Transcript 12 angry men and critical thinking

What is Critical thinking?
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Thinking actively and not passively
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Being an independent thinker
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Refusing to be blinded by prejudice
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Only accepting something as true when we
have good evidence for it
Withholding judgment if we can't be sure what
the evidence leads do (reasonable doubt)
12 angry men
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Two themes:
1) Telling good from bad arguments
2) avoiding prejudice
Key Terms
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Argument – a set of statements one of which is
a conclusion, the rest of which are premises
which support that conclusion
Bias/Prejudice – An irrational belief that is clung
to by the believer without good evidence, and
often believed even when there is good
evidence against it!
What an Argument is not
Not simply a
disagreement
Not a shouting match
Not a quarrel
Arguments?
Monty Python: Argument Clinic
Monty Python: She's a witch
Arguments in 12 angry men
P1: The Knife
P1:
P2: The Old Man
P2:
P3: The weak alibi
P3:
P4: Criminal record
P4:
P5: Conflict with Father
P5:
P6: Woman across the street
P6:
P7: He's one of “them”
P7:
P8: Nobody proved he did'nt
do it
-------------------------------------C: He is guilty
P8:
---------------------------------------C: There is reasonable doubt
Problems with eyewitness testimony
The Case of Ronald Cotton Part 1
Bias in 12 angry men
Socrates
Founder of Philosophy
Taught that the
“unexamined life is not
worth living.”
Thought we should stop
thinking the way
society tells us to and
start thinking for
ourselves.
Socrates and Socratic Method
The Socratic Method
Step 1: Ask a question regarding some “common
sense belief”
Step 2: Find an exception to this belief
Step 3: Realize that the exception proves that the
belief is false or at least incomplete
Step 4: Try to nuance the initial belief to take the
exception into account
Step 5: Do this for as long as possible