Episode 1.1: Introduction to Critical Thinking (revised)
Episode 1.1: Introduction to Critical Thinking (revised)
Listen:
About
00:00:03.349: the definition and purpose of critical
00:00:03.359: thinking what comes to mind when someone
00:00:05.879: says that you need to use critical
00:00:08.120: thinking do you focus on the word
00:00:10.960: critical do you assume that thinking
00:00:13.280: critically must be negative requiring
00:00:15.280: you to criticize or be critical of
00:00:17.160: something you've read heard or
00:00:19.240: watched the modules you will complete in
00:00:21.560: this course will help you understand
00:00:23.760: what critical thinking is and how you
00:00:26.160: can do
00:00:27.039: it as we go through this module you will
00:00:30.119: learn that thinking critically should
00:00:31.759: not be assumed to be synonymous with
00:00:34.680: criticizing once you learn to think
00:00:36.600: critically you might criticize an
00:00:38.559: argument or claim but your thinking will
00:00:40.879: be thoughtfully reasoned consideration
00:00:43.680: not reflexive quick and unthinking
00:00:46.960: judgment in the concept of critical
00:00:49.280: thinking the term critical refers to a
00:00:51.600: way of thinking in analytical stance you
00:00:54.440: take with regards to assessing claims
00:00:56.399: that you've read heard or saw in this
00:00:59.640: month module we will explain the concept
00:01:02.120: and activity of critical thinking one we
00:01:05.400: will construct a useful everyday
00:01:07.360: definition of critical thinking and
00:01:09.400: identify what critical thinking is not
00:01:12.040: and two show you the purpose and value
00:01:14.920: of critical
00:01:16.119: thinking according to one definition
00:01:18.640: critical thinking is the careful
00:01:20.799: application of Reason in the
00:01:22.560: determination of whether a claim is
00:01:25.040: true another definition holds that
00:01:27.799: critical thinking is judicious reason
00:01:30.079: ing about what to believe and therefore
00:01:32.680: what to do let's note the important
00:01:35.600: pieces of these
00:01:36.920: definitions critical thinking requires
00:01:39.960: one careful intentional thinking also
00:01:43.200: known as
00:01:44.479: judiciousness two the use of reason or
00:01:48.159: logic three judgment about beliefs and
00:01:52.119: finally four application to real world
00:01:55.200: problems and issues let's walk through
00:01:57.560: these one by
00:01:58.840: one careful and intentional first
00:02:02.320: consider the ideas of being careful and
00:02:04.880: judicious critical thinking is not a
00:02:07.320: fast or easy process even if you know
00:02:09.399: how to do it to do it properly requires
00:02:12.200: you to take your
00:02:13.680: time being careful and judicious require
00:02:16.480: you to be purposeful and deliberate in
00:02:18.239: your evaluation it also requires you to
00:02:20.879: be thorough to think critically you have
00:02:23.959: to focus on the issue at hand taking in
00:02:26.319: all its complexity breadth and depth
00:02:29.879: critical thinking is not passive the
00:02:33.519: goal of critical thinking is not simply
00:02:35.560: to decide whether to accept or reject an
00:02:37.599: argument to register a yay or nay
00:02:40.239: vote in critical thinking the goal is to
00:02:43.519: fully evaluate all parts of a claim that
00:02:46.280: someone has made to assess each of its
00:02:48.840: parts as well as the whole certainly
00:02:52.040: there are relatively easy black and
00:02:53.840: white cases for example consider the
00:02:56.800: claim that was made in the day of
00:02:58.080: Columbus when people said ships sailing
00:03:01.000: East from Europe will eventually fall
00:03:03.000: into space because the Earth is flat you
00:03:06.280: don't need to be an expert in critical
00:03:07.840: thinking to see this as an example of an
00:03:10.000: argument that's pretty easy to reject in
00:03:12.120: total assuming you know the Earth is not
00:03:15.440: flat however much more often we are
00:03:18.239: asked to think critically about more
00:03:20.480: complex challenging claims or arguments
00:03:23.200: that contain much more gray than they do
00:03:25.480: black or white so in such cases it's
00:03:28.200: much harder to say I agree or I
00:03:32.439: disagree critical thinking is The
00:03:34.519: Logical process that you go through to
00:03:36.840: determine whether you agree or
00:03:39.120: not critical thinking allows you to
