Reason and Critical Thinking (Post 1)

What is Critical Thinking?

Recently there has been a shift to promote critical thinking as part of your everyday curriculum. The assumption built into critical thinking is that it is about evaluating an argument according to the quality of the justification and the quality of the persuasion.

As students of TOK you should always be conscious that both justification and especially persuasion are not fixed properties. Read the quote below regarding what critical thinking (and argument). Can you see a pattern or emphasis in their understanding of critical thinking?

Number 1
"Sometimes we want to persuade others to accept the truth of a statement, and one way of doing this is to offer them reasons or evidence in support of this statement. This is the essence of argument. The simplest examples of arguments occur when someone, who believes some statement, will present reasons which aim at persuading others to adopt this same point of view."

Number 2
"Why all this fuss about arguments? The general answer is that unlike descriptions, jokes, stories, exclamations, questions, and explanations, arguments are attempts to prove or justify a claim. We use argument when we try rationally to persuade others of our beliefs and opinions.

The processes of justification and rational persuasion are important both socially and personally, and for both practical and intellectual reasons. When we give arguments, we try to show reasons for believing what we do, and in doing so, we gain an opportunity to explore the strength of these reasons."

Number 3
"The focus of this book is written and spoken ways of persuading us to do things and to believe things. Every day we are bombarded with messages apparently telling us what to do or not to do, what to believe or not to believe .... Some messages we just ignore, some we unreflectively obey, and some we unreflectively reject. Other we might think about and question, asking ... 'why should I believe that, or not believe it?'

When we ask the question 'why?' we're asking for a reason for doing what we are being enjoined to do, or [believing] what we are being enjoined to believe. When we ask for a reason in this way we are asking for a justification for taking the action recommended or accepting the belief - not just a reason but a good reason ....

To attempt to persuade by giving good reason is to give an argument."

Reason in Knowledge (Post 2)

Reason can refer to the ability to think about and manipulate concepts in abstraction. When we ask someone, "are you being reasonable?", we are using the correct concept of reason. We are actually asking them, "can you justify your thinking?". We might not agree with their justification but at least they can explain their thinking.

Aristotle said: "Man is a rational animal" (try to ignore the focus on 'Man', he wrote this 2500 years ago).

But what do we mean by "reason"? Is it just the power of reasoning, or is it the capacity to form concepts and abstractions? Or is it the capacity to make a decision? Or any other definition based on mental powers.

Please blog to the following question: does this capacity to reason determine our understanding of the world? Our knowledge?

What is Truth ? (Post 3)

Constructivist theory for truth

Social constructivism holds that truth is constructed through a process of social interaction and is therefore historically and culturally specific. The most interesting aspect of this theory of truth is that it is often associated with issues of domination by certain aspects of society (such as masculinity, patriarchy, imperialist behavior) and is shaped through the power struggles within a society.

On the other hand, it is a favorite of philosophers involved in information technology because it reflects their understanding of how knowledge is created in contemporary society and is essentially democratic in nature.

There are 4 main concepts behind it.

1. Constructivism
This point of view maintains that people actively construct new knowledge as they interact with their environment.

Everything you read, see, hear, feel, and touch is tested against your prior knowledge and if it is viable within your mental world, may form new knowledge you carry with you.

Knowledge is strengthened if you can use it successfully in your wider environment. You are not just a memory bank passively absorbing information, nor can knowledge be "transmitted" to you just by reading something or listening to someone.

2. Constructionism
Constructionism asserts that learning is particularly effective when constructing something for others to experience. This can be anything from a spoken sentence or an Internet posting, to more complex artifacts like a painting, a house or a software package.

3. Social Constructivism
This extends the above ideas into a social group constructing things for one another, collaboratively creating a small culture of shared artifacts with shared meanings. When one is immersed within a culture like this, one is learning all the time about how to be a part of that culture, on many levels.

4. Connected and Separate
Separate behavior is when someone tries to remain 'objective' and 'factual', and tends to defend their own ideas using logic to find holes in their opponent's ideas.

Connected behavior is a more empathic approach that accepts subjectivity, trying to listen and ask questions in an effort to understand the other point of view.

Constructed behavior is when a person is sensitive to both of these approaches and is able to choose either of them as appropriate to the current situation.

In general, a healthy amount of connected behavior within a learning community is a very powerful stimulant for learning, not only bringing people closer together but promoting deeper reflection and re-examination of their existing beliefs.


Give me an example of something you know to be true, that fits into one of the 4 categories list above.
Make sure to name the category and give a reason why you feel it fits into that category.

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Post 4)

Please post a reply to following question:

On pages 45–48, Christopher describes his "Behavioral Problems" and the effect they had on his parents and their marriage. What is the effect of the dispassionate style in which he relates this information?

Curious Incident of the Dog (Question 2) (Post 5)

Christopher likes the idea of a world with no people in it [p. 2]; he contemplates the end of the world when the universe collapses [pp. 10–11]; he dreams of being an astronaut, alone in space [pp. 50–51], and that a virus has carried off everyone and the only people left are "special people like me" [pp. 198–200]. What do these passages say about his relationship to other human beings? What is striking about the way he describes these scenarios?

Curious Incident of the Dog (Question 3) (Post 6)

Christopher's journey to London underscores the difficulties he has being on his own, and the real disadvantages of his condition in terms of being in the world. What is most frightening, disturbing, or moving about this extended section of the novel [pp. 169–98]?

Moon Conspiracy (Post 7)

Fox documentary Part II