“Anyone who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” —Voltaire.
“There’s a sucker born every minute.” —P.T. Barnum
Long experience has taught me this about the status of mankind with regard to matters requiring thought: the less people know and understand about them, the more positively they attempt to argue concerning them; while on the other hand, to know and understand a multitude of things renders men cautious in passing judgment upon anything new. —Galileo
Critical Thinking
You have a brain, and with it you can think. The trouble is, a lot of people would prefer that you don’t. Put another way, a lot of people would prefer that you think what they think or what they want you to think.
Since we were babes our ability to think for ourselves has been under attack. Parents, well meaning as they are, put a lot of effort into indoctrinating us into the belief system they hold dear. Friends and neighbors use peer pressure to get us to think certain ways or believe certain things. Most religions would prefer that we accept beliefs without question. Advertisers hammer each of us continuously with whacky claims and misleading information, trying to get us to buy without thinking. Television and radio, and especially the internet, are awash with misinformation, false claims, and conspiracy theories.
How do we come through all this with our brains in one piece and the ability to think for ourselves?
It’s not easy, but it can be done. With luck, work, and practice we can become “critical thinkers,” we can use logic and reason to answer questions and solve problems, we can learn be be skeptical (meaning we need to be convinced), we can look at the world through the lens of science and the scientific method.
Here’s a big question:
Being a free, responsible person means being able to make rational, thoughtful choices. A person who cannot think critically, cannot make rational choices. And, those without the ability to make rational choices can easily be a danger to themselves and to the rest of us.
Imagine a society entirely dependent upon one another, as well as external supplies of food and water, for survival. Now imagine that this society permitted its schools and colleges to stop teaching critical thinking. Imagine that parents neglected to teach their children how to think critically. Imagine a media that reinforced uncritical, impulsive decision making and action. Imagine governmental structures, administrators, and community leaders who, instead of encouraging critical thinking, were fine with people making irrational, illogical, and unreasonable decisions.
How long might it take for the people in this society to be at serious risk of foolishly harming themselves and each other? How long would it be before such a society destroyed itself?
Questions posed by Peter A. Facione of Santa Clara University
The Thinker by Auguste Rodin
What’s your first reaction when I tell you that “a Chinese satellite has recently found the remains of a 5 million-year-old alien city on the dark side of the moon?” If you are skeptical, good for you. Read on.
The approaches to life which characterize critical thinking include:
• inquisitiveness with regard to a wide range of issues,
• concern to become and remain well-informed,
• trust in the processes of reasoned inquiry,
• self-confidence in one’s own abilities to reason,
• open-mindedness regarding divergent views,
• flexibility in considering alternatives and opinions,
• fair-mindedness in appraising reasoning,
• honesty in facing one’s own biases, prejudices, stereotypes,
• prudence in suspending, making or altering judgments,
• willingness to reconsider and revise views where honest reflection suggests that change is warranted.
Here are six short videos on critical thinking produced by Bridge8 in Australia. Worth watching!
A Valuable Argument 2. Broken Logic 3. Man Made of Straw 4. Getting Personal 5. Gambler’s Fallacy 6. Precautionary Tale
Here’s probably the most important book on the topic of Critical Thinking. While not the easiest book to read, it is, I think, well worth the effort. Astronomer Carl Sagan has long been one of my heroes.
Here are a few quotes from the book:
“The whole idea of a democratic application of skepticism is that everyone should have the essential tools to effectively and constructively evaluate claims to knowledge.
But the tools of skepticism are generally unavailable to the citizens of our society. They're hardly ever mentioned in the schools, even in the presentation of science, its most ardent practitioner.
Our politics, economics, advertising, and religions (New Age and Old) are awash in credulity. Those who have something to sell, those who wish to influence public opinion, those in power…have a vested interest in discouraging skepticism.
As I've tried to stress, at the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes-an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive, and the most ruthlessly skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense. The collective enterprise of creative thinking and skeptical thinking, working together, keeps the field on track.”
One chapter in the book contains Sagan’s famous “Baloney Detection Kit.” He presents the contents of this kit as “tools for skeptical thinking,” which he defines as “the means to construct, and to understand, a reasoned argument and—especially important—to recognize a fallacious or fraudulent argument.”
Here are the 8 parts of the Kit (slightly edited):
Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the “facts.” More than one source should confirm that a “fact” is actually a fact.
Encourage debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view. Listen to all sides and evaluate the reasoning.
Arguments from authority carry little weight — “authorities” have made mistakes in the past. It’s okay to listen critically to “experts.” but watch out for “authorities.”
Try more than one hypothesis. If there’s something to be explained, think of all the different ways in which it could be explained. Then think of tests by which you might systematically disprove each of the alternatives.
Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it’s yours. Ask yourself why you like the idea. Compare it fairly with the alternatives. See if you can find reasons for rejecting it.
Always try to have or look for some measurement or numerical quantity. Arguments or hypotheses that are vague and without actual numbers are not good.
If there’s a chain of argument, every link in the chain must work (including the premise) — not just most of them.
Use Occam’s Razor. When faced with two hypotheses that explain the data equally well choose the simpler. People who doubt must be given the chance to follow the reasoning, to duplicate the experiments to see if they get the same result.
Want to avoid being swindled?
Here are some “red flags” to watch out for:
1) You have to act immediately.
2) You are given testimonials from people with incomplete names, like Mark S. from California.
3) This is an “exclusive” offer. (Exclusive to anyone who has money.)
4) You’re not supposed to tell anyone about the deal, because it’s so good they’ll want in.
5) You’ll get something for nothing.
6) You have to put up “good-faith” money or make a deposit to show your interest.
7) You can’t contact other clients or customers for references.
8) The salesman acts annoyed or offended by, or avoids, detailed questions.
9) You’re asked to sign something that’s not completely filled out. There’s nothing in writing.
The Scientific Method
The scientific method is a process that a scientist (or anyone who is curious) uses to figure out something unknown. It starts with an observation of the thing that raises the question. Next, the scientist does research about the question. Then he or she makes a guess, called a hypothesis, about the unknown thing. The hypothesis is then tested using one or more experiments. The experiments provide data, which the scientist uses to come up with a conclusion. Often the hypothesis turns out to be wrong, but that’s okay because now more is known than before. Another hypotheses might turn out to be right. So, the steps are:
Make an observation (notice something and be curious).
Conduct research.
Form hypothesis.
Test hypothesis (experiment).
Record data.
Draw conclusion.
Do again if necessary.
“Questions are places in your mind where answers fit.”
—Clay Christensen.