00:03:41.519: explain why you disagree what parts of
00:03:43.879: the claim or argument you find wrong or
00:03:46.040: troubling and even what argument you
00:03:48.280: might make in its place as we proceed in
00:03:51.400: learning about critical thinking you'll
00:03:53.519: find that by offering alternatives to
00:03:55.720: the argument you and others involved
00:03:58.480: strengthen and clarify views and
00:04:00.560: positions thus critical thinking can be
00:04:03.079: seen as an exercise in Collective
00:04:05.239: problem solving throughout these
00:04:07.360: critical thinking modules you will be
00:04:09.560: asked to take what you learn and apply
00:04:11.480: it in class that means thinking
00:04:14.400: critically about what you're reading as
00:04:16.639: well as claims made by your professor
00:04:18.320: and
00:04:19.400: classmates sometimes you will have to
00:04:21.840: critically evaluate claims made by
00:04:23.720: others other times you'll be asked to
00:04:26.400: actively defend your own claims which
00:04:28.639: will require you to think critically
00:04:30.800: about your own perspectives and
00:04:33.320: positions critical thinking is not a
00:04:35.720: process that most people do in their
00:04:37.120: daily activities but it's important to
00:04:39.520: both your understanding of what other
00:04:41.160: people say and what you think and say to
00:04:44.360: others at times you may struggle to use
00:04:46.960: the critical thinking process and that's
00:04:49.440: okay number two reason or
00:04:52.960: logic so critical thinking is an active
00:04:56.039: process meant to move us whether it's a
00:04:58.320: class or another community that you
00:05:00.080: belong to towards greater understanding
00:05:02.960: of difficult economic social ethical and
00:05:06.240: legal problems in order to do this
00:05:09.000: effectively critical thinking requires
00:05:11.400: applying reason over the next few
00:05:14.320: modules we will examine more deeply
00:05:17.560: reason we will develop yard sticks for
00:05:20.319: assessing whether an argument is a
00:05:22.000: product of good thoughtful
00:05:23.880: reasoning we will compare reason with
00:05:26.440: other ways of judging or reacting to
00:05:28.479: claims for example people often make
00:05:31.759: decisions based on pure emotion
00:05:34.840: intuition Faith or common
00:05:38.520: sense utilizing reason does not
00:05:41.280: necessarily mean throwing these
00:05:42.720: sensibilities emotion intuition Etc out
00:05:45.600: the window it's not cold hard or
00:05:49.400: unfeeling but critical thinking requires
00:05:52.039: putting these other ways of thinking and
00:05:53.800: reacting under the microscope of reason
00:05:57.120: for example many people decide not to
00:06:00.000: try certain activities because they say
00:06:02.560: I'm too scared I can't go running
00:06:04.880: tonight I don't have anyone else to run
00:06:06.960: with and I'm afraid of running by myself
00:06:08.680: at night fear like all emotions can
00:06:12.680: either be justified or unfounded when we
00:06:16.080: expose this emotional response to reason
00:06:18.240: we can determine whether it's Justified
00:06:20.000: or not are there good reasons to be
00:06:22.520: fearful of running alone at night is the
00:06:24.800: area known for Crime are there wild
00:06:27.680: animals or dogs to worry about
00:06:29.919: is it easy to get lost by asking these
00:06:33.000: kinds of questions we can probe to see
00:06:35.199: whether our emotion fear is the product
00:06:38.240: of a reasonable assessment of the
00:06:40.759: situation three and four judgments and
00:06:45.039: application finally let's consider these
00:06:47.479: last two pieces of the definition of
00:06:49.280: critical thinking determining whether a
00:06:51.440: claim is true and deciding how to act
00:06:54.440: based on that
00:06:55.879: determination these speak to the purpose
00:06:57.960: of critical thinking when we engage in
00:07:00.280: critical thinking our goal is to
00:07:02.639: determine whether the claim before us is
00:07:04.599: true or not and then to use that
00:07:06.759: assessment to decide what action or
00:07:09.080: actions to take ultimately when we are
00:07:12.599: asked to think critically we are being
00:07:14.960: asked to take a position regarding the
00:07:17.479: truth or acceptability of something
00:07:19.319: we've read heard or watched while the
00:07:22.400: exercise of critical thinking is not
