Beyond Feelings

Question 1

What is the general understanding of Ruggiero’s explanation for the influence of time and place. I wont be looking at details, just a general summary of his analysis

Answer 1

• We exist in a particular time period in history of our species and in a particular place on this planet.
• This time and place are defined by specific circumstances, understandings, beliefs, and customs, all of which limit our experience and influence our thought patterns
• For example if we lived in America during colonial times, we would likely have had no objection to the practice of barring women from serving on jury, entering into a legal contract, owning property, or voting
• If we lived in the nineteenth century, we would have no objection to young children being denied an education and being hired out by their parents to work 16 hours a day, nor would we have given any thought to the special needs of adolescence

Question 2

What is your general understanding of Ruggiero’s explanation for the influence of time and place

Answer 2

Living in a different age or culture would make you a different person. Even if you rebelled against the values of your time and place, they still would represent the context of your life, in other words, they still would influence your responses

Question 3

Influence of Ideas: Get a clear sense of what he explains is the link between ideas expressed and the implications we may unknowingly internalize. Just a general summary

Answer 3

When one idea is expressed, closely related ideas are simultaneously conveyed, logically and inescapably (incapable of being escaped, ignored, or avoided). In logic, this kinship (relationship) is expressed by the term sequitur, Latin for “it follows.” (The converse is non sequitur, “it does not follow”)

Question 4

The idea that many teachers and parents express to young children as a way of encouraging them: “If you believe in yourself, you can succeed at anything.” From this it follows that?

Answer 4

Nothing else but belief-neither talent nor hard work- is necessary for success. The reason the two ideas are equivalent is that their meanings are inseparably linked.

Question 5

In addition to conveying ideas closely linked to it in meaning, an idea can imply (suggest) other ideas. For example, the idea that there is no real difference between virtue (moral excellence) and vice (immoral habits) implies that?

Answer 5

People should not feel bound by common moral standards. Samuel Johnson had this implication in mind when he said: “But if he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.

Question 6

The influence of Mass Culture:
In centuries past, family and teachers were the dominant, and sometimes the only, influence on children. Today, however, the influence exerted by mass culture is?

Answer 6

Often greater. Mass culture is the broadcast media, newspapers, magazines, internet and popular music

Question 7

By age ____ the average teenager has spent 11,000 hours in the classroom and 22,000 hours in front of the television set. He or she has had perhaps 13,000 school lessons yet has watched more than 750,000 commercials. By age _____ the same person has had fewer than 20,000 school lessons yet has watched approximately 45,000 hours of tv and close to 2 million commericials

Answer 7

18

thirty-five

Question 8

What effects does mass culture have on us?

Answer 8

Modern advertising bombards public with slogans and testimonials by celebrities. This approach is designed to appeal to emotions and create artificial needs for products and services. As a result, many people develop the habit of responding emotionally, impulsively, and gullibly to such appeals. They also tend to acquire values very different from those taught in the home and the school. Ads often portray play as more fulfilling than work, self-gratification as more desirable than self-control, and materialism as more meaningful than idealism.

Question 9

Mass Culture:
TV programmers use frequent scene shifts and sensory appeals such as car crashes, violence, and sexual encounters in order to?

Answer 9

Keep audience interest from diminishing. Then they add frequent commercial interruptions. In a dramatic program, attention shifts might include camera angle changes: shifts in story line from one set of characters to another, or from a present scene to a past scene, or to fantasy: and shifts to “newsbreaks,” to commercial breaks, from one commercial to another, and back to the program. Also included might be shifts of attention that occur within commercials.
* This manipulation has prevented many people from developing a mature attention span. They expect the classroom and workplace to provide the same constant excitement they get from tv. That is an impossible demand, and when it isn’t met they call their teacher boring and their work unfulfilling. Because such people seldom have the patience to read books that require them to think, many publishers have replaced serious books with light fare written by celebrities

Question 10

The science of manipulation:

• Pay attention to the details of how historically psychology has influenced mass media;

Answer 10

Attempts to influence the thoughts and actions of others are no doubt as old as time, but manipulation did not become a science until the early twentieth century, when Ivan Pavlov, a Russian professor of psychology, published his research on conditioned (learned) reflexes. Pavlov found that by ringing a bell when he fed a dog, he could condition the dog to drool at the sound of the bell even when no food was presented.

Question 11

The science of manipulation:

pay particular attention to the discussion of Dr. John Watson

Answer 11

An American psychologist John Watson was impressed with Pavlov’s findings and applied them to human behavior. In Watson’s most famous experiment, he let a baby touch a lab rat. At first, the baby was unafraid. But then Watson hit a hammer against metal whenever the baby reached out to touch the rat, and the baby became frightened and cried. in time, the baby cried not only at the sight of the rat but also at the sight of anything furry such as a stuffed animal. Watson’s work earned him the title “father of behaviorism”

Question 12

John Watson’s application of behaviorist principles to advertising.

