Contents
Contents
Pre-Study
Understanding the reasons behind things
Spelling out arguments and assumptions
Reasoning with logic and certainty
Reasoning with observation and uncertainty
Seeing through faulty reasoning
Understanding cognitive bias
Getting to grips with rhetoric
Assessing evidence and planning your reading strategy
, Pre-study
1. What is Metacognition?
Thinking about thinking itself; the higher-order skills that allow you to successfully keep on learning,
improving and adapting.
2. What is Uncritical Thinking?
automatically believing what you read or are told without pausing to ask whether it is accurate, true or
reasonable
3. What is Critical Thinking?
setting out actively to understand what is really going on by using reasoning, evaluating evidence and
thinking carefully about the process of thinking itself
4. What is Scepticism?
not automatically accepting something you hear, read or see as true
5. What is Objectivity?
trying to understand something from a more neutral perspective, rather than relying on a single opinion or
the first piece of information that comes to hand
6. What is bias?
approaching something in a one-sided way that creates a distorted account of the way things actually are
7. What is Unconscious and Conscious bias?
when someone deliberately presents a one-sided view of something, or explicitly holds a one-sided opinion
about something
when someone’s opinions or decisions are distorted by factors that they are not even aware of
8. What is survivorship bias?
the tendency only to think about successful examples of something, failing to consider the bigger picture in
which the vast majority of all cases are failures
9. What is dogmatism?
the claim that certain principles or ideas are both absolutely true and immune to any form of critical scrutiny
or discussion
, 10. Attention vs Distraction
the art of allocating not just time but focused engagement to the task in front of you, while shutting out other
tasks and irrelevant information
11. What is Reasoning?
thinking about things in a sensible or logical way, and then presenting this thinking so as to permit
meaningful debate, disagreement and collaboration
12. What is the purpose of critical thinking?
critical thinking helps us to search for the best account we can find of the way things actually are
, Understanding the reasons behind things
1. What is an assertion?
An assertion is a statement of fact or belief, provided without support or justification. It’s also something
that, on its own, does little other than impart information.
It is wrong to keep animals as pets.
2. What is an argument? What is the conclusion?
an argument is an attempt to persuade you of the truth of a particular conclusion using reasoning. It is
wrong to keep animals as pets, because this means they are not free and cannot lead dignified lives. All
living creatures deserve the dignity of freedom.
The conclusion of an argument is its final point: the point that everything else leads towards.
3. What is a description?
simply reporting information without any attempt at evaluating, commenting on or using the information to
persuade
According to the World Health Organization, the world’s leading cause of death is coronary heart disease.
4. What is a summary?
a brief outline of key information, often setting out the main points covered in a longer piece of work
5. Opinion vs belief
presents someone’s point of view without offering reasoning.
Opinions tend to be personal judgements based on facts; Your diet is awful: you ought to stop eating so
much bacon!
While beliefs tend to be convictions based on morality, faith or cultural context. Heart disease is a terrible
thing.
6. What is an advice/warning?
a special kind of opinion that describes not only someone’s point of view, but their point of view about what
ought to be done. Your diet is awful: you ought to stop eating so much bacon!
7. What is a clarification?
spells out what is meant by a particular phrase, idea or line of thought
By coronary heart disease, I mean a group of diseases that involve reduced blood flow to the muscles of the
heart itself, resulting from the narrowing of the coronary arteries.
8. What is an illustration?
Contents
Pre-Study
Understanding the reasons behind things
Spelling out arguments and assumptions
Reasoning with logic and certainty
Reasoning with observation and uncertainty
Seeing through faulty reasoning
Understanding cognitive bias
Getting to grips with rhetoric
Assessing evidence and planning your reading strategy
, Pre-study
1. What is Metacognition?
Thinking about thinking itself; the higher-order skills that allow you to successfully keep on learning,
improving and adapting.
2. What is Uncritical Thinking?
automatically believing what you read or are told without pausing to ask whether it is accurate, true or
reasonable
3. What is Critical Thinking?
setting out actively to understand what is really going on by using reasoning, evaluating evidence and
thinking carefully about the process of thinking itself
4. What is Scepticism?
not automatically accepting something you hear, read or see as true
5. What is Objectivity?
trying to understand something from a more neutral perspective, rather than relying on a single opinion or
the first piece of information that comes to hand
6. What is bias?
approaching something in a one-sided way that creates a distorted account of the way things actually are
7. What is Unconscious and Conscious bias?
when someone deliberately presents a one-sided view of something, or explicitly holds a one-sided opinion
about something
when someone’s opinions or decisions are distorted by factors that they are not even aware of
8. What is survivorship bias?
the tendency only to think about successful examples of something, failing to consider the bigger picture in
which the vast majority of all cases are failures
9. What is dogmatism?
the claim that certain principles or ideas are both absolutely true and immune to any form of critical scrutiny
or discussion
, 10. Attention vs Distraction
the art of allocating not just time but focused engagement to the task in front of you, while shutting out other
tasks and irrelevant information
11. What is Reasoning?
thinking about things in a sensible or logical way, and then presenting this thinking so as to permit
meaningful debate, disagreement and collaboration
12. What is the purpose of critical thinking?
critical thinking helps us to search for the best account we can find of the way things actually are
, Understanding the reasons behind things
1. What is an assertion?
An assertion is a statement of fact or belief, provided without support or justification. It’s also something
that, on its own, does little other than impart information.
It is wrong to keep animals as pets.
2. What is an argument? What is the conclusion?
an argument is an attempt to persuade you of the truth of a particular conclusion using reasoning. It is
wrong to keep animals as pets, because this means they are not free and cannot lead dignified lives. All
living creatures deserve the dignity of freedom.
The conclusion of an argument is its final point: the point that everything else leads towards.
3. What is a description?
simply reporting information without any attempt at evaluating, commenting on or using the information to
persuade
According to the World Health Organization, the world’s leading cause of death is coronary heart disease.
4. What is a summary?
a brief outline of key information, often setting out the main points covered in a longer piece of work
5. Opinion vs belief
presents someone’s point of view without offering reasoning.
Opinions tend to be personal judgements based on facts; Your diet is awful: you ought to stop eating so
much bacon!
While beliefs tend to be convictions based on morality, faith or cultural context. Heart disease is a terrible
thing.
6. What is an advice/warning?
a special kind of opinion that describes not only someone’s point of view, but their point of view about what
ought to be done. Your diet is awful: you ought to stop eating so much bacon!
7. What is a clarification?
spells out what is meant by a particular phrase, idea or line of thought
By coronary heart disease, I mean a group of diseases that involve reduced blood flow to the muscles of the
heart itself, resulting from the narrowing of the coronary arteries.
8. What is an illustration?
