PHIL2420 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Email Spam, Daniel Kahneman, Immanuel Kant
1 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
PHIL 2420
Critical Thinking
March 1, 2018
WEEK 1
Reasoning Critically
Philosophers aren’t concerned about the right answers, they are concerned with HOW
to get the right answers.
How do we use our minds to understand things?
Critical Reasoning --- asking the right questions
Permission to think for yourself
• Immanuel Kant, Sapere Aude!
• Dare to know, Dare to think for yourself
Intellectual Maturity
• Freedom to express our opinions
• Responsibility to give our reasons
Reasoning
• At its most basic level, is providing reasons for your statements
• If you give reasons, it helps people decide whether things are right or not
• Articulating reasons allows others to see what’s behind what you’re saying
• If 90% of what in the journals is false, that doesn’t mean the journals are no
good. People can read them critically
Fallibility
• We need to subject our ideas to critique because everyone makes mistakes
• Aristotle’s biggest mistake – spontaneous generation
• It is easier to recognize other people’s mistakes than our own – Daniel
Kahneman
Reasoning and Reflexivity
• Whilst it is useful to critique the work of others, it is also important to apply critical
reasoning to our own ideas
• EXAMPLE: A bat and a ball cost $1.10. Bat costs 1 more than the ball. How
much does the ball cost?
o When you see it, the obvious answer can’t be the right answer
o Most people are led to the obvious answer
• Kahneman concluded people don’t do maths, they make educated guesses
associated with time
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Philosophers aren"t concerned about the right answers, they are concerned with how to get the right answers. Immanuel kant, (cid:1688)sapere aude! (cid:1689) (cid:1688)dare to know(cid:1689), (cid:1688)dare to think for yourself(cid:1689) Intellectual maturity: freedom to express our opinions, responsibility to give our reasons. Reasoning: at its most basic level, is providing reasons for your statements. If you give reasons, it helps people decide whether things are right or not: articulating reasons allows others to see what"s behind what you"re saying. If 90% of what in the journals is false, that doesn"t mean the journals are no good. Fallibility: we need to subject our ideas to critique because everyone makes mistakes, aristotle"s biggest mistake (cid:1688)spontaneous generation(cid:1689) (cid:1688)it is easier to recognize other people"s mistakes than our own(cid:1689) daniel. Reasoning and reflexivity: whilst it is useful to critique the work of others, it is also important to apply critical reasoning to our own ideas, example: a bat and a ball cost . 10.