Answer 12

He spent the latter part of his career working for advertising agencies and soon recognized that the most effective appeal to consumers was not to the mind but to the emotions. He advised advertisers to “tell [the consumer] something that will tie him up with fear, something that will stir up a mild rage, that will call out an affectionate or love response, or strike at a deep psychological or habit need. “His attitude toward the consumer is perhaps best indicated by a statement he made in a presentation to department store executives. “The consumer is to the manufacturer, the department stores and the advertising agencies, what the green frog is to physiologist.

Question 13

The Influence of Psychology (the key part of the chapter)

• Get a general grasp of the ideas of Maltz and Maslow.

Answer 13

Dr. Maxwell Maltz explains the amazing results one educator had in improving the grades of schoolchildren by changing their self-images. The educator had observed that when children saw themselves as stupid in a particular subject (or stupid in general), they unconsciously acted to confirm their self-images. They believed they were stupid, so they acted that way. Reasoning that it was their defeatist attitude rather than any lack of ability that was undermining their efforts, the educator set out to change their self-images. He found that when he accomplished that, they no longer behaved stupidly! Maltz concludes that from this and other examples that our experiences can work a kind of self -hypnotism on us, suggesting a conclusion about ourselves and then urging us to make it come true.
Maslow: Described the hierarchy of human needs in the form of a pyramid, with physiological needs (food and drink) at the foundation. Above them, in ascending order, are safety needs, the need for belongingness and love, the need for esteem and approval, and aesthetic and cognitive needs (knowledge, understanding, etc.). At the pinnacle is the need for self-actualization, or fulfillment of our potential. In his view, the lower needs must be fulfilled before the higher ones.

Question 14

The Influence of Psychology (the key part of the chapter)
• Get a good grip on the thoughts of Viktor Frankl. Pay particular attention to the paragraph that begins with the words “Other theories might have been adopted. . .”

Answer 14

His theory was advanced around the same time as Maslow’s and was based on both Frankl’s professional practice and his experience in Hitler’s concentration camps. He argues that one human need is higher than self-actualization: self-transcendence, the need to rise above narrow absorption with self.

• According to him “the primordial anthropological fact [is] that being human is being always directed, and pointing to something or someone other than oneself: to a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter, a cause to serve or a person to love.” A person becomes fully human “by forgetting himself and giving himself, overlooking himself and focusing outward.”
• In his view making self-actualization (or happiness) the direct object of our pursuit is ultimately self-defeating; such fulfillment can occur only as “the unintended effect of self-transcendence.”
• He believes the proper perspective on life is not what it can give to us, but what it expects from us; life is daily-even hourly-questioning us, challenging us to accept “the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each of us.”
• Finding meaning involves “perceiving a possibility embedded in reality” and searching for challenging tasks “whose completion might add meaning to one’s existence” such perceiving and searching are frustrated by the focus on self: “As long as modern literature confines itself to and contents itself with, self-expression it reflects the authors sense of futility and absurdity. it also creates absurdity

Question 15

Becoming an Individual
• Be sure that you can repeat the 4 guidelines he states. Be able to state (not word-for-word) the italicized sentence for each guideline and briefly explain it

Answer 15

1) Treat your first reaction to any person, issue, or situation as tentative (unsure). Refuse to embrace it until you have examined it.
2) Decide why you reacted as you did. Did you borrow the reaction from someone else? If possible, determine what specific experiences conditioned you to react this way.
3) Think of other possible reactions you might have had to the person, issue, or situation.
4) Ask yourself whether one of the other reactions is more appropriate than your first reaction. When you answer resist the influence of your conditioning.

Question 16

Mind, Brain, or Both?

• Get a general understanding of the distinction made between mind and brain

Answer 16

• The left hemisphere of the brain deals mainly with detailed language processing and is associated with analysis and logical thinking. The right side deals mainly with sensory images and is associated with intuition and creative thinking, and the small bundle of nerves that lies between the hemispheres the corups callosum- integrates the various functions
• The brain is necessary for thought, but it has not shown that the brain is sufficient for thought. Many philosophers claim it can never show that. They argue that the mind and brain are different.
• The brain is a physical entity composed of matter and therefore subject to decay, the mind is a metaphysical entity
• Examine brain cells under the most powerful microscope and you will never see an idea or concept because they are not material things and so have no physical dimensions. These non material things reside in the nonmaterial mind.

Question 17

Mind, Brain, or Both?

