Philosophy

Module 1:  Introduction to Critical Thinking and Philosophy

In a Republican nation, whose citizens are to be led by reason and persuasion and not by force, the art of reasoning becomes of the first importance.

-Thomas Jefferson

 

                           

This PhotoLinks to an external site.  by Unknown Author is licensed under CC0 Public Domain

Critical Thinking

Not all thinking is critical thinking. We can think about many things. Those things do not need to be real. We could think about unicorns or pink elephants. The fact that we think something does not mean that it is real. One common mistake is to believe that because we have a thought or an idea, that thought or idea is real.

Critical thinking is the kind of thinking that goes beyond what we think or perceive with our senses. To think critically is to analyze deeply the facts in front of us. When we think critically, we analyze the way we are reaching our ideas to see if they are valid. Critical thinking does not take what is given and runs with it. When you become a critical thinker, you require more than what is superficially given to you.

When we think critically, we look at the reasons that support our conclusions and we challenge what we are thinking to see if under scrutiny they ideas will still hold.

Beware of “common sense”. Another big mistake we make when we don’t think critically is to think that because something is “common sense” it must be true or right. At a certain moment in human history, it was common sense that the earth was flat, or that there was nothing wrong with slavery, or that there were witches with supernatural powers that could enchant us.

As we progress, we keep developing science to better understand reality and discover the mechanics behind its mysteries. We still have a lot to discover. Critical thinking is the key to unlocking the mysteries of nature and the world. Critical thinkers are willing to expose what they think for others to challenge it. As a critical thinker, you are looking for truth, not to win arguments. As a critical thinker, you join the conversation or dialogue among other critical thinkers to share ideas and learn from each other.

Catch your assumptions. Whenever you decide something, be aware of what makes you decide one thing or another. Are you assuming anything about the decision you need to make? Are you following a cultural or social convention or custom? Are you deciding what you do because it is more comfortable to do so in the situation you find yourself in?

Most people find it hard to be critical thinkers because it would mean challenging social assumptions. The fact that something is normal within a society, does not necessarily mean that it is right, or good. Slavery, for example, went unchallenged for many years in the United States before a group of critical thinkers, called abolitionists, challenged the status quo, and demonstrated that slavery was contrary to human dignity and that it violated human rights.

Cultural diversity is one of the biggest challenges for critical thinking. Further in this course, we will touch on that subject. However, the advantage of being a critical thinker is that we are called to go beyond our cultures and objectively think about why we do the things we do. There is a possibility that our culture needs to rethink some type of accepted custom. As critical thinkers, we need to analyze the facts of the matter presented to us and come up with suggestions to solve these issues in a rational way.

But then, what is rational? Philosophers need to approach their challenges with reason. If we reason, we free ourselves from tradition, custom, culture, and what most people think. The tool used by philosophers, scientists, and anyone who wants to get closer to truth is logic. Logic is the study of arguments and how good or bad they are in providing evidence for their conclusions. Logic wants to make sure that we reach our conclusions in a way that our premises, the reasons we offer, yield our conclusions. We could make decisions using traditions from our cultures, or what we were taught in school, or what our religion says. And these decisions might end up being good choices. But the way we reached them is not ours. Someone planted their ideas in us, and we used what they told us. Logic and critical thinking challenge the assumptions we make to determine how much are we aware of our thinking process.

 

This PhotoLinks to an external site.  by Unknown Author is licensed under CC0 Public Domain

But why should we be critical thinkers? As you study the videos included in this module, you will see that it has been documented that more employers are requiring their employees to be critical thinkers. Society and industry are constantly developing, changing, and presenting new challenges. The technical knowledge we acquire becomes obsolete very quickly. What we need to preserve are the skills that critical thinking offers. Employers are looking for people who could think critically as they confront new challenges in the workplace.

Another great benefit of being a critical thinker is the development of the necessary skills to live a life closer to the truth. The better we understand the world for what it is, the more effective our actions in it will be. We could call it a development of very practical living. Although sometimes reality is not what we expected, it is better to deal with things the way they are, and not the way we wish they were. As critical thinkers, we develop the skills to go beyond our immediate emotions to solve the problems we must solve.

