Theory! objectivity and neutrality Rise of pseudo-science: - PDF document

Induction vs. Deduction: Synthesis vs. Analysis 23 May, 2015 Past V1 2015 Schield CTC 1 V1 2015 Schield CTC 2 We thought critically! Induction vs. Deduction Synthesis vs. Analysis January, 1776 In proportion to the population of Milo Schield the colonies (2.5 million), it had the Augsburg College largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history. [500,000 copies 1 st year] As of 2006, it remains the all-time May 23, 2015 best-selling American title West Minneapolis Critical Thinking Club Wikipedia: Common Sense www.StatLit.org/pdf/2015-Schield-CTC2-Slides.pdf Past Present V1 2015 Schield CTC 3 V1 2015 Schield CTC 4 Change in Values Critical Thinking in America 1858 US Freshman . 1 st speaker had 60 minutes; 2 nd had 90; 1 st replied for 30 Speakers averaged around 100 words per minute. Families stood, listened, analyzed and evaluated! Present Present V1 2015 Schield CTC 5 V1 2015 Schield CTC 6 Critical Thinking: Most college grads do NOT The Fall in Culture accept Darwinian evolution Advocacy journalism rejects . Theory! objectivity and neutrality Rise of pseudo-science: • young-earth creation • denial of evolution Confirmation bias in media • MS-NBC & Fox News 2015-Schield-CTC2-slides.pdf 1

Induction vs. Deduction: Synthesis vs. Analysis 23 May, 2015 Present Present V1 2015 Schield CTC 7 V1 2015 Schield CTC 8 Assumptions are Arbitrary Assumptions are Arbitrary . . Present Present V1 2015 Schield CTC 9 V1 2015 Schield CTC 10 Stance & Perspective: Assumptions are Arbitrary Optional / Elective Secular humanism Religious humanism Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over established doctrine or faith (fideism). … humanism refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of “human nature”… V1 2015 Schield CTC 11 V1 2015 Schield CTC 12 Recent causes; The Root Cause but not the Root Cause Aristotle! Schools drop diagramming sentences (1960s) Aristotle noted two kinds of reasoning: • Deduction : from general to specific Colleges drop logic as GenEd requirement. No evidence that logic improves writing • Induction : from specific to general. Schools cut back on formal debate Critical thinking: waxes, peaks (1996) and wanes Aristotle was extremely clear on deduction. Reading for pleasure declines for school children Aristotle was ambiguous ( incomprehensible?) on induction. Decline in academic rigor ( Academically Adrift ) College is not much harder than high school 2015-Schield-CTC2-slides.pdf 2

Induction vs. Deduction: Synthesis vs. Analysis 23 May, 2015 V1 2015 Schield CTC 13 V1 2015 Schield CTC 14 Aristotle: Aristotle: the Father of Logic the Father of Logic Aristotle was clear on deduction : Inductions generate universals based on valid arguments gave true particulars. From “Some” to “All”. conclusions given true premises. Aristotle seemed incomprehensible on induction. Induction: Socrates is mortal; Plato is mortal; All men are mortal. Socrates is a man, Therefore all men are mortal. Therefore, Socrates is mortal. Aristotle said induction was justified if we knew what Every deductive argument required a universal was true for all subjects. This made him sound like an premise: Either “All X are Y” or “No X are Y”. idiot. It required omniscience! Where did these universals come from? All swans are white, so all swans are white… V1 2015 Schield CTC 15 V1 2015 Schield CTC 16 The Fall in Philosophy Examples of Induction Hume in 1748 All inductions involve universals: All men are 1748 Hume: Human Understanding : The problem of causation; mortal; All acorns come from oak trees; All water The problem of induction runs downhill; All shocks come from electricity. Benjamin Franklin investigated various sources of “We cannot rationally justify the claim “shocks”: eels, cloths, etc. His famous kite- that nature will continue to be uniform.” lightning experiment demonstrated “the sameness of electrical matter with that of lightening…” “The supposition that the future All universals about the causes and natures of resembles the past is not based on things are inductions. arguments of any kind, but is derived entirely from habit.” V1 2015 Schield CTC 17 V1 2015 Schield CTC 18 The Fall in Philosophy Critical Thinking: No Certainty The Fall in Philosophy 1748 Hume: Human Understanding : 1748 Hume: Human Understanding : The problem of causation; Problem of induction; Problem of causation. The problem of induction Cannot generalize with certainty 1879 Frege: Formal Language for Pure Thought Father of Analytic philosophy " induction is the glory of science Creator of mathematical/symbolic/predicate logic and the scandal of philosophy " Broad 1903 Moore: Principia Ethica, the naturalistic fallacy Cannot derive an “ought” from an “is” Hume has posed “a most fundamental challenge to all human 1921 Wittgenstein: the Tractatus : Language limits what knowledge claims.” Kant & Popper can be said meaningfully. This excludes “religion, ethics, aesthetics , the mystical”... 2015-Schield-CTC2-slides.pdf 3

Induction vs. Deduction: Synthesis vs. Analysis 23 May, 2015 Present V1 2015 Schield CTC 19 V1 2015 Schield CTC 20 Change in Values . US Freshman . . V1 2015 Schield CTC 21 V1 2015 Schield CTC 22 Critical Thinking: Relativism: The Fall in Philosophy The Religious Response No way to validate an ethical statement: Relativism: Impossible to obtain an “ought” from an “is” No good or bad; No way to validate a scientific statement. no right or wrong; All statements are conditionally or temporarily true: true until they have been refuted. no virtue or vice; no merit or sin; Induction as invalid/unjustified leads to: no earned or unearned • Skepticism • Cynicism Involves “cognitive • Relativism promiscuity” • Subjectivism V1 2015 Schield CTC 23 V1 2015 Schield CTC 24 Bloom’s Taxonomy #2: Focus on Analysis Top 2 are opinions; Ignored Treat Synthesis as Opinion . Analysis: Synthesis: “To break up” “to put together” decomposition, composition, disintegration, integration, reductionism creation 2015-Schield-CTC2-slides.pdf 4

Induction vs. Deduction: Synthesis vs. Analysis 23 May, 2015 V1 2015 Schield CTC 25 V1 2015 Schield CTC 26 Critical Thinking: Three Key Problems: Problems Teaching Schield (2004) Resolving Three Key Problems in the Humanities . What is called critical thinking in the classroom tends to be Abstract: The disarray in the humanities reflects their sensitivity to the problems of objectivity, unobservables • reductionist (explaining complex phenomena in and induction . Resolving these problems could set a terms of more elemental events), new direction. • positivistic (limiting the “real” to what is Copy: www.statlit.org/pdf/2004SchieldNDIH.pdf physically observable or which can be proved), • quantitative (understanding qualities in terms of quantities). Source: John Bardi: www.personal.psu.edu/jfb9/essay2ThinkingCritically.html V1 2015 Schield CTC 27 V1 2015 Schield CTC 28 Ethics reclaimed from Resolving these problems could value-clarification . • “Provide a reality-based middle ground that avoids the excess of relativistic subjectivism and dogmatic intrinsicism. • Reverse the tide of anti-intellectualism, skepticism and pseudo-science. • Lay the foundation for a second renaissance that would outshine the first in its benefits to society.” Schield 2004 V1 2015 Schield CTC 29 V1 2015 Schield CTC 30 More on Essentials; Cultural Relativism Less “cognitive promiscuity” The officer reported he was being assaulted [by the suspects] with a skateboard. May 21, 2015 Yahoo News. 2015-Schield-CTC2-slides.pdf 5