• Be sure to be able to identify the difference between competing theories about the mind being passive or active

Answer 17

Is the mind passive, a blank slate on which experience writes, as John Locke held, or active, a vehicle by which we take the initiative and exercise our free will, as G.W. Leibnitz argued

Question 18

Critical Thinking Defined
• Understand the specifics of the difference between feeling and thinking and the relationship that both have to action (18-19)

Answer 18

I feel and I think are sometimes used interchangeably, but that practice causes confusion. Feeling is a subjective (existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought) response that reflects emotion, sentiment, or desire; it generally occurs spontaneously rather than through a conscious mental act. We don’t have to employ our minds to fell angry when we are insulted, afraid when we are threatened, or compassionate when we see a picture of a starving child. The feelings arise automatically.

• Feeling is useful in directing our attention to matters we should think about; it also can provide the enthusiasm and commitment necessary to complete arduous mental tasks. However it isn’t a substitute for actual thinking because it’s unreliable.
• Thinking is a conscious mental process performed to solve a problem, make a decision, or gain understanding. Whereas feeling as no purpose beyond expressing itself, thinking aims beyond itself to knowledge or action. This is not to say that thinking is infallible, yet for its shortcomings, thinking is the most reliable guide to action we humans possess.
• Feelings need to be tested before being trusted, and thinking is the most reasonable and reliable way to test them.

Question 19

Critical Thinking Defined
• Be able to explicitly state the “three broad categories of thinking” and their relationship to the issue of asking probing questions (19-20)

Answer 19

1) Reflective
2) Creative
3) Critical: essence is evaluation. Defined as the process by which we test claims and arguments and determine which have merit and which do not. A search for answers, a quest. Most important technique is asking probing questions. Where the uncritical accept their first thoughts and other people’s statements at face value, critical thinkers challenge all ideas.

Question 20

Characteristics of Critical Thinkers
• Be able to explain the major characteristics of critical thinkers. Pay special attention to the bottom of page 20 and the first 2 paragraphs of page 21.

Answer 20

• A number of misconceptions exist about critical thinking. One is that able to support beliefs with reasons makes one a critical thinker. Virtually everyone has reasons, however weak they may be. The test of critical thinking is whether the reasons are good and sufficient.
• Another misconception is critical thinkers never imitate others in thought or action. If that were the case, then every eccentric would be a critical thinker. Critical thinking means making sound decisions, regardless of how common or uncommon those decisions are.
• Misconception that critical thinking is synonymous with having a lot of right answers in one’s head. There’s nothing wrong with having right answers, of course. But critical thinking involves the process of finding answers when they are not so readily available.
• Misconception critical thinking cannot be learned, one either has it or not. On contrary, critical thinking is a matter of habit. The most careless, sloppy thinker can become a critical thinker by developing the characteristics of a critical thinker. Not all people have equal thinking potential but rather everyone can achieve dramatic improvement.

Question 21

Characteristics of Critical Thinkers pg.21

Answer 21

1) The test of critical thinking is whether the reasons are good and sufficient.
2) Critical thinking means making sound decisions, regardless of how common or uncommon those decisions are.
3) critical thinking involves the process of finding answers when they are not so readily available.
4) critical thinking is a matter of habit
5) Skill in asking appropriate questions
6) Control of one’s mental activities

Question 22

Characteristics of Critical Thinkers
• Starting on page 21 you will find two opposite descriptors one labeled “Critical Thinkers. . .” and the other “Uncritical Thinkers. . .” Be sure that you can identify and explain the 7 characteristics of Critical Thinkers found on pages 21 and 22.

Answer 22

Critical thinkers…
1) Are honest w/themselves acknowledge what they don’t know, recognize their limits, are watchful of own errors
2) Regard problems and controversial issues as exciting challenges
3) Strive for understanding, keep curiosity alive, remain patient w/complexity, ready to invest time to overcome confusion
4) Base judgments on evidence rather than personal preferences, deferring judgment whenever evidence is insufficient. They revise judgments when new evidence reveals error
5) Interested in other’s ideas, willing to read/listen to others even when they disagree
6) Recognize that extreme views are seldom correct, they avoid them, practice fairmindedness, seek balanced view
7) Practice restraint, control feelings rather then being controlled by them, think before they act
Uncritical Thinkers…
1) Pretend they know more than they do, ignore their limits, assume their views are error-free
2) Regard problems and controversial issues as nuisances or threats to their ego
3) Impatient w/complexity thus would rather remain confused than make an effort to understand
4) Base judgements on first impressions and gut reactions. Unconcerned about amount of quality of evidence and cling to their views steadfast.
5) Preoccupied w/themselves & their opinion that they won’t pay attention to others views. At first sight of disagreement they tend to think “how can I refute this?”
6) Ignore need for balance & give preference to views that support theirs
7) Follow feelings and act impulsively

Question 23

Characteristics of Critical Thinkers
• See paragraph on page 22 after the characteristics comparison and be sure to be able to explain how that paragraph defines “effective thinkers.”

