Intro to Critical Thinking & Discussion of Claims

Question 1

Identify characteristics of critical thinkers

Answer 1

• Self Aware
• Curious
• Independent

Question 2

Identify how critical thinkers approach arguments and how this differs from other approaches

Answer 2

1. Follower: Blindly accept all arguments, ignoring reasoning and assuming evidence presented is reliable.
2. Cynic: Reject all arguments, assume all reasoning is flawed, and all evidence presented is biased or false.
3. Healthy Sceptic: Actively assesses arguments based on reasoning and evaluates evidence based on reliability.

Question 3

Identify characteristics and examples of System 1 and System 2 thinking

Answer 3

System 1
- Automatic, Involuntary, Unfiltered
- Confirms existing models, Uses biases/shortcuts
- FAST

System 2
- Deliberate, Effortful, Self-controlled
- Makes conscious choices, concentrates, reasons
- SLOW

Question 4

Identify how System 1 and System 2 thinking work together and apply to critical thinking

Answer 4

How do the systems work together?
Normally, quite efficiently

• System 2 usually adopts suggestions of System 1 with little or no modification until…
  1. It runs into difficulty
  2. It is surprised (an event violates the model that System 1 maintains)
  3. It detects that an error is about to be made

Question 5

Identify why critical thinking is important

Answer 5

• It bridges Scholarly Thought with Employability
• Manages information overload
• Improves our understanding of the business world
• Evaluate implications of business values/strategies in other spheres
• Manage ‘age of the expert’
• Manage increasing disinformation and polarization
• Retain our unique abilities of being human
• Act as responsible, active, and effective community members and global citizens

Question 6

Identify how students best learn and improve critical thinking skills

Answer 6

• Accept that its hard and takes time to develop
• Practice it explicitly in its own right
• Practice for transfer
• Learn a balanced, practical amount of theory
• Map it out

Question 7

Identify, describe, and apply the features of contestable vs. uncontested claims

Answer 7

What is a Claim: Major conclusion that the author is trying to persuade you to accept, not an example, definition or statistic

Characteristics of an Uncontested Claim
- Match our lived experience or author’s subjective preferences
- Facts that are independent of interpretation
- Technical or mathematical
- Events that occurred
- Agreement among experts

What is a Contestable Claim: When none of the “uncontested” characteristics apply, often when new ideas are introduced

How should claims be presented
- Accurately
- Concisely
- Text or map