PHIL1060 Critical Thinking

Thinking critically is important in all university studies and in the workplace. If you want something, being able to think critically will help you get it. In this topic you will study the kinds of thinking mistakes almost everyone is inclined to make and how to avoid them.

This topic aims to teach students about basic concepts and aspects of critical reasoning, such as:

• The difference between arguments and opinions
• The structure of arguments
• The conditions for an argument being valid
• Common fallacies of reasoning
• Basic rules of categorical and propositional logic
• The nature of evidence and what counts as reliable evidence
• Scientific reasoning
• Truth relativism

1. Discover the value of critical thinking in personal life, at university and in the workplace
2. Examine a range of cognitive biases and fallacies
3. Examine the distinction between confirming and disconfirming evidence
4. Appraise the basic structure of scientific reasoning
5. Employ elementary statistical concepts