Unit 2 critical thinking

1、Unit 2 Critical Thinking 批判性思维 思辨Keynote Address  July 23, 2007By Richard Paul, Director of Research and Professional Development at the Center for Critical Thinking,Chair of the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking The 27th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking J

2、uly 23 26, 2007Berkeley, CAIn college education and in daily life, critical thinking is of vital importance. Richard Paul, in the following section, gives an enlightening discussion of the issue.What is critical thinking? There are many ways to define it. It is a system for opening every existi

3、ng system. It opens up business, chemistry, and sports like tennis and basketball. It opens up professional practice. It opens up ethnics and enables us to see through ideology. It enables us to put things into intellectual perspective它让我们以知识的眼光看待事物. A system that opens up systems is one way to thin

4、k of critical thinking.开发各种系统的系统，这是看待批判性思维的一种方式。Here is the first definition of critical thinking. Or, critical thinking is thinking that analyzes thought分析思想, that assesses thought评估思想, and that transforms thought for the better升华思想的思维. Here is the second definition of critical thinking.Theres a th

5、ird way to talk about critical thinking overlapping and related to the other two. Its thinking about thinking while thinking in order to think better.Here is the third definition of critical thinking.Everyone thinks. We have no choice about that. But, not everybody thinks about their think

6、ing. And not everyone who thinks about their thinking thinks about it well. You can worry about your thinking. You can think badly of your thinking. You can be embarrassed by your thinking. You can focus on it in a dysfunctional way 你可以以功能失调的方式关注你的思维 that is not critical thinking. This morning,

7、 lets think about it as a way of thinking that enables a thinker to think regularly at a higher level than most people are capable of thinking. In other words, critical thinking, as I am conceiving it, transforms thinking in two directions把思维导致两个方向. You think more systematically as a result. And you

8、 think more comprehensively as a result. And in thinking more comprehensively, you think at a higher level. Not because you are at a higher level as a person, but because you are able to put thinking into the background and see it = thinking in a larger, more comprehensive framework. For example, we

9、 need to discover the extent to which our thinking is bound by a culture受文化的约束. Cultures are good in many ways. But, to the extent that they lock us in to one way使我们局限于某一视角 of looking at the world, we need to transcend them我们需要超越文化. We need to think beyond them. Why is this important? Its impor

10、tant because we, as creatures, are deeply determined深深地受到（我们思维方式）的左右 in our life, and in our behavior, and in our character, and in other ways are determined by our thinking. We have no choice but to be governed by thought. The question is, do we govern the thought that governs us我们控制了那些控制我们的思想

11、了吗?  Ideas control us.观念控制着我们 Do we control them? Ideas control our thinking. So in order to think critically, we need to get rid of ideas. Reversing the process so that were in the drivers seat 将这个过程倒过来，这样我们就坐在驾驶座上 so that were doing the thinking we need to do as well as we can is what cr

12、itical thinking is about. Our future as a species is dependent on whether we can develop the wherewithal方法 to raise our collective thinking激发我们的集体思维 so as to produce positive changes in societies across the world.The task before us collectively is a Herculean hkjulin大力神的，力大无比的，费力的one. The task of de

13、veloping critical societies. The idea of a critical society dates back many hundred years, but it was very pointedly called for明确提出 in 1906, by William Graham Sumner, the great anthropologist, who emphasized in his seminal开创性的，种子的 book, "Folkways,"民俗论 that if a critical society existed tha

14、t is, a society in which critical thinking was a major social value if such a society were to emerge, it would transform every dimension of life and practice. We are far from such a society, but we need to think about it. It needs to be part of our vision. The structure of this conference suggests s

15、ome of the most important dimensions of this vision.If you think about the task of developing critical thinking, do not think that task is going to be accomplished easily without facing barriers to critical thought, amongst which are the following. Human egocentricity, our tendency to think with our

16、selves at the center of the world. Sociocentricity, our tendency to think within the confines of our social groups. Self-delusion, our tendency to create pictures of the world that deceive us and others. Narrow-mindedness, wherein we think of ourselves as broad, deep, and in touch with reality when,

17、 if only we understood, we would see ourselves as narrow and limited. Or, think of the barrier of fear. Fear undermines thinking, fear drives us to the lowest levels of thought, fear makes us defensive. It makes us little and petty. And then there is human insecurity. And, then  human habits, o

18、ur tendencies to go through the same old patterns of thought and behavior and be dominated by them; our inability to target our negative habits and replace them with positive habits. Then there is routine: Ordinary routine. When you go back to your home environment, ordinary routine will c

19、lick in and many of you will find that the things you intended to do, the changes you intended to make, somehow are swallowed up in the ordinary routine of things. And connected to routine there is a huge obstacle: bureaucracy. We have created all kinds of levels of monitoring and testing and contro

20、lling and limiting and sanctioning, ordering, defining our behavior and our thoughts. And, very often the bureaucrat forgets the purpose for which the institution exists. Then for us who are teaching, student resistance to critical thinking is an obstacle, because critical thinking asks those studen

21、ts to learn in a new way. And it is a way that is not comfortable to most of them. Our thinking is limited by mistaken notions, by ignorance, by our limited knowledge, and by stubbornness, our activated ignorance.  And finally, our resistance to doing the intellectual work necessary to critical

22、 thinking.We need hundreds of millions of people around the world who have learned to take and internalize the foundations of critical thought. This can be done only person-by-person through a process, which we call intellectual work. Think of the "Elements of Thought:"  Each ele

23、ment plays a crucial role in thought. What is our purpose? What questions are we raising? What information are we using? What assumptions are we making? What data are we gathering? What data do we not have? Given the data that we have, what is it telling us? And, when we come to conclusions about th

24、e data, what do those conclusions imply? Within what point of view are we thinking? Do we need to consider another point of view? Where can we get access to such points of view? Questions like this are questions that embody the elements in very important ways. They are crucial questions. But, a

25、re we in the habit of asking them? There's a wonderful book on historical thinking by Carr. The title of the book is "What is History?" This book was written I think in the later '30s, or possibly '40s, of the last century and, in it, Carr argues that there is no long

26、er such a thing as "our history." There are only "histories." To construct a history is to tell a story about the past, but, as Carr reminds us, there are infinite numbers of stories that could be told. Which story is important?  The construction of history require

27、s value judgments. It requires that we consider whose story needs to be told. And, when that story is told we need to critically consider what it is telling us; what is it teaching us. In which case, then, if we understood Carr, we would realize that we are all historical thinkers. We'

28、re not all historians, but we all have a history. And the history can dominate us, or we can use it to our advantage. Our thinking produces it.Then what standards do you use to assess your thinking and the thinking of others?  Now Most will say, I don't know what you're talking about. W

29、hat do you mean standards of assessment in thinking? Not many people respond with an answer like: “I use the standards of clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic and fairness.” Critical thinking is not one isolated skill. It is not even a random list of skills. It's a

30、n orchestrated way of thinking that enables you to decompose your thinking at any moment. It encompasses basic structures integrated together into a whole. It assess thinking for its quality, for its clarity, for its accuracy, for its precision, for its relevance. It raises thinking t

31、hereby to a higher quality. It makes it better. Critical thinking is a way of teaching, a way of learning, a way of being in the world in which the thinker self-monitors and self-assesses. The American Medical Association did a large study that was published four years ago on unnecessary d

32、eaths due to the failure of medical practitioners to do what is called for in standard practice. How many Americans died unnecessarily because their medical practitioners  their doctors and nurses  did the wrong thing and people died as a result? According to the American Medical

33、 Association, somewhere around 50,000 every year. Why are so many people dying through malpractice? They're dying because of the way we have educated medical practitioners. They are not learning to think critically about what they're doing. They are not learning to monitor their be

34、havior accordingly. They are failing to follow basic good practice. They are oversimplifying, jumping to conclusions, making faulty inferences, misconceptualizing, etc. Some diagnosis is put into the record and then a patient is trapped by anyone who subsequently examines them because &quo

35、t;They have a diagnosis!"   But, doctors are just one; the medical field is just one area.  I mean my remarks to apply to every single area. Let's take one further example.We live increasingly in a world of accelerated change. Things are not only changing, they're changin

36、g faster and faster and faster. And not only is the world a world of accelerated change, it's a world of intensifying complexity, and of  increasing danger. If our students are not learning to think critically, how are they going to know how to change their thinking in keeping with the

37、 changes of the world? Thus, critical thinking requires you to work on your thinking  continually,  to make your thinking the object of thought; to make your behavior the object of your thinking; to make your beliefs the object of your thinking.Keys A. dB. 15 b d d b d610 d b d a dC.

38、15 a b a d d610 c a a c cReading SkillsDeciding with Synonyms and AbtonymsPractice 1. Finding synonyms and antonyms. Check your dictionary. Find at least two synonyms and two antonyms for each word. WordSynonymsAntonyms 1. languid (weary exhausted )( energetic lively )2. disparate (separate dissimil

39、ar )( linked similar )3. tacit ( unsaid implicit )( stated explicit )4. gaunt( thin lean )( fat obese )5. faulty(flawed defective )( perfect true )6. legal (lawful authorized )(illegal unlawful )7. alacrity(willingness quickness )(unwillingness slow )8. brief(momentary short )( long eternal )9. seri

40、ous( solemn grave )(light insignificant )10. noisy( loud blatant )( quiet silent )11. blame( censure accuse )(praise commend )12. incessant (ceaseless constant )(sporadic periodic )2. Here are some words to learn synonyms and antonyms for. They will give you a core you can add to as you read. Use th

41、e dictionary to find synonyms and antonyms for each word.abstruse auspicious authentic banal bountiful concur contiguous copious curtail discernible efficacious elucidate equivocal erudite facetious finite glib gullible hinder incessant inimical laconic lucid meticulous momentous officious paucity p

42、ervade plausible pragmatic prolific sagacious salient tenacious unwitting wary zealous Fast ReadingPassage One    No one thought of anything even a little bit like the zipper until Whitecomb L. Judson came along. There were buttons and button-holes, hooks and eyes, laces and buckles.

