The “Is of Identity” Test

The “Is of Identity” Test


1. A statement is either true or false.
2. Mules are stubborn.
3. A pig is a dirty animal.
4. God is everywhere.
5. A boy who won’t fight is a coward.
6. Snake is an ugly word.
7. College graduates earn more than other people.
8. The word dog is a four footed animal.
9. A person who kills another person is a murder.
10. Women are mothers.
11. A boy who never lies is good.
12. Teachers think they’re smarter than other people.
13. Neighbors are nosey.
14. Pretty girls are stuck up.
15. Seeing is believing.
16. Adam and Eve were the first human beings.
17. It takes two to make a bargain.
18. He that believeth not shall be damned.
19. The good die young.
20. There is one basic cause for all effects.
21. The wildest colts make the best horses.
22. Humans can talk.
23. No one wants to die.
24. Barking dogs don’t bite,
25. Death is not forever.
26. Americans are not communists.
27. Dreams often foretell our lives.
28. Everything comes if only a man will wait.
29. Anything believed by most of the people must be true.
30. What goes up must come down.
31. Water flows downhill.
32. A wool skirt is warm.
33. A circle is round.
34. Iron is strong.
35. An orange is not green.
36. A leaf is green.
37. A knife is sharp.
38. A pencil is round.
39. Feathers are soft.
40. The sky is blue.
41. Needles are sharp.
42. One sits in a chair.
43. A pitcher holds water.
44. A piece of iron is heavy.
45. A house is either frame or brick.
46. A drunkard is a sinner.
47. Ministers are good men.
48. Everything that is true can be proved.
49. Big boys are bullies.
50. It is never all right to kill,
51. Children should always obey their parents.
52. Children are born bad.
53. Plants grow in soil.
54. Questions have no answers.
55. No one gets by with anything bad without getting caught.
56. Telling dirty jokes is bad.
57. A good soldier is a patriot.
58. Women movie stars are beautiful.
59. People are just naturally mean.
60. Cats hate dogs.
61. Flowers are pretty.
62. Health is Wealth.
63. Love is holy.
64. Money is evil.
65. The smartest people are the most successful
66. Select ONE of the following five statements which you feel is most characteristic of you:
a. I like almost everyone.
b. I am very careful in choosing my friends.
c. I like more people than I dislike.
d. I make no friends until they prove worthy of me.
e, I like and dislike about the same number of people.

Assumptions Glossary

Glossary
Chapter 5
Accommodation	Accommodation is achieved when we can do the thinking needed to create a new schema or modify an old schema in order to explain a new experience.
Assimilation	Assimilation is achieved when we can integrate new experiences into existing schemas.
Assumption	Assumption is an idea whose truth can be taken for granted.
Assumption Layers	Assumption layers can appear beneath simple assertions. Such layers consist of multiple hidden and unexamined assumptions influenced in turn by one or more value assumptions beneath the whole.
Counter claim	Counter claim is a response to a claim with a defense or with another claim.
Disequilibrium	The confusion and discomfort felt when a new experience cannot be integrated into existing schemas.
Equilibrium	A stable inner feeling of well being that we feel when our thinking enables us to modify or create a new schema that better explains our world.
Hidden Assumption	A hidden assumption is an unclear and unstated idea assumed to be true that is integral to a line of reasoning. In an argument, it is a hidden premise that cannot be examined for truth and validity. Blind acceptance of a hidden premise can lead to the acceptance of a false or invalid conclusion.
Infer	To use imagination and reasoning to fill in missing facts. To connect the dots.
Lateral thinking	Lateral thinking solves problems by reviewing options, overcoming assumptions, and inventing new solutions. Vertical thinking follows more conventional step-by-step logic.
Principal claim and reasons	These are the two parts of an argument. The principal claim is the thesis or conclusion. The reasons support this claim through evidence or other claims. A claim is an assertion about something.
Schema	Schemas are the mental files in which we store our explanations of experiences.
Thesis	A thesis is a short summary statement of an idea that an essay intends to prove. It is also called the thesis statement and controlling idea.
Thinking	Purposeful mental activity such as reasoning, deciding, judging, believing, supposing, expecting, intending, recalling, remembering, visualizing, imagining, devising, inventing, concentrating, conceiving, considering.
Value or Belief Assumption	Value assumption is a belief that we take for granted, one that rarely questioned or even articulated. Remaining hidden and unexpressed, a value assumption can nevertheless shape a chain of reasoning.
Working Assumption	A working assumption is a trial idea, theory, strategy, or hypothesis assumed to be true in order to further an investigation. It is a conscious assumption.

Assumptions Web Links

DEFINITION OF ASSUMPTION

This entry at wordreference.com explains the many meanings of the word assumption.

http://www.wordreference.com/definition/assumption

HYPOTHESIS DEFINED - American Heritage Dictionary

Compare the definitions of the word hypothesis given at the Merriam-Webster and American Heritage dictionaries.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/3/H0370300.html

HYPOTHESIS DEFINED - Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Compare the definitions of the word hypothesis given at the Merriam-Webster and American Heritage dictionaries.

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/hypothesis

JEAN PIAGET

This site is available for learning more about Jean Piaget and his theories on cognitive development.

http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/piaget.html

THESIS

"How to Write a Thesis Statement." A useful discussion prepared at Indiana University.

http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/thesis_statement.shtml

Where Do You Stand?

Where do you stand with regard to critical thinking?



FEET: What do I stand for as a foundation of critical thinking?

STOMACH: What upsets me about critical thinking?

HEART: What do I love about critical thinking?

HANDS: What do I feel about critical thinking?

EARS: What do I hear about critical thinking?

EYES: What do I see about critical thinking?