00:07:24.400: biased toward one outcome or the other
00:07:26.840: in the end we are expected to have a
00:07:29.720: reason judgment about whether we
00:07:32.080: disagree or agree with a claim or
00:07:35.319: argument so why do we need to take a
00:07:37.560: position or pass judgment let's consider
00:07:40.039: the following scenario one of your
00:07:42.479: classes requires students to complete a
00:07:44.400: group project worth 50% of their final
00:07:47.120: grade you're put into a group with four
00:07:49.639: other students at your first meeting one
00:07:52.199: of your group members
00:07:53.879: says listen I've done this whole group
00:07:56.919: project thing before and it's a real
00:07:58.599: pain in the butt but nobody really likes
00:08:01.080: working with other people and we all
00:08:03.000: just end up fighting anyway it's too
00:08:05.680: hard to split up the parts of the
00:08:07.080: project no one's ever happy with their
00:08:09.360: part last time I had to do one of these
00:08:11.960: things we decided that each of us would
00:08:14.400: just do the whole project then we shared
00:08:16.840: our reports and voted on the best one
00:08:19.960: that's the one we turned into the
00:08:21.280: professor we should do the same thing
00:08:23.039: for this
00:08:24.479: class is this a good argument do you
00:08:27.479: agree with all of the claims he made
00:08:29.919: do those claims necessarily lead to his
00:08:32.240: conclusion about how to handle the
00:08:34.279: project should you go along with your
00:08:36.519: classmate or is there a better way to
00:08:39.080: handle the project remember 50% of your
00:08:42.240: final grade is at stake here your
00:08:45.240: classmate has had certain experiences
00:08:47.240: that make him believe that doing group
00:08:49.240: project work separately as individuals
00:08:52.160: is better than dividing up the tasks
00:08:53.959: among the group if you simply accept his
00:08:56.760: belief without question without thinking
00:08:59.240: about it critically you may come to
00:09:01.480: share his belief simply as an inherited
00:09:05.040: opinion an inherited opinion means that
00:09:08.160: you believe completing group projects
00:09:10.160: this way is better because someone else
00:09:12.519: told you it was better now many of us
00:09:15.200: hold inherited opinions on a lot of
00:09:17.160: topics frequently our political moral
00:09:19.720: and ethical beliefs have been handed
00:09:21.760: down to us by our families or
00:09:23.680: communities how many of us could
00:09:26.000: actually provide evidence or reasons for
00:09:28.600: those beliefs if asked to do so but we
00:09:31.720: are often required to do just that we
00:09:35.000: live in a diverse complicated World in
00:09:37.160: which people hold widely different views
00:09:39.240: on many topics individuals communities
00:09:42.640: businesses and governments need to
00:09:44.560: decide what to do on many issues that
00:09:47.200: are the subject of strong
00:09:49.800: disagreements critical thinking will
00:09:51.920: help us both offer reasons for our own
00:09:54.079: positions on what action should be taken
00:09:56.880: and effectively evaluate the reasons off
00:09:59.079: offered by others to see how important
00:10:01.839: critical thinking can be consider this
00:10:04.440: scenario you are working as a marketing
00:10:06.839: assistant for a marketing company you've
00:10:09.040: been in that position for a few years
00:10:10.760: and you're looking to catch the
00:10:11.959: attention of your supervisor you know
00:10:14.079: there's a marketing manager position
00:10:15.680: opening up soon and you've got your eye
00:10:17.480: on it you want to distinguish yourself
00:10:20.680: fortunately an opportunity presents
00:10:22.839: itself your supervisor asks both you and
00:10:26.320: your coworker who's also an assistant
00:10:29.160: what you think the company should focus
00:10:30.839: on For an upcoming ad campaign should
00:10:33.920: they invest more resources in
00:10:36.000: traditional marketing venues like print
00:10:38.320: and tv ads for example or in Innovative
00:10:41.880: online and social media
00:10:44.320: venues wanting to seem like you're on
00:10:46.760: top of things and ready to go you
00:10:48.880: respond quickly with an email definitely
00:10:51.480: traditional venues and here's how we
00:10:53.480: should spend the money in those venues
00:10:56.120: your coworker doesn't respond right away
00:10:58.440: but the next Day offers her assessment
