Description
The readings collected here present students with real-life situations that raise questions about the basic assumptions of rationality. Chapters focus on connections, deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, and reasoning about values. Open rational dialogue is emphasized throughout. The situations range from the problem of evidence at a trial to the absence of an explanation of why two children died in the same day-care on the same day. Socrates is presented as a model of critical thinking. Schwarze and Lape teach at Cabrini College. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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This unique book is an exploration of critical thinking, rather than a text of informal logic. It emphasizes a philosophical reflection on real issues from everyday life, in order to teach readers the skills of critical thinking in a common-place context that is easy to understand and certain to be remembered. Critical thinking topics are assembled in readings taken from sources including newspapers, literature, magazines, and philosophy. These readings compliment the important concepts of critical thinking, and provide information on background knowledge, the web of belief, the limits of evidence, the nature of proof, and dogmatism and relativism. For critical thinkers who need something to think critically about, and are willing to see more than just two sides to every argument.
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