Critical thinking

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Critical thinking

This course teaches participants how to reason well in various kinds of situations. They gain confidence in reasoning, explaining their reasoning and assessing others’ reasoning. We discuss both reasoning about facts and the reasoning involved in making practical decisions. We distinguish risky inferences with probable conclusions from risk-free inferences with compelling conclusions. Participants are taught principles of good reasoning for each type of reasoning.

Participants also learn how to distinguish reliable from unreliable sources of information. This is particularly important at a time when so much unreliable content is easily accessible via the internet.

All this helps participants ensure that their beliefs and decisions are based on the available evidence.

This course improves participants’ abstract thinking, problem-solving and communication skills, which are all valuable transferable skills. There will be plenty of opportunity for discussion.

Session 1: What does it mean to be a critical, open-minded thinker?

Session 2: Analysing logical arguments

Session 3: Certainty versus risk: the distinction between deductive and inductive reasoning

Session 4: A closer look at deductive reasoning

Session 5: Different types of inductive reasoning

Session 6: Reasoning about what to do

Session 7: How to identify reliable sources of information