00:11:01.399: we should go with online and social
00:11:03.480: media I've attached a detailed report
00:11:05.800: showing recent Trends in market research
00:11:07.720: with data that demonstrates The
00:11:09.279: increased return on investment of social
00:11:11.519: media marketing campaigns compared with
00:11:13.600: traditional
00:11:15.399: venues who do you think will get the
00:11:17.560: attention of the supervisor the employee
00:11:19.959: who made an unsupported Claim about what
00:11:21.760: to do you or the employee who offered
00:11:25.600: evidence and reason for her
00:11:27.720: position take taking the time to assess
00:11:30.120: beliefs and opinions to think critically
00:11:32.200: about them gives us insight and
00:11:34.440: understanding that we would not have
00:11:36.320: developed without critical thinking
00:11:39.200: insight and understanding leads to
00:11:41.000: justification for taking or not taking
00:11:44.480: certain actions but it also gives us
00:11:47.320: ownership over our beliefs as we think
00:11:50.200: critically about our own and others
00:11:52.279: beliefs we develop the skills that allow
00:11:54.720: us to know why we believe what we
00:11:56.959: believe we can offer evidence and reason
00:11:59.600: to defend our beliefs and that reason
00:12:01.800: giving leads us to actions that fit with
00:12:03.839: our beliefs ultimately we have true
00:12:07.160: freedom of thought and opinion that
00:12:09.079: comes when we know what we believe and
00:12:12.240: why throughout the first module you'll
00:12:14.720: be introduced to Concepts and ideas
00:12:16.680: that'll be important in learning how to
00:12:18.120: think critically don't worry if you
00:12:20.480: don't completely understand these
00:12:22.000: Concepts and ideas from these early
00:12:23.959: episodes the more important ones will be
00:12:26.680: explained in much more depth in later
00:12:28.560: modules
00:12:30.600: this module has provided you with a
00:12:32.360: working definition of critical thinking
00:12:34.760: you should now be able to explain what
00:12:37.000: critical thinking is and how it's
00:12:39.160: different from other types of thought
00:12:41.480: you should understand the key features
00:12:43.000: of critical thinking and to appreciate
00:12:45.680: its purpose and value
00:00:03.359: thinking what comes to mind when someone
00:00:05.879: says that you need to use critical
00:00:08.120: thinking do you focus on the word
00:00:10.960: critical do you assume that thinking
00:00:13.280: critically must be negative requiring
00:00:15.280: you to criticize or be critical of
00:00:17.160: something you've read heard or
00:00:19.240: watched the modules you will complete in
00:00:21.560: this course will help you understand
00:00:23.760: what critical thinking is and how you
00:00:26.160: can do
00:00:27.039: it as we go through this module you will
00:00:30.119: learn that thinking critically should
00:00:31.759: not be assumed to be synonymous with
00:00:34.680: criticizing once you learn to think
00:00:36.600: critically you might criticize an
00:00:38.559: argument or claim but your thinking will
00:00:40.879: be thoughtfully reasoned consideration
00:00:43.680: not reflexive quick and unthinking
00:00:46.960: judgment in the concept of critical
00:00:49.280: thinking the term critical refers to a
00:00:51.600: way of thinking in analytical stance you
00:00:54.440: take with regards to assessing claims
00:00:56.399: that you've read heard or saw in this
00:00:59.640: month module we will explain the concept
00:01:02.120: and activity of critical thinking one we
00:01:05.400: will construct a useful everyday
00:01:07.360: definition of critical thinking and
00:01:09.400: identify what critical thinking is not
00:01:12.040: and two show you the purpose and value
00:01:14.920: of critical
00:01:16.119: thinking according to one definition
00:01:18.640: critical thinking is the careful
00:01:20.799: application of Reason in the
00:01:22.560: determination of whether a claim is
00:01:25.040: true another definition holds that
00:01:27.799: critical thinking is judicious reason
00:01:30.079: ing about what to believe and therefore
00:01:32.680: what to do let's note the important
00:01:35.600: pieces of these
00:01:36.920: definitions critical thinking requires
00:01:39.960: one careful intentional thinking also
00:01:43.200: known as
00:01:44.479: judiciousness two the use of reason or
00:01:48.159: logic three judgment about beliefs and
