Chapter 1 The Benefit and Manner of Asking the Right Questions 001
The Noisy， Confused World We Live In 001
Experts Cannot Rescue Us， Despite What They Say 005
The Necessity of Relying on Our Mind 007
Critical Thinking to the Rescue 007
The Sponge and Panning for Gold: Alternative Thinking Styles 009
Weak-Sense and Strong-Sense Critical Thinking 013
The Importance of Practice 015
Critical Thinking and Other People 017
Primary Values of a Critical Thinker 019
Keeping the Conversation Going 021
Creating a Friendly Environment for Communication 025
Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers 025
Chapter 2 What Are the Issue and the Conclusion? 031
Kinds of Issues 033
Searching for the Issue 035
Searching for the Author’s or Speaker’s Conclusion 037
Clues to Discovery: How to Find the Conclusion 039
Practice Exercises 041
Sample Responses 043
Chapter 3 What Are the Reasons? 049
Initiating the Questioning Process 053
Words That Identify Reasons 057
Keeping the Reasons and Conclusions Straight 057
Reasons First， Then Conclusions 057
Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers 061
Practice Exercises 065
Sample Responses 069
Chapter 4 What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous? 073
The Confusing Flexibility of Words 075
Locating Key Terms and Phrases 077
Checking for Ambiguity 079
Determining Ambiguity 081
Context and Ambiguity 085
Ambiguity， Definitions， and the Dictionary 085
Limits of Your Responsibility to Clarify Ambiguity 089
Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers 089
Practice Exercises 095
Sample Responses 097
Chapter 5 What Are the Value and Descriptive Assumptions? 103
General Guide for Identifying Assumptions 107
Value Conflicts and Assumptions 109
From Values to Value Assumptions 111
Typical Value Conflicts 113
The Communicator’s Background as a Clue to Value Assumptions 113
Consequences as Clues to Value Assumptions 115
More Hints for Finding Value Assumptions 117
The Value of Knowing the Value Priorities of Others 117
Values and Relativism 119
Identifying and Evaluating Descriptive Assumptions 119
Illustrating Descriptive Assumptions 121
Common Descriptive Assumptions 123
Clues for Locating Assumptions 125
Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers 127
Practice Exercises 135
Sample Responses 137
Chapter 6 Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning? 141
A Questioning Approach to Finding Reasoning Fallacies 145
Evaluating Assumptions as a Starting Point 145
Discovering Other Common Reasoning Fallacies 151
Looking for Diversions 161
Sleight of Hand: Begging the Question 163
Summary of Reasoning Errors 165
Expanding Your Knowledge of Fallacies 167
Practice Exercises 167
Sample Responses 171
Chapter 7 The Worth of Personal Experience， Case Examples， Testimonials， and Statements of Authority as Evidence 175
Fact or Opinion? 177
The Need for Dependable Evidence 179
Sources of Evidence 181
Personal Experience as Evidence 183
Case Examples as Evidence 185
Testimonials as Evidence 185
Appeals to Authority as Evidence 189
Practice Exercises 193
Sample Responses 197
Chapter 8 How Good Is the Evidence: Personal Observation and Research Studies? 199
Personal Observation as Evidence 199
Biased Surveys and Questionnaires 201
Research Studies as Evidence 205
General Problems with Research Findings 207
Generalizing From the Research Sample 215
Generalizing From the Research Measures 217
When You Can Most Trust Expert Opinion 221
Research and the Internet 223
Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers 225
Practice Exercises 231
Sample Responses 233
Chapter 9 Are There Rival Causes? 237
When to Look for Rival Causes 239
The Pervasiveness of Rival Causes 241
Detecting Rival Causes 243
The Cause or a Cause 243
Multiple Perspectives as a Guide to Rival Causes 245
Confusing Causation with Association 247
Confusing “After This” with “Because of This” 249
Explaining Individual Events or Acts 251
Evaluating Rival Causes 253
Rival Causes and Your Own Communication 253
Exploring Potential Causes 255
Practice Exercises 257
Sample Responses 259
Chapter 10 Are Any Statistics Deceptive? 265
Unknowable and Biased Statistics 267
Confusing Averages 269
Measurement Errors 273
Concluding One Thing， Proving Another 273
Deceiving by Omitting Information 275
Using Statistics in Your Writing 279
Practice Exercises 279
Sample Responses 281
Chapter 11 What Significant Information Is Omitted? 285
The Benefits of Detecting Omitted Information 287
The Certainty of Incomplete Reasoning 289
Questions That Identify Omitted Information 291
But We Need to Know the Numbers 291
The Importance of the Negative View 295
Omitted Information That Remains Missing 297
Writing and Speaking as Critical Thinkers 299
Practice Exercises 305
Sample Responses 307
Chapter 12 What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible? 309
Dichotomous Thinking: Impediment to Considering Multiple Conclusions 311
Grey Thinking: Two Sides or Many? 313
Productivity of If-Clauses 315
The Liberating Effect of Recognizing Alternative Conclusions 317
Summary 317
Practice Exercises 319
Sample Responses 321
Chapter 13 Speed Bumps Interfering with Your Critical Thinking 325
The Discomfort of Asking the Right Questions 325
Thinking Too Quickly 327
Stereotypes 327
Mental Habits That Betray Us 329
Halo Effect 329
Belief Perseverance 331
Availability Heuristic 333
Answering the Wrong Question 333
Egocentrism 335
Wishful Thinking: Perhaps the Biggest Single Speed Bump on the Road to Critical Thinking 337
Final Words 339
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