Developing Critical Thinking By VOLTAIRE
Please Read pages 17-21 of Chapter 1 from Critical and Creative Thinking book. (Attached below.)
Do Exercises #20( 2 out of 4 ), #22, and #26.
20. Select two of the following questions and answer each in a paragraph.
a. To what extent can we trust our perceptions? To what extent is perception a reliable source of knowledge?
b. Why don’t we often see what is right in front of our noses? Why do we occasionally see things that aren’t there at all?
c. How can we prepare ourselves to see things from the perspective of others? To what extent is this possible?
d. How does our description of what we see (or someone else’s description of it) affect how we see it and respond to it?
e. How can we minimize the role our emotions play in perception? And should we try to do this?
22. What benefits can we take away from Daniel Kahneman’s analysis of our pro pensity to overestimate our knowledge and our ability to predict what will happen in the future? How useful do you find his discussion of WYSIATI? Of his idea that we are “blind to our own blindness”?
26. Do you think it is easier to convince people to change their minds by logical reasoning or by considering their intuitions and beliefs? What happens mostly in moral and political discussions when you dispute, criticize, attack, correct, or otherwise attempt to change someone’s position or perspective? To what extent do you think Haidt’s theory of thinking explains this behavior?