00:01:52.119: finally four application to real world
00:01:55.200: problems and issues let's walk through
00:01:57.560: these one by
00:01:58.840: one careful and intentional first
00:02:02.320: consider the ideas of being careful and
00:02:04.880: judicious critical thinking is not a
00:02:07.320: fast or easy process even if you know
00:02:09.399: how to do it to do it properly requires
00:02:12.200: you to take your
00:02:13.680: time being careful and judicious require
00:02:16.480: you to be purposeful and deliberate in
00:02:18.239: your evaluation it also requires you to
00:02:20.879: be thorough to think critically you have
00:02:23.959: to focus on the issue at hand taking in
00:02:26.319: all its complexity breadth and depth
00:02:29.879: critical thinking is not passive the
00:02:33.519: goal of critical thinking is not simply
00:02:35.560: to decide whether to accept or reject an
00:02:37.599: argument to register a yay or nay
00:02:40.239: vote in critical thinking the goal is to
00:02:43.519: fully evaluate all parts of a claim that
00:02:46.280: someone has made to assess each of its
00:02:48.840: parts as well as the whole certainly
00:02:52.040: there are relatively easy black and
00:02:53.840: white cases for example consider the
00:02:56.800: claim that was made in the day of
00:02:58.080: Columbus when people said ships sailing
00:03:01.000: East from Europe will eventually fall
00:03:03.000: into space because the Earth is flat you
00:03:06.280: don't need to be an expert in critical
00:03:07.840: thinking to see this as an example of an
00:03:10.000: argument that's pretty easy to reject in
00:03:12.120: total assuming you know the Earth is not
00:03:15.440: flat however much more often we are
00:03:18.239: asked to think critically about more
00:03:20.480: complex challenging claims or arguments
00:03:23.200: that contain much more gray than they do
00:03:25.480: black or white so in such cases it's
00:03:28.200: much harder to say I agree or I
00:03:32.439: disagree critical thinking is The
00:03:34.519: Logical process that you go through to
00:03:36.840: determine whether you agree or
00:03:39.120: not critical thinking allows you to
00:03:41.519: explain why you disagree what parts of
00:03:43.879: the claim or argument you find wrong or
00:03:46.040: troubling and even what argument you
00:03:48.280: might make in its place as we proceed in
00:03:51.400: learning about critical thinking you'll
00:03:53.519: find that by offering alternatives to
00:03:55.720: the argument you and others involved
00:03:58.480: strengthen and clarify views and
00:04:00.560: positions thus critical thinking can be
00:04:03.079: seen as an exercise in Collective
00:04:05.239: problem solving throughout these
00:04:07.360: critical thinking modules you will be
00:04:09.560: asked to take what you learn and apply
00:04:11.480: it in class that means thinking
00:04:14.400: critically about what you're reading as
00:04:16.639: well as claims made by your professor
00:04:18.320: and
00:04:19.400: classmates sometimes you will have to
00:04:21.840: critically evaluate claims made by
00:04:23.720: others other times you'll be asked to
00:04:26.400: actively defend your own claims which
00:04:28.639: will require you to think critically
00:04:30.800: about your own perspectives and
00:04:33.320: positions critical thinking is not a
00:04:35.720: process that most people do in their
00:04:37.120: daily activities but it's important to
00:04:39.520: both your understanding of what other
00:04:41.160: people say and what you think and say to
00:04:44.360: others at times you may struggle to use
00:04:46.960: the critical thinking process and that's
00:04:49.440: okay number two reason or
00:04:52.960: logic so critical thinking is an active
00:04:56.039: process meant to move us whether it's a
00:04:58.320: class or another community that you
00:05:00.080: belong to towards greater understanding
00:05:02.960: of difficult economic social ethical and
00:05:06.240: legal problems in order to do this
00:05:09.000: effectively critical thinking requires
00:05:11.400: applying reason over the next few
00:05:14.320: modules we will examine more deeply
00:05:17.560: reason we will develop yard sticks for
00:05:20.319: assessing whether an argument is a
00:05:22.000: product of good thoughtful
00:05:23.880: reasoning we will compare reason with
00:05:26.440: other ways of judging or reacting to
00:05:28.479: claims for example people often make
00:05:31.759: decisions based on pure emotion