Now that we have discussed what critical thinking is, let’s look briefly at the relationship between critical thinking and philosophy.

 

Don't forget to visit the  Readings and Multimedia  area  to watch some films about this topic.

The etymology of the word philosophy is “philo”, which means love, and “sophy” which means wisdom. The love of wisdom. This might not help so much right now. But there are a few things we might be able to say related to these two words. Further, in the course, we will explore more deeply the origins of philosophy. Philosophy is a commitment to search for truth no matter where it takes us. Philosophy needs to challenge tradition, religion, and custom to get closer to the truth of the matter that it is studying. Philosophy uses rational thought to decipher what it is trying to know. Philosophy also takes on the questions that other ways of knowing haven’t been able to answer.

The science of biology, for example, explains to us the functions and composition of an organism. Philosophy might ask what we mean by life. Economics might tell us how to effectively invest in stocks. Philosophy might ask, are we distributing wealth justly? Medicine might provide a cure for a specific disease. Philosophy might ask, who should benefit from the limited amount of medication available? 

As we can see, philosophy is interested in all fields of human inquiry. There are certain specific areas of philosophy that are interested in specific issues. Let’s look at them briefly:

Branches of Philosophy	Some Definitions	Sample Questions
Logic	Logic is the study of the methods and principles used to distinguish correct from incorrect reasoning (Copi, 2005).   The study of methods for evaluating arguments (Layman, 2005).	Is the conclusion of the argument well supported by its premises, or reasons?
Ethics/Moral Philosophy	Branch of philosophy that tries to determine the good and right thing to do (Velasquez, 2005)	Is it right to lie sometimes?   Should we violate the law when it is not just?
Bioethics	A branch of ethics that focuses on issues related to life and death.	Euthanasia: Should we assist people in taking their own lives when they have a terminal disease?   Abortion: Is it right to have an abortion?
Epistemology	The study of knowledge and the justification of belief (Dancy, 1994)	I know that there is life in some other part of the cosmos.   (Can we say that we “know”?)
Metaphysics	The study of the elements that constitute things, and reality.	What is time? Are ideas real? How do they exist? What is the mind?
Aesthetics	The study of the fundamental elements of beauty.	What is art? Does art have a purpose? What are the elements that constitute beauty?

There are many other philosophical questions that touch upon other areas of human interest. For example, philosophy of science, political philosophy, philosophy of religion, ontology. What is important to remember here is that we all have philosophical questions we would like to answer. We might ask, for example, is it right to lie if nobody will get hurt by it? Ethics. Does life have a meaning? Metaphysics. Do we acquire knowledge in school? Epistemology.

We might ask, is philosophy good for anything? It depends on what we mean by good. But we could argue with Aristotle that human beings’ ultimate value is to reason. When compared to the rest of the animals in the world, humanity’s advantage is only the power to use rational thought and abstraction. Then, it seems like that is the most important skill for us to develop.

We are living in a fast-paced technological world. We are bombarded by someone’s idea of reality constantly through the media, be it TV, radio, or the internet. Why is it different from other ways of understanding the world and reality? Philosophy questions even what seems obvious. Rene Descartes, one of the philosophers we will study during this course, challenged himself to know the foundations of everything he believed. He realized, among other things, that the majority of the beliefs he held were not solid. They depended on someone that put that belief in them. He later realized that the one thing that was his was doubt. We might need to stop and think deeper about what is real. We might need to question many of our beliefs as we enter the world of critical thinking and philosophy. It might shake our very foundations, and it might create some doubts about things we thought we knew. That is the challenge that you take on when you enter critical thinking and philosophy.

Let’s begin the journey.  

References:

Copi, I. (2005).  Introduction to logic (12th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall. 

Dancy, J. (1994).  Introduction to contemporary epistemology. Blackwell Publishing. 

Layman, C.S. (2005)  The power of logic. McGraw Hill.

Stewart, D. and Blocker, H. (1992).  Fundamentals of philosophy. MacMillan Publishing Company. 

Velasquez, M. (2005).  Philosophy: A text with readings (9th ed.). Wadsworth.