CRITICAL THINKING

Critical Thinking is a study of the techniques and principles of correct reasoning and effective communication. The goals of the course are to provide students training in the techniques of presenting ideas effectively and in a logical manner, including understanding obstacles to thinking well, the basic elements of an argument, how to distinguish good arguments from bad ones, understanding fallacies, and how our worldview influences our thinking and moral reasoning. Students shall learn to recognize how a scholar reaches a conclusion, what his premises are and what inferences he makes from those premises, so that he may evaluate the argument for himself.

Exit Standards:

1. Discuss what constitutes a good argument, how arguments work and what makes some arguments better than others. (minimum 600 words)

2. What is the difference between inference and deduction? (minimum 100 words)

3. What is a fallacy? (minimum 100 words)

4. What is the difference between an inference and a premise? (minimum 100 words)

5. Discuss the effect of bias on thought and moral reasoning. (minimum 100 words)

6. Take an Indo-European topic essay of a minimum of five pages in length and analyze it for soundness, validity, fallacies, rhetorical devices and overall quality of composition. (Contact the ADF Preceptor for examples and suggestions of papers to critique.) (minimum 600 words)

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