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Eighth Edition Asking the Right Questions ai ai GQ ® A Guide to Critical Thinking M. Neil Browne Stuart M. Keeley Bowling Green State University ^ ^ ^ ^ • • • H Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Browne, M. Neil, (date) Asking the right questions: a guide to critical thinking/M. Neil Browne, Stuart M. Keeley.—8th ed. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-13-220304-9 1. Criticism. 2 . Critical thinking. I. Keeley, Stuart M., 1941 II. Title. 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Ltd Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey PEARSON Prentice Hall 10 9 ISBN 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 D-13-2ED3DM-T Contents Preface viii 1 The Benefit of Asking the Right Questions 1 Introduction 1 Critical Thinking to the Rescue 2 The Sponge and Panning for Gold: Alternative Thinking Styles 3 An Example of the Panning-for-Gold Approach 5 Panning for Gold: Asking Critical Questions 7 The Myth of the "Right Answer" 7 Thinking and Feeling 8 The Efficiency of Asking the Question, "Who Cares?" 9 Weak-Sense and Strong-Sense Critical Thinking 10 The Satisfaction of Using the Panning-for-Gold Approach 11 Trying Out New Answers 11 Effective Communication and Critical Thinking 12 The Importance of Practice 12 The Right Questions 13 2 What Are the Issue and the Conclusion? 15 Kinds of Issues 16 Searching for the Issue 17 Searching for the Author's or Speaker's Conclusion 18 Clues to Discovery: How to Find the Conclusion 19 Critical Thinking and Your Own Writing and Speaking 21 Practice Exercises 22 3 What Are the Reasons? 25 Reasons + Conclusion = Argument 26 Initiating the Questioning Process 27 Words That Identify Reasons 29 iii iv Contents Kinds of Reasons 29 Keeping the Reasons and Conclusions Straight 31 Reasons First, Then Conclusions 32 "Fresh" Reasons and Your Growth 32 Critical Thinking and Your Own Writing and Speaking 33 Practice Exercises 33 4 What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous? 37 The Confusing Flexibility of Words 38 Locating Key Terms and Phrases 39 Checking for Ambiguity 40 Determining Ambiguity 41 Context and Ambiguity 43 Ambiguity, Definitions, and the Dictionary 44 Ambiguity and Loaded Language 46 Limits of Your Responsibility to Clarify Ambiguity 48 Ambiguity and Your Own Writing and Speaking 48 Summary 49 Practice Exercises 50 5 What Are the Value Conflicts and Assumptions? 53 General Guide for Identifying Assumptions 55 Value Conflicts and Assumptions 56 Discovering Values 57 From Values to Value Assumptions 58 Typical Value Conflicts 60 The Communicator's Background as a Clue to Value Assumptions 61 Consequences as Clues to Value Assumptions 61 More Hints for Finding Value Assumptions 63 Avoiding a Typical Difficulty When Identifying Value Assumptions 64 Finding Value Assumptions on Your Own 65 Values and Relativism 67 Summary 68 Practice Exercises 68 6 What Are the Descriptive Assumptions? 71 Illustrating Descriptive Assumptions 72 Clues for Locating Assumptions 74 Applying the Clues 76 Avoiding Analysis of Trivial Assumptions 78 Assumptions and Your Own Writing and Speaking 78 Contents Summary 79 Practice Exercises 79 7 Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning? 83 A Questioning Approach to Finding Reasoning Fallacies 85 Evaluating Assumptions as a Starting Point 86 Discovering Other Common Reasoning Fallacies 88 Looking for Diversions 94 Sleight of Hand: Begging the Question 96 Summary of Reasoning Errors 97 Expanding Your Knowledge of Fallacies 99 Fallacies and Your Own Writing and Speaking 99 Practice Exercises 99 8 How Good Is the Evidence: Intuition, Personal Experience, Testimonials, and Appeals to Authority? 103 The Need for Evidence 104 Locating Factual Claims 105 Sources of Evidence 106 Intuition as Evidence 107 Dangers of Appealing to Personal Experience as Evidence Personal Testimonials as Evidence 109 Appeals to Authority as Evidence 110 Summary 113 Practice Exercises 114 9 108 How Good Is the Evidence: Personal Observation, Research Studies, Case Examples, and Analogies? 117 Personal Observation 117 Research Studies as Evidence 118 Generalizing from the Research Sample 123 Biased Surveys and Questionnaires 124 Critical Evaluation of a Research-Based Argument 126 Case Examples as Evidence 128 Analogies as Evidence 129 Summary 133 Practice Exercises 134 10 Are There Rival Causes? 