Journal

Running Head: Week two journal 1

Week Two Journal

PHIL347N-61344 : Critical Thinking

What I consider to be the most important and most valuable idea in the chapter 5 section of the text is the section where it stated that the “ to analyze exactly what peoples claims are and the reasons they use to establish them as worthy of acceptable”. What this section means to me is that we should use our core critical thinking skills to analyze issues or statements and the reasons for those statements before making a conclusion. We should think deep, analyze the situation or statement through thorough interpretation and understanding the context under which the statement was made and the real reasons the makers of those statements use to prove their statements. This is very important because many off are too quick to jump to conclusions and thereby too quick to react negatively or positively to peoples conclusions only to find out later that we got it all wrong because we did not really understand the persons decision or their reason for that decision.

The two concepts discussed in Chapter 4 that might make analysis of a statement difficult are

1. Problematic Vagueness: Vagueness simply means not clearly expressed or lack of certainty. Problematic vagueness is an aspect of a word or statement which has an imprecise meaning, or the meaning is unclear. In situations like this there is the tendency for us to misunderstand the statements or words and make wrong conclusions. You will need to really understand what is included or excluded from the statement to have a clear understanding of what the person is saying.

2. Problematic Ambiguity: Ambiguity means when an expression or a word has more than one meaning. Problematic ambiguity is an aspect of an expression or a word which has many or multiple meaning. This multiple meaning makes it difficult to really understand what exact meaning is implied in the statement in a given context and this usually results in misunderstanding the statement or what the speaker was actually saying. In times like this, the context and the purpose of the statement becomes really important.

This two concepts makes analysis of a statement really difficult and this is where critical reasoning becomes really important because we will need to think deep to try to understand the context under which the statement was made in other to understand clearly the real meaning of the words or expressions before we can make an accurate analysis.

Beliefs

I believe in things that I believe in because in some I believe it’s the right thing to do, I some I am thought to believe them from childhood and in some I am made to believe them because it is the law of the land.

In some of the things I believe in, I have evidence. For instance, I believe that everyone should get an education, and the evidence here is that I seen that people with education live better lives because they have a better income and so a higher standard of living. In some other things I believe in, I really do not have any evidence, for instance I believe in God because I have been thought from Childhood to believe that but I do not really have any evidence.

Test of What I believe

Layer 1: everyone should have a form of education

Layer 2: It is the right thing to do because people with education live a better life

Layer 3: I believe my last stamen is true because its an accurate description of what happens when people get educated. They get a better job with a better pay which increases their standard of living in so many ways such as medical care, quality of feeding and recreational activities which all leads to living a better life.

Layer 4: Getting an education is really important because the world has changed, and the focus now is on science and technology and one can only be part of this through education. Even the usual old jobs that involved minimal skills have all been digitalized and so one can only get these jobs if they are educated. Therefore, being educated gives you great opportunities for good jobs, good salaries and better standard of living which in turn makes you live a better life.

References:

Facione, P.A., & Gittens, C.A. (2016). Think Critically (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson