What Is Critical Thinking? What Is Reasoning?
What is Critical Thinking? What is Reasoning?by Dan OReillyThough there are numerous courses, books and articles about critical thinking, few address the topic in exactly the same way. Many academics consider critical thinking to be closely related to, if not the same as, reasoning and these individuals attempt to analyze critical thinking by analyzing what it means to reason. This is the approach taken in this course.Nevertheless, even amongst these scholars, there is still a wide range of different approaches and opinions about the topic. The approach taken frequently depends upon the discipline of the professor. Some professors teach the student to identify the common fallacies of reasoning by teaching the most frequently occurring fallacies in their discipline. Other professors focus on how to identify the main ideas within their discipline, and then to consider whether one is doing it well or not. In this course, we will look at reasoning from a slightly different angle than either of these approaches; we will examine reasoning from the logicians perspective by looking at the basic structure of reasoning.
Logicians attempt to identify the fundamental logical properties of reasoning that are common to all disciplines. So, if one is reasonable, then one will be alert to these principles, consciously or unconsciously, whether one is a philosopher, historian, anthropologist, etc. This is not to say that failing to grasp these principles will block ones success academically. However, those who are academically successful tend to exhibit an ability to employ the fundamental logical principles of reasoning. So, hopefully, by explicitly identifying and learning these fundamental principles you, the student, will become more academically successful.It is worth keeping in mind that this is not a course in formal logic; rather, it is a course about some of the fundamental principles of reasoning. Nevertheless, we will be employing some of the logicians tools to learn about reasoning. As well, it is worth keeping in mind that this is an introductory course, so we will not be covering all topics on critical thinking nor will we be going into significant depth with regard to any particular topic. The course is designed as a very brief overview of critical thinking from a logicians point of view.