Philosophy 5: Critical Thinking and Composition

Pierce College

Department of History, Philosophy, & Sociology

 

 

 

 

Lecture Notes for Chapter Two of Sequence for Academic Writing

 

 

 

"Chapter 2" "Critique" Behrens, Laurence and Leonard J. Rosen.  A Sequence for Academic Writing. 5th Ed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Questions  

 

"(1) To what extent does the author succeed in his or her purpose?" 

 

"(2) To what extent do you agree with the author?" 

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"(1) To what extent does the author succeed in his or her purpose?" 

 

 

Summarization

Being able to summarize what you are critically engaging with is crucial.         

                 

Purpose

With a summarization in hand, you can better understand the author's purpose. 

 

"[I]f the finished piece is coherent, it will have a primary reason for having been written, and it should be apparent that the author is attempting to primarily inform, persuade, or entertain a particular audience."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 

What You Bring         

"As a critical reader, you bring various criteria, or standards of judgment, to bear ... ."       

                 

"Evaluating Informative Writing"    

Is the information accurate? 

Is the information significant? 

Is the information interpreted fairly?        

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Persuasive Writing   

Persuasive writing requires a thesis. 

 

Recall that a thesis is original, argumentative, and interesting. 

 

Theses are "conclusions that authors have drawn as a result of researching and thinking about an issue." 

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Support    

Theses are not worth much without support. 

 

Evidence and arguments are needed to support theses.       

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Evaluating Persuasive Writing"      

"You can assess the validity of an argument and its conclusion by determining whether the author has (1) clearly defined key terms, (2) used information fairly, and (3) argued logically and not fallaciously."       

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Avoiding Logical Fallacies"    

Loaded terms

Against the person

Causation ­ correlation

False dichotomies

Hasty generalizations

False analogy

Begging the question

Non Sequitur

Oversimplification         

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q2   

"(2) To what extent do you agree with the author?" 

                 

Agreeing, disagreeing, or both, to some extent or another   

                 

Either Way  Begin with a summarization.

 

Express your position. 

 

Explain why you have that position. 

 

Argue for why having the position you have is the correct way to go.     

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Support    

"Any [position] that you express is effective to the extent you support it by supplying evidence from your reading (which should be properly cited), your observation, or your personal experience."     

                 

W/Out Support

Without that support, you merely have an opinion.    

                 

Reasons   

There are a number of reasons for agreeing or disagreeing.  

                 

Assumptions     

Good arguments that rest atop bad assumptions aren't that good.         

                 

         "How do you determine the validity of assumptions once you have identified them?  In the absence of more scientific criteria, you start by considering how well the author's assumptions stack up against your own experience, observations, reading, and valuesÐwhile remaining honestly aware of the limits of your own personal knowledge."   

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Critique    

Suppose you've found an underlying assumption that you object to.  How to critique and argument with a questionable assumption?     

                 

A critique is "a systematic evaluation." 

 

"Is the information accurate?"

 

"Is the information significant?"

 

"Has the author defined terms clearly?"

 

"Has the author used and interpreted information fairly?"

 

"Has the author argued logically?"