Answer 23

Critical thinking depends on mental discipline. Effective thinkers exert control over their mental life, direct their thoughts rather than being directed by them, and withhold their endorsement of any idea-even their own- until they have tested and confirmed it. John Dewey equated this mental discipline w/freedom. He argued that people who do not have it are not free persons but slaves to whim or circumstance.

Question 24

The Role of Intuition

• Be able to define intuition (22).

Answer 24

Commonly defined as immediate perception or comprehension of something-that is, sensing or understanding something without the use of reasoning.

Question 25

The Role of Intuition | • Be able to explain the two facts listed in indented paragraphs (23).

Answer 25

1) Breakthrough ideas favor trained, active minds. It is unusual for someone totally untrained in a subject to make a significant new discovery about it. Thus, if Kekule had been a plumber, Goethe a book keeper, and Coleridge a hairdresser, they would almost certainly not have received the intuitions for which they are famous for. 2) Some intuitions eventually prove to be mistaken. That attractive stranger may turn out to be not your lifelong partner but a person that you hate. The car salesman's final price may have proved to be exactly that. And instead of doing poorly in that course you may have done well. * It is difficult to make an overall assessment of the quality of our intuitions because we tend to forget the ones that prove mistaken in much the same way a gambler forgets his losses

Question 26

The Role of Intuition | • Be able to explain fully what scientists have concluded about intuition (23).

Answer 26

* Some scholars have concluded that intuition is simply a consequence of thinking. You made a quick decision-so quick in fact, that you were unaware that you'd been thinking * For breakthrough ideas scholars would say that when people become engrossed in problems or issues, their unconscious minds often continue working on them long after they have turned their attention elsewhere. * When an insight seems to come out of nowhere it is actually a delayed result of thinking

Question 27

Basic Activities in Critical Thinking | • Be able to define Investigation, Interpretation, and Judgment according to the text (24).

Answer 27

1) Investigation: Finding evidence-that is date that will answer key questions about the issue. Requirements: The evidence must be both relevant and sufficient 2) Interpretation: Deciding what the evidence means. Requirements: The interpretation must be more reasonable than competing interpretations 3) Judgment: Reaching a conclusion about the issue. Requirements: must meet test of logic

Question 28

Critical Thinking and Writing and Critical Thinking and Discussion • Be able to explain why writing helps with critical thinking, problem solving and decision making

Answer 28

Helps sort ideas you've already produced and stimulates the flow of new ideas. Act of writing down an idea generates more ideas. When you write to discover idea, focus on issue you're examining & record all thoughts, questions, and assertions. If you have done your discovery writing well and have thought critically about ideas you have produced, the task of writing to communicate will be easier and enjoyable.

Question 29

Critical Thinking and Writing and Critical Thinking and Discussion • Be able to summarize the key points found in the headings in bold (24-27).

Answer 29

1) When possible prepare in advance. 2) Set reasonable expectations 3) Leave egotism and personal agendas at the door 4) Contribute but don't dominate 5) Avoid distracting speech mannerisms 6) Listen actively 7) Judge ideas responsibly 8) Resist urge to shout or interupt

Question 30

Avoiding Plagiarism | • Know all of the information (generally) in “Steps 1-3” (27-29).

Answer 30

Step 1: Keep source's ideas separate from your own and write down where you got everything. 2: Note ideas you want to refer to in your writing. Can also copy them exactly w/quotation marks or can paraphrase them. 3: When composing paper, work borrowed ideas and words into your own writing by judicious use of quoting and paraphrasing. Give credit to various authors. Goal is to eliminate all doubt about which ideas and words belong to whom

Question 31

Where Does It All Begin? | • Be able to identify a general definition of the term “relativism” (33)

Answer 31

the belief that different things are true, right, etc., for different people or at different times

Question 32

Where Does It All Begin? | • Be able to identify the three implications of a relativist view of truth (33 second full paragraph)

Answer 32

1) Everyone is right and no one is wrong. No one can be wrong. "They can't be wrong professor, they're my truth." 2) Everyone's perception & memory work flawlessly, with never a blunder, glitch, or gaffe 3) No one adopts other people's "truths". The idea of creating truth rules out borrowing-if truth is intensely personal, each person's truth must be unique

Question 33

Where Does It All Begin? | • Be able to identify the initial source of our initial belief in relativism (33)

Answer 33

It starts in childhood because we are dependent in every sense. Others told us what we believed.

