TheEncogitationer

Pope, it most certainly took effort. On the other hand it is something that comes with time in an environment conducive to learning. My hypothesis is that identification of flawed arguments are sometimes preconscious. I am quite certain that is how it was with me as described already. Only time will tell. And as Davis points out we don’t know yet…[Read more]

You cannot conclude from the highly contested results and interpretations of Libet’s experiments that decisions precede awareness. A critical thinker should be able to see past the folklore of the Libet experiment, which is by today’s standards, ancient in neuroscience timescales. Educate yourself on those experiments, there are numerous valid…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:

My contention is again that once it is developed it begins at a preconscious or unconscious level.

So in your case, what do you mean by “once it is developed”? Did it not take effort to develop the skill of analytical thinking? On another important note, I’ll claim here that the ability to think critically can also vary from…[Read more]

Yeah, If you can say…..”well you have committed the strawman fallacy by distorting my statement and arguing against that distortion” and then go on and point out the details of the fallacy committed; the opponent loses that round for sure.

When debating a theist, very often their argument must be a fallacy, LOL.

Davis, i am going to draw again on experience. So i recently revealed to my dad how in Court i sometimes knew an argument was flawed before giving it any thought. If it was not immediately clear to me I would have to ponder. He laughed and said you inherited that from me.

Years ago he told me his mind was in some ways a prison. He had no control…[Read more]

When I suggested above that we should replace Religious Instruction Indoctrination classes in schools with lessons in Critical Thinking (plus Ethics and Citizenship) I may have given the impression that I see them as opposites. I don’t. I just think Religion should never be taught in schools and indoctrinating children by doing so is child a…[Read more]

Jake it seems like you are nitpicking. Yes, once you are very familiar with critical thinking and/or have analysed texts critically, you can, to some extent, engage in critical thinking without consciously doing it…and yes, in every day life you may be able to apply scepticism and quick analysis of claims that people (and activity on online…[Read more]

Hey Pope, maybe i am in right field.

Lets start with the language Enco used. “since critical thinking and logic operates only by conscious choice.” I am not denying that we can improve our critical thinking consciously-that it can be enhanced over time. I also agree that our schools absolutely suck in failing to teach kids how to think…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:

If you are reasoning reasonably well it is apparent without any formal introduction to the fallacy.

I’m with Enco on this one. “Reasoning” takes skill, and conscious consideration. Human brains evolved almost entirely long before we had enough language in our thinking processes to even categorize the kinds of our own thinking…[Read more]

Critical Thinking should be taught in schools

It is absolutely outrageous that it is not a mandatory subject during every single year of school.

Jake, humans don’t reason reasonably. The fallacies are very necessary. After properly studying them, it very much changed the way I reason, catching on to flawed arguments I thought were reasonable until I realised how and why they were flawed. I still need to review them from time to time. But you are right, you not only have to consciously…[Read more]

Writes Enco…since critical thinking and logic operates only by conscious choice.

Nope. We don’t choose to believe or disbelieve. We don’t choose to think/reason logically or fallaciously.

When i practiced law my identification of BS/illogical/fallacious arguments in court occurred unconsciously. But then i had to consciously contemplate how…[Read more]

@theencogitationer – for the record, I am not a number, I am a freeman…..who just happens to look cool on a Pennyfarthing 🙂

Critical Thinking should be taught in schools instead of undergoing religious indoctrination classes. It is a skill that improves with use.

The Metallica video is loading for me but I will link here again.

Reg,

That is par for the course, so to speak, that Lee Strobel would call critical thinking and logic “an elective,” but I’m not comfortable calling it mandatory either, since critical thinking and logic operates only by conscious choice.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to call critical thinking and logic conditional musts i.e. If you want to…[Read more]

Reg,

The video of Lady Gaga and Metallica isn’t there.  I guess in “The Village” of YouTube, they got swallowed by the bubble and they indeed  are a number.

Where did they go?  That would be telling.

Be seeing you.😎 #6

Not for everyone but World CRISPR Day is Oct.20th. Registration is free for this virtual event.

@Unseen.

I think it is a reference to her Monster Ball show and “Born this Way”. We are “determined” by our genetics and not by the society we live in. The “initial conditions” that make us who we are coded into our DNA long ago. The same can be said with the “initial conditions” of the early Universe. It “had” to become the way it is because of…[Read more]

@TheEncogitationer

I understand the sentiment about requiring antidotes to theistic nonsense. Lee “the former atheist” Strobel offers a Degree in Applied Apologetics which has an elective in Critical Thinking and Logic. “Well fuck me pink” was the wording that echoed in my mind when I first discovered that.

Every religious person is a former…[Read more]

@Reg or anyone

Regarding Surprise: the Big Bang isn’t the beginning of the universe anymore, can you explain the Lady Gaga reference? I probably don’t know enough about the talented performer.