Conventions of Thinking: An Introduction to Critical Thinking

Conventions of Thinking

(An Introduction to Critical Thinking)

By Douglas D. Patterson

Copyright 2011 by Douglas D. Patterson

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Section 1 – Epistemology

Lesson l - Sources and Limitations of Knowledge

Lesson 2 - The Critical Thinker

Lesson 3 - Subjectivity

Lesson 4 - Objectivity

Section 2 – Logic

Lesson 5 – Association

Lesson 6 – Enumeration

Lesson 7 - Descriptive Statistics

Lesson 8 - Inductive Reasoning

Lesson 9 - Inductive Reasoning (Causation)

Lesson 10 - Deductive (Probability) Reasoning

Section 3 – Aesthetics

Lesson 11 - The Nature of Beauty

Lesson 12 - Schools of Art

Lesson 13 - Literary Criticism

Section 4 – Ethics, Laws and Political Debate

Lesson 14 - Ethics and Laws

Lesson 15 - The Governing Authority

Lesson 16 - Policy Argument

Lesson 17 - Sophistry

Section 5 – Metaphysics

Lesson 18 - Ontology

Lesson 19 – Cosmology

Key for Assignment #2 – Chapter 13

INTRODUCTION

Thinking is such a basic part of our lives that we often take it for granted. We tend to focus on what we believe and pay very little attention to how we arrived at those beliefs. The natural tendency is to think about everything except thinking itself.

Over the centuries, philosophers and other thinkers have developed conventions/rules of thinking, however, which well educated (not necessarily long schooled) people observe in attempting to control their thought processes.

Two branches of philosophy focus on thinking itself: epistemology and logic. Epistemology is defined as the part of philosophy that deals with the origin, nature, and limits of knowledge. Logic is the branch of philosophy which deals with the forms and the processes of thinking, especially those of inference and of the scientific method.

Philosophers have looked to these areas for guidance and discipline as they explore other substantive areas: aesthetics (What is the nature of beauty?), ethics (What is the nature of goodness?), and metaphysics (What is the nature of reality/existence?).

Mathematicians, scientists, social scientists, politicians, lawyers, and other professional groups have evolved specific rules and procedures within their own disciplines which they apply in arriving at conclusions and in evaluating their judgments.

Effective thinkers draw on the contributions of all of these groups as they attempt to discipline their own thought processes. By measuring their own and other's thoughts against these standards, they hope to make valid and reliable judgments by which they improve the quality of their own lives - and perhaps the lives of others.

No one can provide infallible road maps for arriving at the truth, but when we are aware of the enduring traditions of thinking, we increase our chances of living sensible lives.

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Section 1 Epistemology

When one attempts to define the origin, the nature, and the limits of knowledge, he must, of course, explore the various approaches which have been taken by thinkers throughout the ages. He must ask himself questions such as these: What is knowledge? Is knowledge enduring or transitory? What approaches will be most fruitful in my pursuit of knowledge? Can I ever know anything with certainty?

Lesson 1 - Sources and Limitations of Knowledge

Philosophers who deal with these questions may be divided into the two major groups: absolutists and relativists. A sub-group of the latter called pragmatists has attempted to find common ground between these philosophical orientations.

Absolutism

Those who approach life from this position assume that man can, through one means or another, achieve certain knowledge They look to sources and processes such as these:

God's Word

Most absolutists base their convictions on supernatural authority - the word of God. They claim by various means to know His will:

Revelation

In some instances God or a representative of God is said to have appeared in tangible form and to have spoken directly with chosen people. For example, the Bible tells us that God appeared before Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments. Joseph Smith claimed that the Angel Maroni visited him and gave him the Book of Mormon. If these men actually were visited by heavenly beings, then they would have a strong foundation for their beliefs. Their followers must, of course, depend on the word of these prophets that the events that they have described actually happen as they claim they did.

Divine Inspiration

A variety of people have claimed to be divinely inspired: prophets, religious leaders, kings, poets, wise men, etc. These people have cited various avenues for their inspiration. The English poet Caedmon, for example, is said to have been asleep in a stable when he saw a divine being in his dreams. The angel commanded him to compose religious poems: and Caedmon, who had until that time been tongue-tied, began to sing beautiful songs in praise of God.

Several kings, most notably King Louis XIV of France, have claimed to be God’s secular representatives on Earth. Their right to rule, they claimed, flowed directly from Him.

The American theologian Jonathan Edwards argued that every man can pray to God and feel His grace. This is, of course, an extremely bold and democratic view, as it puts everyone into direct communication with God.

Holy Books

Works such as the Bible or the Koran are said to reflect the word of God or of Allah, as revealed to prophets and as recorded by divinely inspired writers. Members of the clergy study these works to learn about the word of God; as a consequence, they become authorities able to convey His word.

When literacy in Europe was not widespread, the clergy acted as the vital link between God's word in the Bible and an illiterate public. As more people learned to read, many began insisting on interpreting the Bible for themselves. That shift in emphasis was one of the root causes of the Protestant Reformation

Man’s Word

Various philosophers have argued that we humans can learn certain truth by exercising our own faculties. Some have asserted that truth may be discovered by looking within our own minds; others have looked for truth in experience.

