Rent 9780205506682 | Asking the Right Questions | Browne, M. Neil; Keeley, Stuart M. @knetbooks.com

Summary Table of Contents

Used in a variety of courses in various disciplines,Asking the Right Questions helps bridge the gap between simply memorizing or blindly accepting information, and the greater challenge of critical analysis and synthesis. Specifically, this concise text teaches how to think critically by exploring the components of arguments--issues, conclusions, reasons, evidence, assumptions, language--and on how to spot fallacies and manipulations and obstacles to critical thinking.

Preface	p. ix
The Benefit of Asking the Right Questions	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Critical Thinking to the Rescue	p. 2
The Sponge and Panning for Gold: Alternative Thinking Styles	p. 3
An Example of the Panning-for Gold Approach	p. 4
Panning for Gold: Asking Critical Question	p. 6
The Myth of the "Right Answer"	p. 6
The Usefulness of As... MOREking the Question, "Who Cares?"	p. 7
Weak-Sense and Strong-Sense Critical Thinking	p. 8
The Satisfaction of Panning for Gold	p. 9
Effective Communication and Critical Thinking	p. 9
The Importance of Practice	p. 9
The Right Question	p. 10
Critical Thinking As a Social Activity	p. 11
Values and Other People	p. 11
The Primary Values of a Critical Thinker	p. 13
Thinking and Feeling	p. 14
Keeping the Conversation Going	p. 15
Avoiding the Dangers of Groupthink	p. 18
What Are the Issue and the Conclusion?	p. 19
Kinds of Issues	p. 20
Searching for the Issue	p. 21
Searching for the Authors' or Speaker's Conclusion	p. 22
Clues to Discovery: How to Find the Conclusion	p. 23
Critical Thinking and Your Own Writing and Speaking	p. 24
Practice Exercises	p. 25
What Are the Reasons?	p. 28
Reasons + Conclusion = Argument	p. 29
Initiating the Questioning process	p. 30
Words That Identify Reasons	p. 31
Kinds of Reasons	p. 32
Keeping the reasons and conclusions Straight	p. 33
Critical Thinking and Your Own Writing and Speaking	p. 34
Practice Exercises	p. 34
What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous	p. 37
The Confusing Flexibility of Words	p. 38
Locating Key Terms and Phrases	p. 38
Checking for Ambiguity	p. 40
Determining Ambiguity	p. 41
Context and Ambiguity	p. 43
Ambiguity, Definitions, and the Dictionary	p. 44
Ambiguity and Loaded Language	p. 46
Limits of Your Responsibility to Clarify Ambiguity	p. 48
Ambiguity and Your Own Writing and Speaking	p. 48
Summary	p. 48
Practice Exercises	p. 49
What Are the Value and Descriptive Assumptions?	p. 53
General Guide for Identifying Assumptions	p. 55
Value Conflicts and Assumptions	p. 56
Typical value Conflicts	p. 57
The Communicator's Background as a Clue to Value Assumptions	p. 58
Consequences as Clues to Value Assumptions	p. 58
More Hints for Finding Value Assumptions	p. 59
Finding Value Assumptions on Your Own	p. 60
Values and Relativism	p. 62
Identifying and Evaluating Descriptive Assumptions	p. 62
Illustrating Descriptive Assumptions	p. 62
Clues for Locating Assumptions	p. 64
Avoiding Analysis of Trivial Assumptions	p. 66
Assumptions and Your Own Writing and Speaking	p. 66
Practice exercises	p. 67
Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning?	p. 70
A Questioning Approach to Finding Reasoning Fallacies	p. 71
Evaluating Assumptions as a Starting Point	p. 72
Discovering Other Common Reasoning Fallacies	p. 74
Looking for Diversions	p. 80
Sleight of Hand: Begging the Question	p. 82
Summary of Reasoning Errors	p. 83
Expanding Your Knowledge of Fallacies	p. 84
Fallacies and Your Own Writing and Speaking	p. 85
Practice Exercises	p. 85
How Good Is the Evidence: Intuition, Personal Experience, Testimonials, and Appeals to Authority?	p. 89
The Need for Evidence	p. 89
Locating Factual Claim	p. 91
Sources of Evidence	p. 92
Intuition as Evidence	p. 93
Dangers of Appealing to Personal Experience and Anecdotes as Evidence	p. 94
Appeals to Authority as Evidence	p. 96
Summary	p. 100
Practice Exercises	p. 100
How Good Is the Evidence: Personal Observation, Research Studies, Case Examples, and Analogies?	p. 103
Personal Observation	p. 103
Research Studies as Evidence	p. 104
Generalizing from the Research Sample	p. 108
Biased Surveys and Questionnaires	p. 110
Critical Evaluation of a Research-Based Argument	p. 111
Case Examples as Evidence	p. 113
Analogies as Evidence	p. 114
Summary	p. 118
Practice Exercises	p. 118
Are There Rival Causes?	p. 122
When to Look for Rival Causes	p. 123
The Pervasiveness of Rival Causes	p. 123
Detecting Rival Causes	p. 126
The Cause or A Cause	p. 126
Rival Causes for Differences Between Groups	p. 129
Confusing Causation with Association	p. 130
Confusing "After this" with "Because of this"	p. 132
Explaining Individual Events or Acts	p. 133
Evaluating Rival Causes	p. 134
Evidence and Your Own Writing and Speaking	p. 134
Summary	p. 134
Practice Exercises	p. 134
Are the Statistics Deceptive?	p. 137
Unknowable and Biased Statistics	p. 138
Confusing Averages	p. 138
Concluding One Thing, Proving Another	p. 140
Deceiving by Omitting Information	p. 141
Risk Statistics and Omitted Information	p. 143
Summary	p. 144
Practice Exercises	p. 144
What Significant Information Is Omitted?	p. 147
The Benefits of Detecting Omitted Information	p. 148
The Certainty of Incomplete Reasoning	p. 148
Questions That Identify Omitted Information	p. 150
The Importance of the Negative View	p. 152
Omitted Information That Remains Missing	p. 153
Practice Exercises	p. 154
What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possiblee?	p. 157
Assumptions and Multiple Conclusions	p. 158
Dichotomous Thinking: impediment to Considering Multiple Conclusions	p. 158
Two Sides or Many?	p. 159
Searching for Multiple Conclusions	p. 160
Productivity of If-Clauses	p. 161
Alternative Solutions as Conclusions	p. 162
The Liberating Effect of Recognizing Alternative Conclusions	p. 162
All Conclusion Are Not Created Equal	p. 163
Summary	p. 163
Practice Exercises	p. 164
Overcoming Obstacles to Critical Thinking	p. 167
Reviewing Familiar Obstacles	p. 167
Mental Habits That Betray Us	p. 168
Wishful Thinking	p. 173
Final Word	p. 174
Index	p. 176
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