Prep Test Flashcards
What is Critical Thinking?
“The art of thinking about thinking while thinking in order to make thinking better.”
What are the 3 dimensions of critical thinking?
Analyzing, Evaluating, and Improving
What is weak sense critical thinking?
Involves self centeredness- is more interested in winning arguments in order to look good. They are not fair mindedness.
What is strong sense critical thinking?
Involves fair mindedness- they emphasize an ethical empathy for other points of view.
What are the intellectual virtues?
Humility, courage, empathy, integrity, perseverance, confidence in reason, and intellectual autonomy
What is intellectually humble?
Is to admit that one does not know certain things, admit one’s own ignorance.
Vice: Intellectual Arrogance, leads people to overestimate what they know.
What is intellectual courage?
As the ability to confront new ideas and beliefs even when it might seem painful.
Vice: Intellectual cowardice, Is afraid of view and ideas that do not conform their own.
What is intellectual empathy?
Listening to others point of view in a sincere attempt to understand others.
Vice: Intellectual self centeredness, inability to sincerely listen to others point of view.
What is intellectual integrity?
The ability and desire to impose on one’s self the same intellectual requirements or criteria that one imposes on others.
Vice: Intellectual dishonesty, do not correct the flaws in their own thinking.
What is intellectual perseverance?
Marked by endurance which is needed in order to complete the difficult intellectual tasks.
Vice: Intellectual laziness, giving up easily when confronted with intellectually difficult task.
What is confidence in reason?
Means thinking clearly, By the belief that reason or logic can best serve the interest of the individual as well as society.
Vice: Distrust of reason, does not see the need to defend beliefs in a rational and logical way.
What is Intellectual automony?
Autonomy= freedom, being free to reason for one’s self
Vice: Intellectual conformity, “going along” with popular and majority opinions.
What are the elements of reasoning?
Purposes
Questions
Assumptions
Implications
Information
Concepts
Inferences
Points of View
What are the Standards of reasoning?
Clarity
Accuracy
Precision
Relevance
Depth
Breadth
Logic
Significance
Fairness
Standards of reasoning
The way we assess (good or not) our reasoning to determine how well we are reasoning.
Elements of reasoning
Are the fundamental or most basic parts of thought.
What are the 3 categories of questions?
Questions of fact
Questions of preference
Questions of judgement
What are questions of fact?
Questions that have one single correct answer
Ex: What is the capital of France?
What are questions of preference?
An individual’s subjective taste
Ex: What is the best type of coffee?
What are questions of judgement?
Questions that concern problems that involve several factors and variables.
Ex: How do we end poverty in the United States?
What is the common factor method?
Can be applied when we know that the effect involves several factors or variables which share a specific characteristic at the level of effect.
What is the single difference method?
Focuses on what might be different in one circumstance as opposed to another that might help to explain a given effect.
What is concomitant variation?
There’s a change that is a variation at the level of causation which causes a change at the level of effect.
What is the process of elimination?
Several possibilities are eliminated and we are left with only one possible cause.