Knowledge, A Priori

Plato, in his essay Parable of The Cave, argued that experience is no more than shadows on the wall - that man must look inward to the world of ideas if he is to glimpse the truth. This general orientation is called idealism, because it sees ideas, not experience, as the surest path to truth. If their experience seems to conflict with their ideas, an idealist is more likely to doubt his eyes than his mind. Various thinkers have argued that man has the capacity to know the truth prior to experience. Two highly influential ones are these:

Rationalism

The French philosopher Rene Descartes believed that he could reason his way to truth, and he demonstrated this ability by reasoning to his famous conclusion: I think; therefore, I am! On that basis of that undeniable truth, he founded the school of thought called rationalism. His approach, which dominated 18th century thinking among Europeans and Americans, suggested that truths are self-evident to the rational mind.

God created man's mind, the rationalists argue, in such a way that it can grasp the truth. All that a person must do is to apply his rational faculties and his common sense, and the truth will become clear.  Descartes advocated a decidedly left-brained approach to thinking. He urged that people restrain their emotions so that they do not interfere with their logic dominated thought processes.

(Perhaps an analogy with the computer might not be totally off base. Descartes apparently believed that we are born with an operating system and perhaps even some important programs already installed in our minds and that these faculties remain largely unmodified by experience - as environmental determinists would have us believe.)

Descartes’ theory is reflected in the rhetoric of the American Revolution. The statement "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...." is a succinct expression of the rationalist’s view. Thomas Paine in his essay Common Sense argued that rational self-governance is the only semsible approach to regulating human society and commerce.

Rationalism is also reflected in the l8th century style of life among Europeans and Americans. The people during that era strove for simplicity and unit and coherence in such fields as music and art and architecture.

Transcendentalism

The German philosopher Immanuel Kant, in his book A Critique of Pure Reason, cast doubt on Descartes' approach to knowledge; then he substituted for it the notion of intuition as the way to certain truth. He, like Plato and Descartes, insisted that we are born with ideas/categories imbedded in our minds which interact with experience in highly predictable ways.

The main difference between Kant’s theories and those of the rationalists lies in Kant’s conception of how the mind perceives the truth. In place of the rationalists’ logic machine, Kant’s mind appears capable of knowing without resorting to the inconvenience of thinking. Knowledge to him is more an emotional and an imaginative response than an exercise in logic.

In the field of ethics, Kant talks of categorical imperatives which inform us of the difference between right and wrong. In an unambiguous Kantian world, every person’s conscience tells him what is moral and what is immoral, and no one can weasel his way out of taking personal responsibility for his immoral acts.

Kant’s decidedly right-brained theory of knowledge provided the philosophical foundation for the romantic movement of early 19th Century, and it found favor again during the romantic period of the 1960s in America.

American writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau looked to intuition as their way to certain knowledge. They were convinced that a sensitive man could know the truth through this non-rational approach. Emerson, in his most famous essay Self Reliance, argued that each individual should hearken to his inner voice and should act with confidence based on the truths which it provides. Nothing is at last sacred, he wrote, "but the integrity of your own mind."

Knowledge, a Posteriori

During the 18th century, the deists made the religious assumption that God designed the universe to operate according to fixed, immutable laws of nature. Then, they theorized, He simply stepped back and let his creation work – without further personal intervention from Him

These assumptions provided a religious foundation for empirical science - the belief that by examining the world around us and by applying the scientific method, we humans can gain certain knowledge - that we can discover absolute truth through experience. If the universe operates according to fixed laws and if we can understand these laws, we can learn to predict and perhaps to control the future.

Sir Isaac Newton, when he published his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, provided an important impetus to science, as he appeared to have discovered basic laws of nature through scientific inquiry. Since he talked of the law of gravity, he must have been convinced that he had gained certain knowledge through careful observation of the natural world.

Ben Franklin, a prominent American politician and deist and scientist, conducted a famous kite experiment by which he explained the nature of lightening. By investigating the world of experience, he demonstrated that lightening is electricity. Always a practical man, Franklin then invented the lightning rod to protect houses against lightning strikes.

By the 20th century scientists had become much less convinced that they could discover truth with absolute certainty. Einstein published theories and not laws, as earlier scientists had done. The shift away from absolutism which is signaled by his restraint has been one of the greatest intellectual tides of recent history.

Relativism

The other major tradition of epistemology is the belief that man is the measure. People who take this position, in the area of religion often label themselves agnostics. They may operate, often quite eclectically, from one or both of the following assumptions.

Assumption 1 - Our thoughts (particularly on an abstract level) have little or no foundation in reality. What we call truth, especially moral and aesthetic values, is no more than human invention.

This assumption is, of course, a radical one. It elevates human invention and human volition to a supreme level. We are free to invent ideas and values and to accept or to reject these views willfully.

Since no absolute standard exists, one might conclude that all beliefs and values are of equal merit. As a consequence, relativists are always faced with the problem of deciding whose judgments they should accept. Some focus on the rights of the individual; others emphasize the importance of group beliefs, values and goals.

Individualism

The individualist trusts his own judgment above the judgment of others. He makes this rather egotistical claim: I am the measure! Throughout history dominant individuals have asserted their personal beliefs and values, and they have often encouraged others to accept their views as well - sometimes by coercive measures. Many authoritarian leaders have made no claim to represent God's will. Their argument is simple: Might makes right!

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