00:05:34.840: intuition Faith or common
00:05:38.520: sense utilizing reason does not
00:05:41.280: necessarily mean throwing these
00:05:42.720: sensibilities emotion intuition Etc out
00:05:45.600: the window it's not cold hard or
00:05:49.400: unfeeling but critical thinking requires
00:05:52.039: putting these other ways of thinking and
00:05:53.800: reacting under the microscope of reason
00:05:57.120: for example many people decide not to
00:06:00.000: try certain activities because they say
00:06:02.560: I'm too scared I can't go running
00:06:04.880: tonight I don't have anyone else to run
00:06:06.960: with and I'm afraid of running by myself
00:06:08.680: at night fear like all emotions can
00:06:12.680: either be justified or unfounded when we
00:06:16.080: expose this emotional response to reason
00:06:18.240: we can determine whether it's Justified
00:06:20.000: or not are there good reasons to be
00:06:22.520: fearful of running alone at night is the
00:06:24.800: area known for Crime are there wild
00:06:27.680: animals or dogs to worry about
00:06:29.919: is it easy to get lost by asking these
00:06:33.000: kinds of questions we can probe to see
00:06:35.199: whether our emotion fear is the product
00:06:38.240: of a reasonable assessment of the
00:06:40.759: situation three and four judgments and
00:06:45.039: application finally let's consider these
00:06:47.479: last two pieces of the definition of
00:06:49.280: critical thinking determining whether a
00:06:51.440: claim is true and deciding how to act
00:06:54.440: based on that
00:06:55.879: determination these speak to the purpose
00:06:57.960: of critical thinking when we engage in
00:07:00.280: critical thinking our goal is to
00:07:02.639: determine whether the claim before us is
00:07:04.599: true or not and then to use that
00:07:06.759: assessment to decide what action or
00:07:09.080: actions to take ultimately when we are
00:07:12.599: asked to think critically we are being
00:07:14.960: asked to take a position regarding the
00:07:17.479: truth or acceptability of something
00:07:19.319: we've read heard or watched while the
00:07:22.400: exercise of critical thinking is not
00:07:24.400: biased toward one outcome or the other
00:07:26.840: in the end we are expected to have a
00:07:29.720: reason judgment about whether we
00:07:32.080: disagree or agree with a claim or
00:07:35.319: argument so why do we need to take a
00:07:37.560: position or pass judgment let's consider
00:07:40.039: the following scenario one of your
00:07:42.479: classes requires students to complete a
00:07:44.400: group project worth 50% of their final
00:07:47.120: grade you're put into a group with four
00:07:49.639: other students at your first meeting one
00:07:52.199: of your group members
00:07:53.879: says listen I've done this whole group
00:07:56.919: project thing before and it's a real
00:07:58.599: pain in the butt but nobody really likes
00:08:01.080: working with other people and we all
00:08:03.000: just end up fighting anyway it's too
00:08:05.680: hard to split up the parts of the
00:08:07.080: project no one's ever happy with their
00:08:09.360: part last time I had to do one of these
00:08:11.960: things we decided that each of us would
00:08:14.400: just do the whole project then we shared
00:08:16.840: our reports and voted on the best one
00:08:19.960: that's the one we turned into the
00:08:21.280: professor we should do the same thing
00:08:23.039: for this
00:08:24.479: class is this a good argument do you
00:08:27.479: agree with all of the claims he made
00:08:29.919: do those claims necessarily lead to his
00:08:32.240: conclusion about how to handle the
00:08:34.279: project should you go along with your
00:08:36.519: classmate or is there a better way to
00:08:39.080: handle the project remember 50% of your
00:08:42.240: final grade is at stake here your
00:08:45.240: classmate has had certain experiences
00:08:47.240: that make him believe that doing group
00:08:49.240: project work separately as individuals
00:08:52.160: is better than dividing up the tasks
00:08:53.959: among the group if you simply accept his
00:08:56.760: belief without question without thinking
00:08:59.240: about it critically you may come to
00:09:01.480: share his belief simply as an inherited
00:09:05.040: opinion an inherited opinion means that
00:09:08.160: you believe completing group projects
00:09:10.160: this way is better because someone else
00:09:12.519: told you it was better now many of us
00:09:15.200: hold inherited opinions on a lot of
