GRSC6010 - Logic and Critical thinking

2nd semester 2005-06. Friday 4-6pm on Feb 17, 24, Mar 3, 10, 24, 31. P501 Graduate House.

Announcements

• 2 May 2006 - Unofficial results - Everyone passed, except for 2005940358 who did not attend the exam.
• Assessment: 1 in-class test on 31st March 2006. (Pass/Fail)

Course schedule

• Key to readings: [R] Recommended but not required. Required reading otherwise.
• Some of these items are located on the HKU intranet server. You can access them through the HKU library computers, or through a VPN connection if you are outside the HKU network.
• All powerpoint files are located on the intranet HERE. I shall try to make them available at least one day before the lecture.

1. Introduction - what is critical thinking?

• Alec Fisher - "What is critical thinking and how to improve it" (PDF). This is an online copy of the first chapter of Fisher's book Critical Thinking: An Introduction.
• Critical thinking web - C01-C02, [R] C03
• "Impediments to Good Reasoning" in Richard Feldman (1993). Reason and Argument. Prentice Hall.
• De Bono's "Attitudes" - Attitudes of a good thinker
• [R] Questions for reflection, The fourfold path to critical thinking

2. Analyzing meaning

• Critical thinking web - M01-M07, [R] G01
• - Please do not distribute outside class.
• [R] Conference Presentation Judo - Some nice advice about giving presentations.

3. Logic

• Critical thinking web - L01-L04, A01-A09, V01-V02
• "Logical relations"
• Intranet reading - up to section 4 From Gustason Reasoning from Evidence

4. Scientific reasoning

• Critical thinking web - S01-S08 T5.1-T5.4
• The SEARCH formula

5. Values, Fallacies, and Decision Traps

• Critical thinking web - U01-U05, F01-F07
• [R] Gary Curtis's Fallacy Files - an online directory of fallacies with examples and explanations.

6. Creativity

• Lecture notes - Please do not distribute outside class.

Additional resources

• If you want to read more about critical thinking, see this page.
• [R] Wilfrid Hodges "Psychologists' tips on how and how not to learn" - Although this is about studying mathematics, the same principles of learning apply when it comes to studying law, linguistics, economics, etc.