Logic & Critical Thinking@ Herman J. Suhendra Produced by Herman J. Suhendra

A.B. Gadjah Mada University & M.A. University of Santo Tomas, Manila

MEETING 1

Orientation to the LCT

“All men by nature desires to know”

Question

•Why do Why do YOUYOU study study for a Degree?for a Degree?

•Why do Why do YOUYOU study study for a Degree?for a Degree?

Do you agree with this statement?

“Some people study all their life and at their death they have learned learned everything except to THINKeverything except to THINK”

Francois Domergue

The more you study, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more you know. The more you know, the more you forget. The more you forget, the less you know. The less you know, the less you learn.

So, why study?

Do you agree?

Why is Imagination

so Important? I Need input

from you!

Are you aware of this facts

Avalanche of information

from all sides!

The radical accessibility of knowledge

and information!

One expert in the internet had commented that only 10% of the information in the internet can be properly called RELIABLE INFORMATION.

Media for lies: rubbish!

The technological devices for mass communication are indeed the media for truth, but they are also the same media for lies. And the worst thing is these technological devices would not tell us which among heap of information is valuable and which is rubbish.

ADDICTION!

Man is now being bombarded with a staggering dosage of information. No doubt, this bombardment has aided a lot in educating him. Yet it also helped a lot in mis-educating him.

To know not-knowing—this is the highest.To not know not-knowingthis is a blemish.(Dao, Chapter 71)

Do you care

1. Which one provides the correct information?2. Whether the opinion presented is correct and therefore be accepted, or3. The reasoning is flawed and therefore must be rejected.

The least concerns

1. Determining the process of arriving at the conclusion2. No care to how information are crafted to a certain conclusion?3. Insensitive on how data are processed the respective sources?4. Never bother how it is presented or the process by which a conclusion arrived at5. Whether the opinion presented is correct (accepted) or the reasoning is flawed (rejected)

Are you favor of Instant Thinking

It is not enough that we get the substance of what we want:1. We never bother how it is presented or the process by which conclusion is arrived at.2. No regard of how the information are crafted to arrive to a certain conclusion.3. More interested in just getting the needed data, but insensitive on how the data are processed in their respective sources.

Are you favor of Instant Thinking

As a result: – prejudices, – over generalization, common

fallacies, – self-deception, – rigidity, and – narrowness.

Dr. Richard Paul

“Thinking gets us into trouble because we often … “

1. are unclear, muddled, or confused

2. jump to conclusions3. fail to think-through

implications4. lose track of our goals5. are unrealistic

Dr. Richard Paul

6. focus on the trivial7. do not notice contradictions8. accept inaccurate information9. ask vague questions10. give vague answers

Dr. Richard Paul

11. ask loaded questions12. ask irrelevant questions13. confuse questions of different types14. answer questions we are not competent to answer15. come to conclusions based on inaccurate or irrelevant information16. ignore information that does not support our view17. make inferences not justified by our experience18. distort data and state it inaccurately

Dr. Richard Paul

19. fail to notice the inferences we make20. come to unreasonable conclusions21. fail to notice our assumptions22. often make unjustified assumptions23. miss key ideas24. use irrelevant ideas25. form confused ideas26. form superficial concepts27. misuse words28. ignore relevant viewpoints29. cannot see issues from points of view other than our own30. confuse issues of different types31. are unaware of our prejudices

Dr. Richard Paul

32. think narrowly33. think imprecisely34. think illogically35. think one-sidedly36. think simplistically37. think hypocritically38. think superficially40. think ethnocentrically41. think egocentrically42. think irrationally43. fail to reason well through problems45. make poor decisions46. are poor communicators

Why does PU have this course?

It is therefore necessary to equip young minds the skills of determining the process by which a certain opinion is made, a certain conclusion is arrived at.

Why does PU have this course?

To help you improve your Thinking Skills

•HOW TO HOW TO THINK!, Not THINK!, Not What to think!What to think!

What will you learn in LCT?

Simple techniques by which to interrogate, analyze & evaluate a text and an ability to generate new, varied & unique ideas.

Questioning the authority of the speaker, asking if s/he is presenting facts or opinions, looking for evidence, are useful methods of approaching texts critically.

The Goal is simple …

To guarantee, as far as possible, that one’s beliefs and actions are justifiable and can withstand the test of rational analysis in critical attitudes and in creative manners.

The premise …

LCT aspires that the capacity of humans for good reasoning can be nurtured and developed by an educational process aimed directly at that end. Skills in reasoning can be developed through a better understanding of what critical & creative thinking entails, and by practice.

The scope …

The critical thinking skills introduced in this course are applicable across different domains of knowledge and practical reasoning. Therefore, it neither confines nor is applicable to a single discipline, but across different disciplines.

Learning outcomes:

1. Describe benefits, general characteristics and skills of critical thinking2. Evaluate claims and arguments taken from personal and professional contexts3. Present well organized and strongly founded arguments.4. Analyze fallacious claims and arguments.5. Perform a rational debate in a real life context.6. Generate ideas & solutions to simple problems and develop problem-solving and creative skills.

Strategy:

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited” Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, C 46 -120

”The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be ignited”

Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, C 46 -120

Group Discussion:

THINKING: WHY has been underrated nowadays?

1. Rational Versus Physic Mind

Problem• Imagine you are in charge of airport security at an International airport in

Jakarta. An Indonesian Airlines counter-clerk calls to inform you that a person scheduled to get on flight 1304 to Semarang has refused to board the plane, claiming that she is psychic and she senses that there is a bomb on board. You meet with the psychic and recognize her from Mama Lauren's shows. You vaguely remember her claiming to have used her psychic ability to solve several important criminal investigations. Aside from being agitated about the bomb, she seems normal. You order everyone off the plane and call in a crew to do a bomb search. No bomb is found but the flight has to be cancelled because some crew members have exceeded their work hours by the time the search is finished. Your action causes hundreds of people to miss their flights. The airline loses money because it has to arrange other flights for the passengers, including one for the

psychic.  DID YOU DO THE RIGHT THING?

Continued …

• In your defense you claim, "In these times, we can't ignore anything." Your boss disagrees. she tells you that to her knowledge no psychic anywhere has ever discovered a bomb using psychic powers. She says that you should not have been impressed that the psychic seemed normal or was famous and had appeared on entertainment programs. She tells you that you should have had the psychic detained and questioned. Your boss considers firing you and sending word to Semarang to have the psychic arrested for making threats against a flight. Who is better critical thinker, you or your boss? Why?

Asking the right 5WH Questions?

In group, students critically address critical questions to one another.

Socrates’ Critical Inquiry:

1 Questions for Clarification2 Questions about Assumptions3 Questions about Reasons and Evidence4 Questions about Viewpoints and Perspectives5 Questions about Implications and

Consequence

F R I S C O

FOCUS REASONINFERENCE

SITUATION CLARITY and OVERVIEW

Watch out!

• Those who study but do not think will be perplexed — 孔子 (Confucius)

• The unexamined life is not worth living - Socrates

• “Men desires to know but a man who will not reason about anything is no better than a vegetable” — (Aristoteles)

Any Questions?

Thank you!