliefs--all of which are reinforced by provocative readings and Thinking Activities for student review and practice. Visual Thinking features provide images for evaluation and discussion, while Thinking Passages present readings and questions for analysis. Exercises, discussion topics, and writing assignments encourage active participation and prompt students to critically examine others' thinking, as well as their own.

Table of Contents

Thinking Living an "Examined"

Life A Roadmap to Your Mind

Working Toward Goals Images

Decision-Making, and Thinking

About Visual Information

An Organized Approach to Making Decisions

Discovering "Who" You Are Living

Creatively Final Thoughts

Thinking Critically

Thinking Actively

Carefully Exploring

Situations with Questions

Thinking Independently

Viewing Situations from Different Perspectives

Supporting Diverse

Perspectives with Reasons and Evidence

Discussing Ideas in an Organized Way

Becoming a Critical Thinker

Analyzing Issues

Solving Problems

Thinking Critically About Problems

Introduction to Solving Problems

Solving Complex

Problems Solving

Nonpersonal Problems

Perceiving and Believing

Actively Selecting, Organizing, and Interpreting Sensations

Perceiving and Believing

Believing and Perceiving

Types of Beliefs: Report, Inferences, Judgments

Reporting Factual Information

Inferring Judging

Constructing Knowledge

Believing and Knowing

Knowledge and Truth

Thinking Critically About Your Beliefs

Using Perspective-Taking to Achieve

Knowledge Beliefs

Based on Indirect Experience

Evaluating Online Information

Final Thoughts

Language and Thought

The Evolution of Language

The Symbolic Nature of Language

Using Language Effectively

Using Language to Clarify

Thinking Using Language in Social Contexts

Using Language to Influence

Final Thoughts

Forming Applying Concepts

What Are Concepts?

The Structure of Concepts

Forming Concepts

Applying Concepts

Defining Concepts

Relating Concept with Mind Maps

Final Thoughts

Relating and Organizing

Chronological and Process

Relationships Comparative and Analogical

Relationships Causal

Relationships Final Thoughts

Thinking Critically About Moral Issues

What Is Ethics?

Your Moral Compass

The Thinker's Guide to Moral

Decision-Making

Constructing Arguments

Recognizing Arguments

Evaluating Arguments

Understanding Deductive Arguments

Constructing Extended Arguments

Final Thoughts

Reasoning Critically

Inductive Reasoning

Empirical Generalization

Fallacies of False Generalization

Causal Reasoning

Causal Fallacies

Fallacies of Relevance

The Critical Thinker's

Guide to Reasoning

Thinking Critically, Living

Creatively Living a Life

Philosophy Deciding on a Career

Thinking Critically About

Personal Relationships

The Thinker's Guide to Healthy Relationships

Choosing the "Good Life"

Glossary Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.