43、They all took an irritatingly long time to do up, especially when men wore high-laced boots and fashionable ladies squeezed themselves into long corsets.     Whitecomb L. Judson's slide-fastener was an out-of-the-blue invention, and no one knows what gave him the idea. No one even

44、 knows much about him, except that he was a mechanical engineer living in Chicago and that he patented other inventions, to do with a street railway system and motor-cars.     Judson invented the first zipper (called, at the time, a Clasp Locker or Unlocker) in 1891. This ingenious li

45、ttle device looks so simple, and the principle behind it is simple: one row of hooks and eyes slotting neatly into another row by means of a tab. Yet it took twenty-two years, many improvements and another inventor to make the zipper really practical.     (164 words)    

46、;1. Before Judson invented the zipper, people found buttoning clothes to be _.( B )    (a) interesting    (b) burdensome    (c) easy    (d) comfortable 2. When Judson's invention first appeared, people _.( B ) (a) had expected it for a long time (b) were v

47、ery much surprised (c) didn't understand it (d) were indifferent to it3. The first zipper was invented in _.( C ) (a) the end of the 18th century (b) the beginning of the 19th century (c) the end of the 19th century (d) the beginning of the 20th century 4.The word "ingenious" means _.(

48、 A ) (a) clever (b) admirable (c) important (d) useful 5. A good title for the above passage is _. ( D ) (a) Judson the Inventor (b) How the Zipper Works (c) The Principle of the Zipper (d) The Invention of the Zipper Passage Two    The inventor of spectacles probably lived in the tow

49、n of Pisa, Italy, around 1286, and was almost certainly a craftsman working in glass. But nobody knows his name. We only know this much about him because Friar Giordane preached a sermon one Wednesday morning in February 1306 at a church in Florence. "It is not yet twenty years since there was

50、found the art of making eye-glasses which make for good vision," said the Friar. "One of the best arts and most necessary that the world has. So short a time is it since there was invented a new art that never existed. I have seen the man who first invented and created it, and I have talke

51、d to him." We know what Friar Giordane said because admirers copied his sermons down as he gave them.     The inventor of spectacles apparently kept the method of making them to himself. Perhaps he thought this was the best way of getting money from his invention. But the idea so

52、on got around. As early as 1300, craftsmen in Venice, the center of Europes glass industry, were making the new "disks for the eyes". Spectacles at first were only shaped for far-sighted people. Concave lenses, for short-sighted people, were not developed until the late fifteenth century.

53、    Spectacles allowed people to go on reading and studying long after bad eyesight would normally have forced them to give up. They were like a new pair of eyes. The inventor of such a valuable thing should be honored, everyone thought. But for centuries no one had any idea who the i

54、nventor really was. So all kinds of candidates were put forward: Dutch, English, German, Italians from rival cities. A fake memorial was erected last century in a church in Florence to honor a man as the true inventor of spectacles but he never even existed!     (308 words)  

55、0; 6. The invention of spectacles appeared in the _ century in Europe. ( B ) (a) 12th (b) 13th (c) 14th (d) 15th 7. The first record of the spectacles is to be found in _. ( B ) (a) newspapers (b) church sermons (c) trade reports (d) praises of Jordan 8. The first spectacles were made for _. ( B ) (

56、a) any one who had an eye trouble (b) the far-sighted (c) the short-sighted (d) both the far-sighted and the short-sighted 9. Which of the following is true? ( D ) (a) The inventor made known his method of making spectacles.(b) Florence was the center of Europes glass industry in the 14th century. (

57、c) In the 14th century short-sighted people could read books with the help of spectacles. (d) Early craftsmen used lenses for far-sighted people. 10. The final paragraph discusses _. ( D ) (a) the function of spectacles (b) the fake memorial (c) the invention of spectacles (d) the identity of the in

58、ventor   Passage Three    Europeans have been using the wheelbarrow for about eight hundred years. But the Chinese invented it at least ten centuries before that. Ancient Chinese gave the wheelbarrow nice names Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse. "In the time taken by a man (with a

59、 similar burden) to go six feet, the Wooden Ox could get twenty feet," wrote an admiring historian in AD 430. "It could carry the food supply (of one man) for a whole year, and yet after twenty miles the porter would not feel tired."     A famous general called Chuke Liang developed wheelbarrows two hundred years before this historian was writing, to help carry supplies for his army. But, very recently, pictures have been discovered on ancient tombs, and bricks, of even earlier wheelbarrows. So perhaps they were invented in the first century AD.