Critical thinking

Designed for the students of SBBU

Exercise 1:

Statement A:        A meadow in springtime is beautiful even if no one is there to appreciate it.

Statement B:         Beauty exists only in the eye of the beholder.

(First statement says that beauty has an objective existence; and exists independently of a person perceiving it. Second statement is a rebuttal and says beauty is purely subjective and so entirely depends on its perception by viewers.)

“Tree falling in isolation produces sound but this sound does not exist as there is no one to hear it” author of this classical definition of communication agree with which of the above statements and discuss how?

Exercise 2:

Ahmed:         Only tall people can be the part of a basket ball team

Ali:                 That is wrong. I am tall but I am not the part of a basket ball team.

Ali’s response implies that he incorrectly interprets Ahmed’s statement; Resolve all/only confusion.

Exercise 3:

“Ahmed is standing to the right of Ali. Hassan is standing on the opposite side of Ali. Since the opposite of right is wrong, Hassan must be standing on the wrong side of Ali”

Explain the fallacy of equivocation.

Exercise 4:

Language calls forth misunderstanding; for example ‘He took his stick__ no, not ali’s, but his own’ this very misunderstanding is exploited to create intended meanings. In the analysis of an article you find that author has deliberately taken ‘You’ to refer to one person for praise while in actuality ‘You’ refers to a group.  Reproduce the actual sentence that refers to a group and its wrong interpretation.

Exercise 5:

‘A friend of my child wrote to me the other day “The modern child is the father of news paper reading and is much more glued to a Box’’ I admit, though without any remorse, that I am much more deficient in information than the child of today; however the heavy consumers of media assume that knowing the snow is deeper in some parts of the world is knowledge. It is the information and should be the means to end and that is to search the answer why it is so; however means have become the end in itself. Defeat of me by modern children is as insignificant as thing they parade as knowledge’.

Critically examine the implied criticism of a passage.

Exercise 6:

 ‘A friend of mine claims to divine the thinking of others; and surprisingly attempts to elicit my opinion of the assertion of his’.

Decode the tongue-in cheek criticism.

Exercise 7:

Analysis to pick subtle difference if any in statements .

1)    He is powerful because he is a wrestler.

2)    He is wrestler because he is powerful.

3)    This is wonderful because it is blue.

4)    It is blue because it is wonderful.

5)    He is powerful because he is fatty.

6)    He is fatty because he is powerful.

7)    He has committed mistakes because he is stupid.

8)    He is stupid because he has committed mistakes.

9)    This book is lengthy because it is difficult.

10)                       This book is difficult because it is lengthy

 ‘I think that exercises of critical thinking as far as I can evaluate it is encouraging engagement and debate and will be testing students philosophically.’ Dr ANNA 

‘Evidence doesn't just mean references to what others have said. If you are making an original argument where you evidence comes from is through detailed analysis of the object or idea you are challenging. A statement in and of itself is not sufficient to prove a point’.   

What in and of itself means?

It means taking a statement on face value as being entirely factual

(To take something at face value is the believe that what the person is saying is truth and rather than looking for the hidden meaning it's not understanding the bigger picture or motive behind what the person is actually saying.)