PHI 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Belief Bias, Subjectivism, Relativism

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 1101
• Professor: Sascha Maicher

Document Summary

The goal of critical thinking is to challenge and question our beliefs and coming to our most fallacy free conclusions as we can possibly come to and to make decisions that are wise. The purpose of critical thinking is to come to correct conclusions. Claim: when a belief (judgment, opinion) is asserted in a declarative sentence, the result is a claim. When we come to a conclusion, we have a belief. A belief is propositional (can be expressed in a declarative sentence) These beliefs become claims, statements and assertions. Objective claim: whether it is true or not is independent of whether people think it is or isn"t. Example: god exists or there is life on mars . Subjective claim: whether a subjective claim is true or not is dependent on whether people think it is or not. Example: obama is one cool daddy depends on who you ask . Objective opinions are factual opinions but that doesn"t mean they"re right.