Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing

207 Pages · 3.57 mb ·

Matthew Allen

Most Popular Career

Table of contents

- Cover (Page 1)
- Copyright page (Page 6)
- Contents (Page 7)
- Preface to First Edition (Page 10)
- Preface to Second Edition (Page 11)
- How to Use this Book (Page 13)
- 1 Smart Thinking (Page 15)
- What is smart thinking? (Page 15)
- Reasoning (Page 17)
- How do we study smart thinking? (Page 19)
- Thinking about thinking (Page 19)
- Thinkers with attitude (Page 20)
- Why do we need to 'think smart'? (Page 21)
- 2 Claims: The Key Elements of Reasoning (Page 23)
- Understanding language (Page 24)
- A basic look at language (Page 24)
- Statements that are claims (Page 25)
- Claims as elements of reasoning (Page 27)
- More about claims (Page 28)
- Connections within claims (Page 28)
- Claims that include claims (Page 29)
- Scope and certainty (Page 30)
- Descriptive and value claims (Page 31)
- Claims and reasoning (Page 32)
- Using claims as conclusions and premises (Page 32)
- More on conclusions (Page 34)
- More on premises (Page 35)
- Review (Page 36)
- 3 Linking: The Key Process in Reasoning (Page 39)
- Links between claims (Page 40)
- Evidence of the linking process (Page 40)
- The problem of understanding linkages (Page 41)
- The analytical structure of reasoning (Page 42)
- Representing the analytical structure (Page 42)
- What the analytical structure format offers (Page 43)
- Learning more about the analytical structure (Page 45)
- The analytical structure behind narrative flow (Page 45)
- Casting (Page 45)
- Using the analytical structure for planning (Page 47)
- Complex analytical structures (Page 49)
- Review (Page 51)
- 4 Understanding the Links between Claims (Page 53)
- Dependent premises (Page 53)
- Using a group of premises (Page 53)
- Using independent premises (Page 55)
- The weakness of independent premises (Page 57)
- Special functions of premises (Page 58)
- Premises that provide a framework (Page 58)
- Premises that provide a definition (Page 60)
- The link from premises to conclusion (Page 61)
- The importance of internal connections (Page 62)
- Making a real connection (Page 64)
- Covering scope and certainty (Page 64)
- Thinking about values (Page 65)
- Review (Page 67)
- 5 More Effective Reasoning I: Better Claims (Page 69)
- Well-formed claims (Page 70)
- Writing clear claims (Page 70)
- Controlling the key properties of claims (Page 71)
- Well-founded claims (Page 74)
- The problem of 'true' claims (Page 74)
- Claims whose truthfulness is not in question (Page 76)
- Claims supported by authority (Page 78)
- Claims supported by reasoning (Page 80)
- Review (Page 81)
- 6 More Effective Reasoning II: Better Links (Page 83)
- Effective use of dependent premises (Page 84)
- Dependent premises providing one reason (Page 84)
- Avoiding implied premises (Page 86)
- Relevance (Page 88)
- What is relevance? (Page 88)
- Ensuring premises are relevant (Page 90)
- The special role of framing premises (Page 91)
- Strength of support (Page 94)
- The burden of proof (Page 94)
- Justifying all aspects of the conclusion (Page 96)
- Breadth of premises (Page 97)
- Coherence in scope and certainty (Page 99)
- Review (Page 100)
- 7 What Kinds of Reasoning are There? (Page 103)
- Deductive and inductive reasoning (Page 103)
- A common error (Page 103)
- Deduction (Page 104)
- Induction (Page 105)
- Categorical and propositional logic (Page 106)
- Five types of reasoning (Page 107)
- Causal reasoning (Page 108)
- Reasoning from generalisation (Page 109)
- Reasoning from specific cases (Page 111)
- Reasoning from analogy (Page 112)
- Reasoning from terms (Page 113)
- Review (Page 114)
- 8 Research, Reasoning, and Analysis (Page 116)
- Reasoning and analysis (Page 117)
- Reasoning and knowledge (Page 117)
- Reasoned analysis as questions (Page 118)
- Information understood by where we find it (Page 120)
- Information as it relates to other information (Page 122)
- Relations of specific and general (Page 122)
- Relations of similarity and difference (Page 122)
- Relations of cause and effect (Page 123)
- Information classified by the topic under investigation (Page 123)
- Information as it relates to how we are using it (Page 125)
- Direct and indirect sources (Page 127)
- Direct sources (Page 127)
- Indirect sources (Page 128)
- Five possible outcomes (Page 130)
- Review (Page 131)
- 9 Planning and Creating Your Reasoning (Page 134)
- The key analytical questions (Page 135)
- Context: analysing the external dimensions of reasoning (Page 135)
- Text: the internal dimensions of reasoning (Page 137)
- Using the analytical structure for planning (Page 141)
- Different sorts of plans (Page 141)
- The analytical structure format as a plan for writing (Page 143)
- Review (Page 146)
- 10 Bringing It All Together: Narrative and Structure (Page 148)
- Example text (Page 148)
- The value of referencing (Page 148)
- Casting and notes on each paragraph (Page 151)
- Capturing the essence of the text (Page 160)
- Overall narrative flow of the text (Page 161)
- Summary (Page 163)
- Answers, Discussion, and Further Advice (Page 164)
- Chapter 1 (Page 164)
- Exercise 1.1 (Page 164)
- Exercise 1.2 (Page 164)
- Chapter 2 (Page 165)
- Exercise 2.1 (Page 165)
- Exercise 2.2 (Page 165)
- Exercise 2.3 (Page 165)
- Exercise 2.4 (Page 165)
- Exercise 2.5 (Page 165)
- Exercise 2.6 (Page 166)
- Exercise 2.7 (Page 166)
- Exercise 2.8 (Page 166)
- Chapter 3 (Page 166)
- Exercise 3.1 (Page 166)
- Exercise 3.2 (Page 167)
- Exercise 3.3 (Page 167)
- Exercise 3.4 (Page 167)
- Exercise 3.5 (Page 169)
- Exercise 3.6 (Page 172)
- Chapter 4 (Page 174)
- Exercise 4.1 (Page 174)
- Exercise 4.2 (Page 175)
- Exercise 4.3 (Page 175)
- Exercise 4.4 (Page 175)
- Exercise 4.5 (Page 176)
- Chapter 5 (Page 176)
- Exercise 5.1 (Page 176)
- Exercise 5.2 (Page 178)
- Exercise 5.3 (Page 178)
- Exercise 5.4 (Page 179)
- Chapter 6 (Page 180)
- Exercise 6.1 (Page 180)
- Exercise 6.2 (Page 180)
- Exercise 6.3 (Page 181)
- Exercise 6.4 (Page 181)
- Exercise 6.5 (Page 182)
- Exercise 6.6 (Page 182)
- Exercise 6.7 (Page 183)
- Chapter 7 (Page 183)
- Exercise 7.1 (Page 183)
- Chapter 8 (Page 185)
- Exercise 8.1 (Page 185)
- Exercise 8.2 (Page 185)
- Exercise 8.3 (Page 185)
- Exercise 8.4 (Page 186)
- Chapter 9 (Page 186)
- Exercise 9.1 (Page 186)
- Exercise 9.2 (Page 186)
- Exercise 9.3 (Page 187)
- Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts (Page 188)
- Further Reading (Page 200)
- Further reading on knowledge and philosophy (Page 200)
- Further reading on reasoning (Page 201)
- Further reading on writing and communicating (Page 203)
- Guide to Important Skills (Page 204)
- General questions (Page 204)
- Specific questions (Page 206)