Question 34

Imperfect Perception • Be able to identify what can potentially distort perception/observation statements (4th paragraph under this heading 34)

Answer 34

* Darkness, cloudy conditions, or distance from what we are witnesses may obscure our vision * May be distracted at crucial moment * If tired or on grip of powerful emotions our normal perceptiveness may be significantly diminished * Perception may be intermingled w/interpretation * Loyalty and affection toward those involved * If someone we dislikes speaks out we may regard them as showing off to get attention but if friend does same thing we see them a vivacious and extroverted

Question 35

Imperfect Memory • Identify the 2 ways in which our imperfect memory can distort data (there are 2 problems identified in the discussion under this heading 35)

Answer 35

1) The accounts we retell to others. We quote what we should have said or done rather than what we really did 2) Memory is vulnerable to contamination from outside the mind. (telling children or adults that they saw something in a video when they really didn't)

Question 36

Deficient Information • Be able to identify the reasons why the quality of the information we have to back up perception is so important (35-36)

Answer 36

Its important because this is a big world and reality has many faces, its easy for us to be misinformed. * How many drivers takes a wrong turn because of faulty directions, or get on the wrong bus or put too much or too little air in their tires because the service man told them too. * It is so important not only for small tasks but big ones as well such as law, medicine, government, and religion.

Question 37

Truth is Discovered, Not Created • Be able to identify the 4 reasons why our perceptions can be inaccurate and encourage us to “create” truth (paragraph 1 37)

Answer 37

1) Our ideas and beliefs are influenced by other people's, particularly in childhood 2) Perception and memory are imperfect 3) Our information can be inaccurate or incomplete 4) Some people's thinking skills are woefully meager and/or ineffectively used, and the idea that everyone creates his own truth becomes laughable.

Question 38

Truth is Discovered, Not Created | • Be able to identify how truth is apprehended (understood) (37)

Answer 38

The truth about something is what is so about it- the facts in their exact arrangement and proportions. Our beliefs and assertions are true when they correspond to that reality and false when they do not. To look for the truth in matters is to look for the answer that fits the facts, the correct answer. * Truth is apprehended by discovery, a process that favors the curious and the diligent. Truth does not depend on our acknowledgment of it, nor is it in any way altered by our ignorance or transformed by our wishful thinking

Question 39

Truth is Discovered, Not Created | • Be able to identify the qualities that help us to build the “right frame of mind” for discovering truth (38)

Answer 39

Having the right frame of mind can make your pursuit of the truth less burdensome and give it the sense of adventure that the great thinkers in history experienced. Good way to begin is to keep the following thoughts in mind: * "I know I have limitations & can easily be mistaken. And surely I'll never find all the answers I'd like to. But I can observe a little more accurately, weigh things a little more thoroughly, & make up my mind a little more carefully. If I do so I'll be a little closer to the truth."

Question 40

Understanding Cause and Effect • Be able to identify the three mistakes we can make in claiming a cause and effect relationship (bottom of 38 and top of 39)

Answer 40

1) To see cause-and-effect relationships where there are none 2) See only simple and obvious cause-and-effect relationships and miss the complex or subtle ones 3) Believe that causation is relevant only to material forces and is unrelated to human affairs

Question 41

Understanding Cause and Effect • Be able to identify the key points in the explanation Ruggiero gives us regarding faulty cause and effect reasoning under numbers 1,2,3 on pg. 39-41 a general understanding will do.

Answer 41

1) One event can precede another without causing it- such thinking overlooks the possibility of coincidence. 2) Not all causation involves force or necessity.- causation is commonly associated w/physical action affecting a material reality. Can also occur in nonmaterial realities 3) There is a wild card in human affairs-free will. This is a causative factor 4) Causation is often complex

Question 42

Understanding Cause and Effect | • Be able to identify the key points he makes on page 43—the indented short paragraphs with the bold first sentences.

Answer 42

1) Remember that events seldom, if ever, "just happen." 2) Remember that free will is a powerful causative factor in human affairs 3) Be aware that in a chain of events, an effect often becomes a cause. 4) Be aware that, in dealing with human affairs, outcomes can be unpredictable

Question 43

How Good Are Your Opinions? | • Be able to define the word “opinion” as the book does. (See pg. 60, first sentence of the second full paragraph).

Answer 43

A newspaper reports that the Supreme Court has delivered its opinion in a controversial case. Obviously, the justices did not state their personal preferences, their mere likes and dislikes. They stated their considered judgment, painstakingly arrived at after thorough inquiry and deliberation. * in the context of critical thinking, the term opinion refers to expressions of judgment rather than to expressions of taste

Question 44

Opinions Can Be Mistaken • Know that the fundamental principle of critical thinking is “that ideas are not always of equal quality; the role of critical thinking is to separate the more worthy ideas from the less worthy and to identify the best” (61 par. 1).

