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Beginner's Guide (Oneworld Publications)

تفکر انتقادی: در باب مباحثه، استدلال و کشف حقیقت

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We are bombarded daily with vast amounts of information, much of it using faulty logic. From adverts to blogs, television to newspapers, knowing what to believe is a daunting task. Critical Thinking: A Beginner’s Guide teaches you how to analyze people’s arguments and explains the main "fallacies" that are used to deceive and confuse. With a wealth of real life examples, a glossary, and plenty of diagrams, this is an invaluable tool for both students wanting to improve their grades and general readers in search of clarity.

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

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251 people want to read

About the author

Sharon Kaye

50 books12 followers
Sharon M. Kaye, PhD, is a professor of philosophy at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. She’s also the author of Big Thinkers and Ideas: An Introduction to Eastern and Western Philosophy for Kids.

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5 stars
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42 (38%)
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34 (30%)
2 stars
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for Shantia.
114 reviews13 followers
August 23, 2018
طبق گفته نويسنده اين كتاب ما ١٥ مغالطه معمول در گفت و گوها داريم. اين نوع از مغالطه به سه دسته ي ارتباط، احتمال و ابهام تقسيم ميشه و هر در هر قسمت پنج مدل رو توضيح ميده.
* ارتباط: يك: مغالطه معروفيت، يعني به اين استناد كنيم كه چون همه موافق يه چيزي هستن پس اون درسته. دو:مغاطه جهالت، يعني اگه مدركي رو در مورد اثبات چيزي پدا نكرديم اين فقط نشون ميده كه اثبات نشده نه اينكه اين مطلب وجود نداره. سه: مغالطه اي كه بر مبناي منبع غير موثق اختيار ميشه. چهار: مغالطه شاه ماهي قرمز، يعني موضوع بحث رو تغيير دادن. پنجم، مغالطه اقناعي، به اين معنا كه بجاي دليل به طرف مقابل حمله كنيد، تهمت زدن.
* احتمال، يك: تعميم شتاب زده يا مغالطه از بعضي به همه تسري دادن. دو: مصادره به مطلوب، اين مغالطه زماني اتفاق ميفته كه استدلال با نتيجه تفاوتي نداشته باشد. استدلال از مقدمه و نتيجه تشكيل ميشه. شما بايد در مقدمه دلايل رو بگيد تا به نتيجه برسيد. سه: قياس ذووجهين باطل يا مغالطه كاهش آرا متعدد به تنها دو مورد(شايد همون تبصره ٢٢ جوزف هلر ؟ نميدونم). چهار: مغالطه دليل باطل. پنجم: مرد پوشالي، مغالطه اي كه در آن نظر فرد مقابل را آن اندازه ساده مي كنيم كه به راحتي بتوانيم آن را رد كنيم.
* ابهام: كلا زماني پيش مياد كه در معني كلمات ابهام وجود دارد. خيلي سخت بود كلماتش😬
آخر كتاب نظر جان استوارت ميل رو در مورد منطق ميگه به اين مظمون كه چون اين مسئله ما رو از رفتن به راههاي نادرست باز ميداره در عملكردهاي عقلاني چيزي گرانبهاتر از منطق وجود نداره. با بررسي استدلال ميتونيم از افتادن در دام مغالطه و خطا مصونيت پيدا كنيم. در اين فضاي خردمندي و خردورزي تفكر مهمترين داشته ما خواهد بود و نوع نگاه انتقادي به مسائل پيش رو عملي ترين ابزار اون ميشه. فكر كنم تقريبا با اين مكانيسم كتابي كه از ابتدا تا انتها در مورد منطق صحبت ميكنه عنوانش ميشه "تفكر انتقادي". كتاب خوبيه هرچند موضوعيت منطق بسي دشوار و پر اسماي عجيب و غريب نظريه و استدلال و اينچيزاست.
الان به نظرم ميرسه كه مديرم سر كار كلا مغالطه هست! تمامي اصول مغالطه رو مو به مو اجرا ميكنه. چطور ديگه ميتونم تحملش كنم؟!! 😟
Profile Image for Elisabeth.
1,345 reviews2 followers
September 10, 2020
Something I studied in school under the name of logic. Whilst I thoroughly enjoy the topic and the mathematic logic, I did not foresee the book with such a name being on that topic. An essential part of critical thinking no doubt, but perhaps also not the only essential aspect.
Profile Image for Justin Tapp.
704 reviews89 followers
April 7, 2015
Sharon M. Kaye is a professor of Philosophy at John Carroll University. She's written several introductions to philosophy and logic with students in mind. She writes in the intro that she was converted to Philosophy as a major while attending a Critical Thinking lecture in which she was confronted with the notion that "not everything can be true," which offended her post-modern senses at the time. I found this book to be a good introduction to logic. One nice aspect is that Kaye has selected articles from various newspapers and magazines for students to critique as exercises. She explains how to set up a good argument, how to lay out all the premises of someone else's argument, and how to find weaknesses, critiquing a paper by Steven Pinker as the concluding example.

