Critical thinking skills will often determine your success in school, work, and life. The prevalence of misinformation and information overload makes it so important to develop a mindset that focuses on critical thinking.
What is “truth?” Truth has been a topic up for discussion for thousands of years, especially in the eyes of philosophers. But when it comes to everyday people, we typically accept truths as being any ideas or concepts that aim to represent reality or correspond to it in some way. The truth is represented by … Read more
In general, drawing comparisons between things can be useful. However, comparisons are not always apt and we sometimes end up drawing comparisons between things that are actually not alike. A false equivalence is a type of logical fallacy in which a person attempts to draw an equivalence between two things based on the presence of a few … Read more
When in his 80s, a friend’s grandfather (Pappy) told me that he’s smoked a pack of cigarettes a day since he was a teenager and he turned out just fine, so it can’t really be that bad for you. Now, for any of you who can think back to statistics 101, n=1 in Pappy’s little … Read more
In the context of a debate, it’s always good practice to make sure you clearly understand your opponent’s position before you respond, so you can argue against their actual views. Unfortunately, good practice doesn’t always come through and people end up misrepresenting other people’s views. A straw man fallacy is a kind of logical fallacy … Read more
In 2001, then-president George W. Bush was quoted making the following statement to Congress in response to the attacks on 9/11: “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” In the time since, President Bush has been criticized for his all-or-nothing … Read more