Answer 44

Just because we are free to our own opinions does not make our opinions correct. Free societies are based on the wise observation that people have an inalienable right to think their own thoughts & make their own choices. This doesn't make them reasonable. - Fundamental principle of critical thinking is that ideas are seldom of equal quality. Solutions to problems vary from the practical to the impractical, beliefs from the well founded to the ill founded, arguments from the logical to the illogical, and opinions from the informed to the uninformed. * Critical thinking serves to separate the more worthy from the less and to identify the best

Question 45

Opinions Can Be Mistaken | • Be able to identify the reasons that people can be mistaken even when trying to be objective (61 par. 3).

Answer 45

Sometimes their errors are caused by considerations so subtle that they are unaware of them (coffee testing example)

Question 46

Opinions on Moral Issues • Be able to identify the reasons why questions of right and wrong (moral) are not completely subjective and personal. Note the examples Ruggiero gives (61-62).

Answer 46

Almost everyday situations arise that require reasonable people to violate it. Examples: Have you ever heard anyone claim that burglary, spousal abuse, or rape is morally acceptable for those who believe it is?

Question 47

Opinions on Moral Issues • Be able to identify the criteria we can use to increase our chances that our moral judgments are reliable (62 see italicized headings).

Answer 47

1) Obligations: restrictions on behavior, demands that we do or avoid doing something. Most obvious kinds are formal agreements such as contracts, professional and business, and obligations of friendship and citizenship. When two or more conflict, the most important one should take precedence 2) Ideals: Notions of excellence, goals that bring greater harmony within ourselves and w/others. In ethics they are specific concepts that help us maintain respect for persons. Examples include honesty, integrity, justice, and fairness. When two or more conflict in a given situation, the most important one takes precedence 3) Consequences: Beneficial and/or harmful results of an action that affect both the person performing that action and other people. Any examination of these should consider the various kinds: personal and societal; physical and emotional; immediate and eventual; intended and unintended; obvious and subtle; and possible, probably, and certain. Actions that achieve beneficial consequences should be preferred over those that do harm. If mixed, the preferred action is the one that achieves greater good or the lesser evil

Question 48

Opinions on Moral Issues | • Be able to identify the 4 broad kinds of errors that can corrupt opinion (65).

Answer 48

1) Errors or tendencies to error common among all people by virtue of their being human (for example, the tendency to perceive selectively or rush to judgment or oversimplify complex realities) 2) Errors or tendencies to error associated w/one's individual habits of mind or personal attitudes, beliefs, or theories (for example, the habit of thinking the worst of members of a race or religion against which one harbors prejudice) 3) Errors that come from human communication and the limitations of language (for example the practice of expressing a thought or feeling inadequately and leading others to form a mistaken impression) 4) Errors in the general fashion of an age (for example, the tendency in our grandparents' day to accept authority unquestioningly or the tendency in ours to recognize no authority but oneself)

Question 49

Informed Versus Uninformed Opinion | • Be able to explain how we responsibly determine that an opinion is “informed” (66-67)

Answer 49

The people whose opinions would be valuable would be those who have done some research with that particular subject. - By examining the opinions of informed people before making up our minds, we broaden our perspective, see details we might not see by ourselves, consider facts we would otherwise be unaware of, and lessen our chances of error. - To be considered informed, an opinion must be based on something more substantial than its familiarity to us or the length of time we have held it or our presumed right to think whatever we wish. It must be based on careful consideration of the evidence

Question 50

Forming Opinions Responsibly | • Be able to explain the three “tips” Ruggiero offers for helping us to improve the quality of our opinions (67-68)

Answer 50

1) Understand how opinions are formed. 2) Resist the temptation to treat your opinions as facts. 3) Monitor your thoughts to prevent the uncritical default mode from taking charge

Question 51

What Is Evidence? | • Know what differentiates good thinkers from others when it comes to self-deception (See 73 par. 1).

Answer 51

Critical thinkers are tempted to commit the same self-deception that others do, but they have learned the value of resisting that temptation. They have developed the habit of checking the quality and quantity of the evidence before forming an opinion. The extra time this takes is more than compensated for by the confidence that comes from knowing what they are talking about

Question 52

Kinds of Evidence | • Be able to identify the 11 types of evidence Ruggiero names (73-79)

Answer 52

Most important kind of evidence are personal experience, unpublished report, published report, eyewitness testimony, celebrity testimony, expert opinion, experiment, statistics, survey, formal observation, and research review

Question 53

Kinds of Evidence | • Be able to identify the specific ways in which we should evaluate each type of evidence (74-79).