00:09:17.160: topics frequently our political moral
00:09:19.720: and ethical beliefs have been handed
00:09:21.760: down to us by our families or
00:09:23.680: communities how many of us could
00:09:26.000: actually provide evidence or reasons for
00:09:28.600: those beliefs if asked to do so but we
00:09:31.720: are often required to do just that we
00:09:35.000: live in a diverse complicated World in
00:09:37.160: which people hold widely different views
00:09:39.240: on many topics individuals communities
00:09:42.640: businesses and governments need to
00:09:44.560: decide what to do on many issues that
00:09:47.200: are the subject of strong
00:09:49.800: disagreements critical thinking will
00:09:51.920: help us both offer reasons for our own
00:09:54.079: positions on what action should be taken
00:09:56.880: and effectively evaluate the reasons off
00:09:59.079: offered by others to see how important
00:10:01.839: critical thinking can be consider this
00:10:04.440: scenario you are working as a marketing
00:10:06.839: assistant for a marketing company you've
00:10:09.040: been in that position for a few years
00:10:10.760: and you're looking to catch the
00:10:11.959: attention of your supervisor you know
00:10:14.079: there's a marketing manager position
00:10:15.680: opening up soon and you've got your eye
00:10:17.480: on it you want to distinguish yourself
00:10:20.680: fortunately an opportunity presents
00:10:22.839: itself your supervisor asks both you and
00:10:26.320: your coworker who's also an assistant
00:10:29.160: what you think the company should focus
00:10:30.839: on For an upcoming ad campaign should
00:10:33.920: they invest more resources in
00:10:36.000: traditional marketing venues like print
00:10:38.320: and tv ads for example or in Innovative
00:10:41.880: online and social media
00:10:44.320: venues wanting to seem like you're on
00:10:46.760: top of things and ready to go you
00:10:48.880: respond quickly with an email definitely
00:10:51.480: traditional venues and here's how we
00:10:53.480: should spend the money in those venues
00:10:56.120: your coworker doesn't respond right away
00:10:58.440: but the next Day offers her assessment
00:11:01.399: we should go with online and social
00:11:03.480: media I've attached a detailed report
00:11:05.800: showing recent Trends in market research
00:11:07.720: with data that demonstrates The
00:11:09.279: increased return on investment of social
00:11:11.519: media marketing campaigns compared with
00:11:13.600: traditional
00:11:15.399: venues who do you think will get the
00:11:17.560: attention of the supervisor the employee
00:11:19.959: who made an unsupported Claim about what
00:11:21.760: to do you or the employee who offered
00:11:25.600: evidence and reason for her
00:11:27.720: position take taking the time to assess
00:11:30.120: beliefs and opinions to think critically
00:11:32.200: about them gives us insight and
00:11:34.440: understanding that we would not have
00:11:36.320: developed without critical thinking
00:11:39.200: insight and understanding leads to
00:11:41.000: justification for taking or not taking
00:11:44.480: certain actions but it also gives us
00:11:47.320: ownership over our beliefs as we think
00:11:50.200: critically about our own and others
00:11:52.279: beliefs we develop the skills that allow
00:11:54.720: us to know why we believe what we
00:11:56.959: believe we can offer evidence and reason
00:11:59.600: to defend our beliefs and that reason
00:12:01.800: giving leads us to actions that fit with
00:12:03.839: our beliefs ultimately we have true
00:12:07.160: freedom of thought and opinion that
00:12:09.079: comes when we know what we believe and
00:12:12.240: why throughout the first module you'll
00:12:14.720: be introduced to Concepts and ideas
00:12:16.680: that'll be important in learning how to
00:12:18.120: think critically don't worry if you
00:12:20.480: don't completely understand these
00:12:22.000: Concepts and ideas from these early
00:12:23.959: episodes the more important ones will be
00:12:26.680: explained in much more depth in later
00:12:28.560: modules
00:12:30.600: this module has provided you with a
00:12:32.360: working definition of critical thinking
00:12:34.760: you should now be able to explain what
00:12:37.000: critical thinking is and how it's
00:12:39.160: different from other types of thought
00:12:41.480: you should understand the key features
00:12:43.000: of critical thinking and to appreciate
00:12:45.680: its purpose and value