Thinking Critically

Thinking CriticallyClaims

Making

&Fallacies

Thinking logically…Historically, law has not been ‘evidence based’•Good/Bad: •Supernatural•Codified morality

Rested on claims about….people actions consequences

Logic (Greek, logos)

An assessment of claims that is accomplished according to principles of validity Principles of validity :

Claims about biology – statements about living things

Claims about economics – statements about economic institutions

Claims about crime & punishment – statements about human action/behaviour & institutions of social control•Social sciences (e.g. sociology, psychology, history…)•Law

Informed Logic“...to separate strongfrom weak arguments, to develop your own opinions based on evidence and careful reasoning, and tosort through and make sense of a confusing mass of information.”

ClaimsArguments: begin withone or more premises, which are facts that the argument takes for granted as the starting point (assumptions). Then a principle of logic is applied in order to come to a conclusion.

The Claim

University professors feel their first-year students are less mature, rely too much on Wikipedia and "expect success without the requisite effort," says a province-wide survey to be released today.

Evidence: Evaluate...What evidence does the author present tosupport the argument(s)? Does the author

offer enough evidence? More than 55 per

cent of Ontario's faculty and librarians surveyed believe students are less prepared for university than even three years ago

Assessing Validity of Claims (Logic) In this case, many students agree with their profs. "I think it's a fair assessment," said first-year Ryerson journalism student Annie Webber. "I'm addicted to Wikipedia."

In fact, many

post-secondary

institutions have

had to create

catch-up

courses to help

those who are

struggling.

"It wasn't a shock for me – I'm

aware of what's happening out

there," said Brian Brown, a

University of Windsor visual

arts professor. He also heads

the Ontario Confederation of

University Faculty Associations,

which oversaw the online survey

of about 2,000 professors and

university librarians out of the

province's 15,000

Alternative ArgumentsCan you think of alternative arguments that theauthor has not considered?

Assumptio

ns

Despite what the survey actually measured (“feels” or opinion) this article

tells a story that claims first year students are ill prepared (“lazy”)…..but for what?

The article assumes:•Ill-prepared = using Wikipedia/lazy

•Ontario is an ideal learning environment

•13% (2000/15,000) of the prof/library admins in Ontario is representative of the opinions of prof/library admins in Canada. (It is not)

•professors and librarians are experts• can assess the difference • working conditions not taken into account

•a few undergraduate students as ‘experts’ (quote)

•programs are developed to “fix students” & not in response to things like disinterest caused by classroom overcrowding (for example)….

Evidence for THAT claim is insufficient.

However: some some professors in Ontario DO indeed FEEL students are ill prepared (survey), but that that does not mean that they are. does not mean that they are. Misuse of quotations/experts Issue of validity (article)

Fallacies (which we will talk about next…)

While we have not disproved this claim (it MAY be true) , but we have used critical thinking (logic) to demonstrate this article has NOT provided a series of logically consistent statements backed up by valid evidence about undergrad preparedness….

Is there a crisis is “lazy” undergrads?

Theories vs. HypothesisTheories: a series of logically sound claimsthat have been supported through evidencemeets the criteria of a particular audience.

that

Hypothesis: A claim about a socialphenomena that has not been supported yet(might be a valid claim, but not supported sufficiently/empirically)

Types of Fallacies

Flawed logical statements

Ecological FallacyYou make conclusionsabout individuals based only on analysis of group (aggragate) data.

Italian School of Thought

The parking disorder of those people who live downtown Ottawa…

Exceptional Fallacy

You reach a group conclusion on the basis of exceptional cases…•All the ‘isms’•Eugenics•Moral Hygiene•Movement

Ad Hominem

Attacking the person,instead of the argument.

Argument from

Authority

Yes consensus ofprofessional opinion is important, but speaking from authority does not make something true.

“Deborah Landry, a University of Ottawa criminology professor, is on the fore front of graffiti research in Ottawa.  She suggests considering the Mural programs like Crime Prevention Ottawa’s Paint It Up programas a possibly more viable alternative.”

Teleological FallacySomething is caused bythe ultimate effect that it has, or the purpose that it serves.

Intelligent DesignAntiquityThe Witch BurningsProtestant Work EthicSocial Contract Theory

Variable may berelated, but they not necessarily cause/effect.

are

Classical PeriodContemporary SocialPositivism

Confusing correlation (or coincidence) with causation

Tautology

Circular reasoning: theconclusion is its ownclaim.

EugenicsMoral HygieneBiological Positivism

“We are proposing measures to bring our laws into the 21st century and to provide the police with the lawful tools that they need,” Mr.

Toews said to the MP for Lac-Saint-Louis, Quebec. “He can either stand

with us or with the child pornographers.”

False Dichotomy

Appeal to Emotion (…fear)Red Herring

Almost every hypothesis that is short on evidence….

Social phenomena that involves fears about the poor, vulnerable & racialized populations

Evaluate for InconsistencyApplying criteria orrules to one argument, opinion or claim, but not to others.~Lombrosso

Cognitive Dissonance:people react strongly when they find that their actions do not fit with the opinions they hold.

Logic Practice BAD SIGNS, Ken Gray

1. Take 10 minutes to read through the article.2. Together, can you locate:~main claim~some of the assumptions~evaluate the evidence~identify fallacies ~offer an alternative explanation (claim)

Recession Uncovers an Ugly Canadian Truth: We Have Too Few Cops, Too Many Robbers