An argument cannot be sound if it is not valid. While soundness is subjective, validity requires a conclusion that logically follows from the arguments' premises. Kaye starts with Socrates' categorical syllogisms, a three-step transitive argument, modus ponens, various fallacies, etc. Avoid affirming the consequent and denying the antecedent.

It took me back to a mathematical logic and set theory course I'd had. There we dealt more with Boolean logic, I wish I'd had logic from the philosophy side as well. Interestingly, religion is one of Kaye's interests. The first example of establishing a logic argument is one from William Lane Craig on the existence of a creator. I'm reminded that he teaches courses in logic for his home church.

I give this guide 4 stars out of 5. It's a great introduction.
Profile Image for Steele Dimmock.
157 reviews3 followers
January 25, 2014
This book will help you frame your arguments logically, it will also help you identify illogical statements.
It has an important section on logic fallacies that are commonly used in everyday media such as the Fallacy of Composition whereby an attribute of the part is used, erroneously, as a descriptor of the whole, such as, The Mafia aren't criminal mobsters, I know someone in The Mafia, and he would never do anything illegal.

Must reading for anyone looking to enhance their logic and debating skills.
Profile Image for Mr.Jamie.
434 reviews3 followers
April 18, 2013
I picked up Critical Thinking from my school library for just some light reading, with the intention of getting smarter from having read said text. Sharon M. Kaye's book is a self-proclaimed "Beginner's Guide" to critical thinking, and it shows. Everything she said in the book could be read, interpreted, and criticized by second graders. Critical Thinking lacked any insight into the process of the human mind and was, overall, disappointing.

1.5 Stars/5 Stars
Profile Image for Svetlio Blyahoff.
39 reviews4 followers
December 19, 2012
The book is very practice oriented. It views the roots of the science of logic, its base terms and postulates as well as the necessary minimum for having a valid conclusion. I think it will be helpful in my everyday life to better understand communication with people.
Profile Image for Maggie.
56 reviews9 followers
January 15, 2014
Love this book, on my second round and this time plan to go a little deeper (with notes)..have a feeling it will be a three read
Profile Image for Any Length.
2,168 reviews7 followers
April 12, 2015
A good beginners guide for critical thinking. It lists all you need to know and all you need to know to get it right and not fall into some critical thinking trap.
83 reviews4 followers
April 16, 2015
logic in arguments (no other critical thinking)
=> provides structure to create an argument and detect false arguments.
Profile Image for David Carpinteiro.
97 reviews
August 16, 2022
Good book in critical thinking. Provides information in a very organized way a full of examples.like the fact that on the end of each chapter exercises are provided to test your knowledge.
Don't consider this book as a reference in the subject, much because somethimes the information gets passed in boring way, making the reader loose focus. If it wasn't for that, this would definitely be one of my favourite books.
Profile Image for Anmol Koshti.
5 reviews1 follower
October 16, 2019
I believe in this modern era of blurred lines between Fact and Fiction, News and Entertainment, abilities such as taught in this book are really useful.
Also, GMAT takers! Read this one!
Overall an experience both entertaining and learning.
Thanks Sharon!
Profile Image for Farzin Akbari.
11 reviews2 followers
June 18, 2020
من فقط با این کتاب تفکر انتقادی یادگرفتم و خیلی لذت بردم.
چندبار دیگه میخونمش
Profile Image for Dani Ollé.
206 reviews8 followers
November 19, 2021
Short, very clear and helpful text about what you need to know about logical argumentation.
13 reviews
March 7, 2023
Great for a short and sharp summary of standard form. Would recommend to others looking to improve understanding of logic and reason.
Profile Image for Waqas Ahmad.
1 review
Want to read
January 29, 2016
my assignment is to present critical thinking concepts and theories
Profile Image for M.
48 reviews3 followers
January 31, 2016
The book is a really good introduction to critical thinking. The books has good exercises, which provide good opportunity to the reader to apply the rules of critical thinking.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews

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