BRAIN: What do I think about critical thinking?

Welcome

Welcome to this blog at http://cthinkcenter.blogspot.com

From The Foundation for Critical Thinking

The Thinker's Guide to Fallacies: The Art of Mental Trickery and Manipulation

By Dr. Richard Paul and Dr. Linda Elder

"Most people deeply believe in -- but are unaware of -- the following premises:

1. It's true if I believe it
2. It's true if we believe it
3. It's true if I want to believe it
4. It's true if it serves my vested interest to believe it"

From http://www.criticalthinking.org/

44 Foul Ways to Win an Argument (which include the following):

• Appeal to Authority
• Appeal to Experience
• Appeal to Fear
• Appeal to Popular Passions
• Appeal to Tradition or Faith ("the tried & true")
• Assume a Posture of Righteousness
• Attack the person (and not the argument)
• Beg the Question
• Call For Perfection (demand impossible conditions)
• Create a False Dilemma (the great either/or)
• Question Your Opponent's Conclusions
• Create Misgivings: Where There's Smoke, There's Fire
• Create A Straw Man
• Deny or Defend Your Inconsistencies
• Demonize His Side Sanitize Yours
• Evade Questions, Gracefully
• Flatter Your Audience
• Hedge What You Say
• Ignore the Evidence
• Ignore the Main Point
• Attack Evidence (that undermines your case)
• Insist Loudly on a Minor Point
• Make Much of Any Inconsistencies in Your Opponent's Position
• Make Your Opponent Look Ridiculous
• Oversimplify the Issue

F A L L A C I E S

F A L L A C I E S

Fallacies of Distraction
Fallacies of Distraction involve the misuse of logical operators--or, not, if-then, and--which distract the reader away from realizing an apparent falsity within the text. Each of the following examples contains links to web pages that further elaborate their meaning.


False Dilemma (misuse of "or")
Argument from Ignorance (misuse of "not")
Slippery Slope (misuse of "if-then")
Complex Question (misuse of "and")

Appeals to Motives in Place of Support
The fallacies in this category are without reasons for belief and tend to appeal to the emotions or other psychological factors of their readers.

Appeal to Force
Appeal to Pity
Appeal to Consequences
Prejudicial Language
Appeal to Popularity

Changing the Subject
The fallacies in this category target the person making the argument rather than the issue being argued.

Attacking the Person
Appeal to Authority
Anonymous Authorities
Style over Substance.

Inductive Fallacies
The fallacies in this category are assumptions about a whole from properties of a part. Although statistical sampling is a means of reasoning the composition of a whole, no sample is a perfect representation of its whole.

Hasty Generalization
Unrepresentative Sample
False Analogy
Slothful Induction
Fallacy of Exclusion

Fallacies Involving Statistical Syllogisms
The fallacies in this category are assumptions about a part or even a whole that are made from statistical syllogisms, such as "most," as in "Most teachers know how to teach," or "generally," as in "Students are generally good learners." However, no syllogism is actually necessary to engage in this fallacy. For example, "People like to get haircuts."

Accident
Converse Accident.


Causal Fallacies
The fallacies in this category are assumptions about conclusions that are based on their causes. In other words, we can make a mistake in assumming that if cause A occurs, conclusion B will occur also--such as if students are handed textbooks, then they will read them.

Post Hoc
Joint Effect
Insignificant
Wrong Direction
Complex Cause

Missing the Point
The fallacies in this category are false assumptions that fail to prove that a conclusion is true.

Begging the Question
Irrelevant Conclusion
Straw Man

Fallacies of Ambiguity
The fallacies in this category involve using a word or phrase unclearly (ambiguously or vaguely).

Equivocation (Using the same term in two different ways)
Amphiboly (Two different interpretations)
Accent (what is actually said isn't what is actually meant)

Category Errors
The fallacies in this category occur when one thinks the sum of all the parts fits into a gestalt.

Composition (The whole does not necessarily have the properties of its parts)
Division (The parts do not necessarily have the properties of the whole)

Non-Sequitur
The fallacies in this category occur as a result of invalid arguments.

Affirming the Consequent
Denying the Antecedent
Inconsistency

Syllogistic Fallacies
The fallacies in this category occur as a result of invalid categorical syllogisms.

Fallacy of Four Terms: a syllogism has four terms
Undistributed Middle
Illicit Major
Illicit Minor
Fallacy of Exclusive Premises: a syllogism has two negative premises
Fallacy of Drawing an Affirmative Conclusion From a Negative Premise
Existential Fallacy: a particular conclusion is drawn from universal premises

Fallacies of Explanation
The fallacies in this category refer to errors in making explanations.

Subverted Support (The phenomenon being explained doesn't exist)
Non-support (Evidence for the phenomenon being explained is biased)
Untestability (The theory which explains cannot be tested)
Limited Scope (The theory which explains can only explain one thing)
Limited Depth (The theory which explains does not appeal to underlying causes)

Fallacies of Definition
The fallacies in this category refer to errors in defining words or concepts.

Too Broad (The definition includes items which should not be included)
Too Narrow (The definition does not include all the items which shouls be included)
Failure to Elucidate (The definition is more difficult to understand)
Circular Definition (The definition includes the term being defined as a part of the definition)
Conflicting Conditions (The definition is self-contradictory)
Fallacies of Faulty Reasoning
false analogy
compares two things that are not alike in significant respects or have critical points of difference
hasty generalization
draws a conclusion about a class based on too few or atypical examples
false cause
post hoc
mistakes temporal succession for causal sequence
single cause fallacies
occurs when an advocate attributes only one cause to a complex problem
slippery slope
assumes, without evidence, that a given event is the first in a series of steps that will lead inevitably to some outcome.