WEBVTT

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In this clip, we're
going to explain

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what critical
thinking is and what

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sorts of problems a course
in critical thinking

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might address.

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And finally, we'll let
you know what we hope

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you will learn from the course.

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So first, what's
critical thinking?

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Essentially critical
thinking aims

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to ensure that we have good
reasons for our beliefs.

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But what does that mean?

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Well, suppose Patrick and I
are discussing whether or not

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a colleague of
ours called Robin--

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just because we don't really
have a colleague called Robin--

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will come to some philosophy
department meeting

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to be held this afternoon.

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So do you think Robin
will be there, Patrick?

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No.

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I don't think so.

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Why do you think that?

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Meetings always go bad
when Robin is there

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But that's not a good
reason to believe

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Robin won't be at the meeting.

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At best, it's a reason
to hope he won't be.

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So what about this reason then?

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Robin hates meetings, and
hardly ever comes to them.

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Robin only turns up
if there's something

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important on the agenda.

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And there's nothing on
this afternoon's agenda

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that touches on anything
Robin cares about.

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Well, I admit that's
a better reason.

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It does provide
stronger logical support

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if we make the
following assumptions.

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One, that it's true that Robin
almost never comes to meetings

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because he hates them.

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Two, that he only turns
up if there's something

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important on the agenda.

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And three, that there's
nothing on the agenda

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that Robin cares about.

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If those three assumptions
hold, then it seems plausible

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that Robin won't show up.

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But it doesn't
settle whether or not

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Robin will be at the meeting.

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Well, I reckon this
reason will settle it.

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Robin's in London on sabbatical.

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We were on Skype
together earlier today.

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That's a better reason to think
Robin won't be at the meeting.

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Of all the reasons
you've given me,

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it gives the strongest
logical support.

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Think of these as premises.

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If the meeting is in
Auckland, and if we

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know that London is in England,
and if we know that England

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is roughly a 24 hour
trip from Auckland,

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and if we're very confident
that Robin is in London,

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then we can be very
confident that Robin won't be

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at the meeting this afternoon.

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Still, can we be
absolutely certain

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that Robin won't
be at the meeting.

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Maybe not.

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Maybe Robin's a
computer hacker, and has

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managed to fake a Skype call
from London to trick Patrick.

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Or maybe Robin's a mad scientist
and has developed some kind

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of transportation device.

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Seriously, Tim.

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Come on.

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Well, yeah, I know.

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This all seems rather unlikely.

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I grant that if your final
reason was in fact true,

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I would have good reason
to believe that Robin

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won't be at the meeting,

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But it is true.

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When we think
critically, in the sense

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we're talking about
in this course,

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we're thinking in ways which
ensure, insofar as possible,

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that we have good
reason for our beliefs.

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We're trying to come
to a true belief about

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whether or not Robin will be
at the meeting, for instance,

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in the sense that we're
evaluating the reasons which

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bear upon that belief to see if
they're good reasons to believe

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one thing rather than another.

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Now as we hope the Robin
in the meeting case shows,

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critical and logical
thinking can be, and often

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is, about very ordinary,
everyday issues.

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I think critically
when I weigh up reasons

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to believe that I should take
my car to work rather than go

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by train.

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I might consider the reasons
for and against taking my car.

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The likelihood of traffic
jams on the roads.

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The reliability of
the train system.

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How important it is that I get
to work by a particular time.

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And which of the options
make it more likely that I

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will get there by that time.

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But critical thinking can
also be about big questions.

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You might, for instance,
be worried about privacy

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in the age of the internet
and cyber security.

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Or you might be concerned about
various conflicts and wars

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around the world, and
whether your country should

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be involved.

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Those and other big
questions, of course,

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are often all over the news.

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In fact, the small questions
and the big questions

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are often quite
closely connected.

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The reasons which bear
upon whether I should

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go to work by car
or train include

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reasons like the contribution
of private car use

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to global warming.

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And once I start thinking
about global warming,

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I can engage in another round
of reasoning about what beliefs

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I ought to adopt about that.

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I might say, for instance,
global warming is overrated.

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But then I would ask
you why you say that.

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Well, I would respond,
I remember summers

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when I was a boy.

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They used to go on and on.

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Now you just can't count
on a decent summer.

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I don't reckon it's any warmer.

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But Tim, what you remember
from your childhood

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isn't a very good reason to
doubt the scientific consensus

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on global warming.

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Fair enough.

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In fact, we face constant
demands to exercise

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our critical thinking skills.

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All sorts of people
tried to persuade us

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of all sorts of things.

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That people who write
editorials and letters

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to the editor, politicians,
lecturers, advertisers,

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evangelists, radio hosts, health
authorities, your parents,

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your children, your
friends, and so on.

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And when someone's trying to
convince you of something,

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you should think what
reasons have I really

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been given for believing
what this person wants

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me to believe?

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Are they good reasons?

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This is what we mean by
critical and logical thinking.

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Now here's something surprising.

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Since we're all called upon to
exercise our critical thinking

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skills all the time,
since we might even

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think that the capacity
to exercise those skills

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is part of what
makes humans special,

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you'd think we'd all,
or almost all of us,

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be pretty good at it,
that we wouldn't often

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make simple errors,
and there wouldn't

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be widespread
tendencies to adopt

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unjustified or bad beliefs.

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But guess what?

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We are all inclined to make
certain kinds of errors

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when we're deciding
which beliefs to adopt.

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We hope that this
course will teach you

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how to be careful so that
you will at least know

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when to be on the lookout for
these corrupting tendencies.

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In this course, we'll
give you several examples

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of bad reasoning and
we'll give you tools

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to assess that in a clear way.

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These tools will safeguard
you from encounters

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with bad reasoning.

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