Answer 53

1) Personal experience: Ask, "Are the events typical or unique? Are they sufficient in number and kind to support the conclusion? 2) Unpublished Report: Ask, "Where did the story originate? How can I confirm that the version I heard is accurate?" 3) Published Report: Ask, "Does the report cite the sources of all important items of info? Does the author have a reputation for careful reporting? Does the publisher or broadcaster have a reputation for reliability? Which statements in the report constitute evidence, and which should themselves be supported w/evidence? 4) Eyewitness testimony: Commonly considered to be most reliable evidence, and sometimes badly flawed for many reasons. External conditions not optimal, may have been tired or under influence, observation may have been distorted, memory may be confused. -to evaluate ask, "what circumstances surrounding the event could have distorted perception? 5) Celebrity testimony. To evaluate ask in case of ads are they paid? do they offer support for their views? 6) Expert opinion: More reliable than most, however might not always be. -to evaluate: do they have credentials? Specific expertise?were they paid? 7) Experiment: 2 types; lab and field. -To evaluate: for lab experiment, has it been replicated? For field, have other researchers indepently confirmed it? Postpone acceptance if not. 8) Stats: any info that can be quantified. -To evaluate: source of stats? reliable? how old is data? any important factors changed? 9) Survey: among most common. to evaluate: was sample representative? were Q's clear? objectively phrased? 10) Formal observation: 2 kinds; detached and participant. to evaluate: is it likely that presence of observer distorted behavior? was observation of enough duration? do conclusions overgeneralize? 11) Research review, how to evaluate: do reviewer's conclusions seem reasonable? has reviewer omitted anything? is evidence relevant?

Question 54

Evaluating Evidence | • Know the 6 signs that indicate to us that the evidence presented is biased (79 bulleted list).

Answer 54

1) Approach evaluation wanting one side to be proved right 2) You begin your investigation assuming that familiar views will prove correct 3) Look for evidence that supports side you favor and ignore those that dont 4) Rate sources by how favorable they are to your thinking rather than by reliability and the quality of research 5) critical of evidence for views that oppose yours and uncritical of those that do 6) when find evidence against you you argue against it, before you have completed examining it

Question 55

What Constitutes Sufficient Evidence? | • Know the three general guidelines for determining if the evidence is sufficient (80).

Answer 55

1) Sufficient when it permits a judgment to be made with certainty. 2) If certainty unattainable, evidence is sufficient if one view of the issue has been shown to have force of probability. 3) in all other cases, evidence must be considered insufficient.

Question 56

What are the dangers of Errors of Perspective? (ignore “Poverty of Aspect”)

Answer 56

* they can shape attitudes & habits you bring to the evaluation of issues & create expectations that bias your thinking

Question 57

What is an “unwarranted assumption”? Pay attention to the italicized list of assumptions on pps.104-105. You won’t need to know each one in detail but make sure that you understand the foundation from which all of these errors in reasoning arise.

Answer 57

Whenever we take too much for granted- that is, more than is justified by our experience or the particular circumstance

Question 58

What is either/or reasoning? (also known as black or white reasoning or false ultimatum).

Answer 58

The expectation that the only reasonable view of any issue is either total affirmation or total rejection. - this rejects the very real possibility that most reasonable view may be both/and

Question 59

What is reasoning from “mindless conformity”? (also known as “bandwagon appeal”)

Answer 59

Unreasonable and unreasoning. Consists of following others' examples because we are too lazy or fearful to think for ourselves.

Question 60

What is “absolutism”?

Answer 60

Belief that there must be rules but no exceptions. They expect the truth about issues to be clear-cut, certain, and simple when, in reality, it often is ambiguous, less than certain, and complex. -Tend to be impatient in thinking & therefore susceptible to oversimplification and hasty conclusions

Question 61

What is “relativism”? (remember, you are working from Ruggiero and not the dictionary)

Answer 61

Polar opposite of absolutism. the relativist believes that the existence of exceptions proves there can be no rules. Central error of this is the belief that truth is created rather than discovered.

Question 62

What is “bias for or against” change?

Answer 62

Bias for change is more common than it used to be, no doubt because we live in an age of unprecedented change, especially in technology; because many changes are beneficial, we may make the mistake of believing that all are. -bias against change is still more prevalent than the other one reason is the force of familiarity.

Question 63

What is a “biased consideration of evidence?”

Answer 63

You will generally lean in one direction or the other. It's a natural reaction. Important to understand how that leaning can cause you to commit the error of bias consideration of evidence. - one form of this error is seeking only evidence that confirms your bias - another form occurs when evidence is presented to you that challenges your bias, even when other interpretations are more reasonable.

Question 64

What is a “double standard”? (also known as “special pleading”) pg.117

Answer 64

Consists of using one standard of judgment for our ideas and ideas compatible w/our own and an entirely different-and much more demanding- standard for ideas that disagree w/ours.