137 When to Look for Rival Causes 138 The Pervasiveness of Rival Causes 139 v vi Contents Detecting Rival Causes 141 The Cause or A Cause 142 Rival Causes and Scientific Research 143 Rival Causes for Differences Between Groups 144 Confusing Causation with Association 146 Confusing "After this" with "Because of this" 147 Explaining Individual Events or Acts 149 Evaluating Rival Causes 150 Evidence and Your Own Writing and Speaking 150 Summary 150 Practice Exercises 151 11 Are the Statistics Deceptive? 155 Unknowable and Biased Statistics 156 Confusing Averages 156 Concluding One Thing, Proving Another 158 Deceiving by Omitting Information 159 Risk Statistics and Omitted Information 161 Summary 162 Practice Exercises 163 12 What Significant Information Is Omitted? 167 The Benefits of Detecting Omitted Information 168 The Certainty of Incomplete Reasoning 168 Questions that Identify Omitted Information 170 The Importance of the Negative View 174 Omitted Information That Remains Missing 175 Missing Information and Your Own Writing and Speaking 176 Practice Exercises 176 13 What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible? 181 Assumptions and Multiple Conclusions 182 Dichotomous Thinking: Impediment to Considering Multiple Conclusions 182 Two Sides or Many? 183 Searching for Multiple Conclusions 185 Productivity of If-Clauses 186 Alternative Solutions as Conclusions 187 The Liberating Effect of Recognizing Alternative Conclusions All Conclusions Are Not Created Equal 188 Summary 189 Practice Exercises 196 188 Practice and Review 193 Question Checklist for Critical Thinking 193 Asking the Right Questions: A Comprehensive Example What Are the Issue and Conclusion? 196 What Are the Reasons? 196 What Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous? 197 What Are the Value Conflicts and Assumptions? 198 What are the Descriptive Assumptions? 198 Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning? 199 How Good Is the Evidence? 200 Are There Rival Causes? 201 Are the Statistics Deceptive? 201 What Significant Information Is Omitted? 202 What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible? 203 Final Word 205 The Tone of Your Critical Thinking 205 Strategies for Effective Critical Thinking 206 Index 209 Preface The eighth edition is our small contribution to the collective effort to highlight the benefits of careful, rational assessment of reasoning. While we are immensely pleased by the success of this book with decades of readers in many countries and languages, we cannot help but notice the immense disrespect for evidence, sloppy use of language, and substitution of hollering for reason in so much of our public discussion. The mandate to be selective in the arguments we embrace is essential to successful daily living, as well as to the numerous frustrating dilemmas that will surely plague our future together. We have no realistic option to ignore problems when they arise. Ignore them for a while, and they will soon insist on grabbing our attention. So if we must eventually face them, we will need to develop as many critical thinkers as possible to sort and select optimal responses. Asking the Right Questions can be a strong tool for encouraging that development. As a book ages, it becomes less and less the product of its original authors. The success of Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking is a tribute to the sound advice we have received from the many readers who thought we could do better next time around and who told us so. In fact, one of our biggest challenges has been to pick and choose from among the suggestions. Always uppermost in our mind has been the desire to retain the primary attributes of Asking the Right Questions, while adjusting to new emphases in our own thought and the evolving needs of our readers. For instance, while we can always think of dozens of additions that would, we believe, enhance new editions of Asking the Right Questions, we want most of all to keep the book readable and short. We are willing to pay the price of omitting several things that would be apposite in a more weighty treatment of critical thinking because those who adopt or learn from Asking the Right Questions have been so assertive in applauding the crispness and cohesion of our approach. Individual readers who do not see their suggestions included will surely understand that writing for a general vin