Question 65

What is a “hasty conclusion” (also know as a “hasty generalization” or “reasoning from generalization”)

Answer 65

Premature judgment. One in which is made w/out sufficient evidence.

Question 66

What is “over simplification”? Pg.120

Answer 66

Simplification is not only useful but essential when knowledge is expanding so fast. It scales down complex ideas that can then be understood by those who know nothing about it. Oversimplification,however, goes beyond making complex ideas easier to grasp; it twists & distorts the ideas. Instead of informing people, oversimplification misleads them. These statements can sound insightful

Question 67

What is the “Post Hoc” fallacy? (also known as “false cause”)

Answer 67

Post hoc is an abbreviation of a Latin term, post hoc, ergo propter hoc, which means "after this, therefore because of this." It expresses the reasoning that when one thing occurs after another, it must be the result of the other.

Question 68

What is “arguing in a circle”? (also known as a “circular argument” or “begging the question”)

Answer 68

This person attempts to prove a statement by repeating it in a different form. When the statement is brief, the circular argument may be quite obvious.

Question 69

What is a “meaningless statement”?

Answer 69

A meaningless explanation in one in which the reasons make no sense. -For example, a used-car dealer says in a commercial, "I'll cosign your loan handpick and inspect these cars before you can even see them...We guarantee financing because we sell only quality cars." The careful viewer wonders, how can care in selecting cars ensure that purchasers will meet their credit obligations?

Question 70

What is “mistaken authority” (also known as “false authority” or “appeal to authority”)

Answer 70

This fallacy ascribes authority to someone who does not possess it. It has become more common since the cult of celebrity has grown in the media. - A subtle form of this error occurs when experts in one field present themselves as authorities in another; for example, when scientists speak as ethicists or theologians.

Question 71

What is a “false analogy”?

Answer 71

An analogy in an attempt to explain something relatively unfamiliar by referring to something different but more familiar, saying in effect, "This is like that." These can be helpful in promoting understanding, particularily for complex ideas, but they have potential to be misleading. - An analogy is acceptable as long as the similarities claimed are real. For example: An author discussing the contemporary problems of some black inner-city residents in America makes the point that not all these problems are effects of slavery. - A false analogy claims similarities that do not withstand scrutiny. A example of a false analogy is, "Animals, which move, have limbs and muscles; the earth has no limbs and muscles, hence it does not move"

Question 72

Know the following irrational appeals: 1. Appeal to Emotion 2. Appeal to Tradition 3. Appeal to Moderation 4. Appeal to Authority 5. Appeal to Tolerance

Answer 72

1. Appeal to Emotion: Uses feelings as a substitute for thought. Stimulates feelings of fear, resentment, guilt, love of family or country, or pity w/out demonstrating their appropriateness. 2. Appeal to Tradition: Urges maintaining the traditional merely because we've always done so. Appeals of this kind have been used to obstruct advances in every field, including science, technology, and medicine. 3. Appeal to Moderation: Offered on the erroneous presumption that moderation is always preferable. Consider the issue of slavery at the time of the civil war. Some people regarding the keeping of slaves as a moral abomination that should be abolished, others as a legitamate form of ownership that should be preserved. The moderation view would have been to let each person decide for himself to own slaves. Today no responsible person would endorse that view. 4. Appeal to Authority: Irrational says, "Here is what one or more authorities say-accept it unquestionably." 5. Appeal to Tolerance: Irrational says, "Because tolerance is good in general, it is the right response to every situation, including this one." This is nonsense, some acts-terroism, rape, and child abuse cry out for condemnation.

Question 73

Generally speaking, what is an “error in reaction”?

Answer 73

Occur after we have expressed our ideas and others have criticized or challenged them. This determination to explain away whatever does not flatter us or our point of view reflects our urge to save face and preserve our self-image. -they are face saving devices we use to explain away criticism of our ideas.

Question 74

What is “automatic rejection”?

Answer 74

To reject criticism without giving it a fair hearing

Question 75

What is “changing the subject”? (also known as a “red herring”)

Answer 75

Consists of abruptly turning a discussion in a different direction. Changing the subject is an error only when the original issue is appropriate and the shift is used deceptively.

Question 76

What is a “strawman argument”?

Answer 76

Coined by logicians to denote an argument without substance. The term shares its meaning w/the word scarecrow, a pile of straw stuffed in human clothing & placed in a field. To commit this error is to put false words in someone else's mouth & then expose their falsity, conveniently forgetting that the other person never said them.

Question 77

What is an “attacking the critic” argument? (also know as an “ad hominem” “personal attack”)

Answer 77

An attempt to discredit an idea or argument by disparaging the person who expressed it.