00:00:00
is there a problem here identifying and
00:00:03
defining
00:00:04
problems at this point you've learned a
00:00:07
lot about the process of critical
00:00:08
thinking you've learned how to identify
00:00:10
arguments and their parts how to
00:00:13
evaluate both the parts and the whole
00:00:15
argument and what common mistakes you
00:00:18
need to be aware of when evaluating
00:00:20
arguments made by others or crafting
00:00:22
your own argument now it's time to think
00:00:25
about how to apply critical thinking
00:00:28
specifically you'll learn how to apply
00:00:30
critical thinking in the real world your
00:00:32
education in your personal life and the
00:00:35
professional realm remember the purpose
00:00:38
of critical thinking is to apply reason
00:00:41
in order to figure out what you should
00:00:43
believe and therefore what you should do
00:00:46
using your critical thinking skills is
00:00:48
all about being able to decide where you
00:00:51
stand on a given issue and then based on
00:00:54
that position taking or not taking
00:00:56
certain
00:00:58
action when presented with a choice or
00:01:01
problem why not just make a decision and
00:01:03
run with it why bother to take the time
00:01:05
to think critically in this set of
00:01:08
episodes you're going to learn more
00:01:09
about the problems and issues people
00:01:11
face in personal social economic
00:01:14
political and professional settings
00:01:17
you'll need to consider the diverse
00:01:19
complex and challenging issues people
00:01:21
face as well as the many diverse
00:01:23
opinions and perspectives people have on
00:01:25
what to do about those issues in order
00:01:28
to deal with this complexity and
00:01:30
diversity we'll show you a reliable way
00:01:32
to evaluate issues fully assess the
00:01:35
alternative Solutions and make
00:01:38
decisions you can apply critical
00:01:40
thinking to real world issues by taking
00:01:42
the steps that move you from an issue or
00:01:45
problem to an action generally there are
00:01:49
five key steps in this process the
00:01:51
process of problem
00:01:53
solving one specify or identify the
00:01:56
problem in critical thinking terms this
00:01:59
would be stating the issue that an
00:02:00
argument is meant to address two analyze
00:02:04
the problem this step involves Gathering
00:02:07
knowledge about the issue at hand you
00:02:09
can think of it as looking for premises
00:02:11
that tell you something about the
00:02:13
problem three formulate possible
00:02:16
solutions craft an argument use the
00:02:19
premises you discovered in your analysis
00:02:21
of the issue to build an argument note
00:02:24
that at this stage you may have come up
00:02:26
with multiple conclusions or Solutions
00:02:28
based on different ways of combining or
00:02:30
applying the
00:02:32
premises four evaluate the possible
00:02:35
solutions here you're looking at each
00:02:38
argument to figure out how strong or
00:02:40
weak it is a good way to do this is by
00:02:42
examining the premises you came up with
00:02:45
for their truth or acceptability
00:02:47
relevance and
00:02:49
sufficiency five choose a solution
00:02:52
decide which argument is the strongest
00:02:54
based on your evaluation and use that
00:02:57
argument as a basis for taking action
00:03:02
the previous modules have given you the
00:03:04
skills needed to engage in analysis
00:03:06
evaluation and selection in this episode
00:03:10
you will learn more about the first step
00:03:12
figuring out what issues actually need
00:03:15
to be dealt with before we can move on
00:03:17
to all those other steps we need to
00:03:19
believe that there is a problem in the
00:03:21
first place and we need to clearly and
00:03:24
directly State what that problem
00:03:27
is deciding when there's a problem may
00:03:30
seem obvious or easy doesn't everyone
00:03:32
know whether something is a problem not
00:03:34
always disagreements about whether there
00:03:37
is a problem that needs to be addressed
00:03:39
occur all the time imagine you realize
00:03:42
you have three midterm exams all on the
00:03:45
same day now most students would look at
00:03:48
this as a problem how could I possibly
00:03:50
study and be prepared for all three
00:03:52
exams at
00:03:54
once thinking that this is a serious
00:03:57
issue that does need to be addressed
00:03:59
your approach one of your professors and
00:04:01
say I have a huge problem your exam is
00:04:04
the same day as the exams for two of my
00:04:07
other classes I really need to postpone
00:04:09
your exam until the next week this
00:04:12
problem must be dealt with your
00:04:15
professor might say well I'm sure it
00:04:18
will be really tough to take the three
00:04:19
exams on the same day but this is
00:04:21
college and that's just the way things
00:04:23
are I don't see why I need to change
00:04:26
anything for you the point is is is that
00:04:30
what one person views as a problem
00:04:32
another person simply sees as a fact of
00:04:35
life people tend to jump to finding
00:04:37
Solutions without taking the time to
00:04:40
fully address the starting point the
00:04:42
problem that they're trying to solve
00:04:44
there are two important issues when it
00:04:46
comes to understanding the starting
00:04:47
point defining the problem first as in
00:04:50
the midterm example people can disagree
00:04:53
over whether a problem actually exists
00:04:55
before you can argue about how to solve
00:04:57
a particular problem you first need to
00:05:00
convince yourself about why you think
00:05:02
the issue you've brought up needs to be
00:05:04
solved second people often fail to
00:05:07
define the problem clearly if the
00:05:09
problem isn't clearly defined then a
00:05:11
group of people may think that they're
00:05:13
addressing the same issue when in
00:05:15
reality each person has a different view
00:05:17
of what the group is talking about you
00:05:20
learned about the importance of using
00:05:21
clear and precise language and arguments
00:05:23
apply the same rules to how you describe
00:05:26
the problem
00:05:27
itself so what is a problem and how do
00:05:30
we know when we have one one way to
00:05:32
think about it is to see a problem as
00:05:34
the difference between what is and what
00:05:36
could or should be that is most people
00:05:39
see something as a problem when they
00:05:41
look at the way the world is and think
00:05:44
gee things really should be different
00:05:47
one important reason for disagreement
00:05:49
over problems is that people have
00:05:51
different views on what things should be
00:05:53
like you think you should not have to
00:05:56
have three exams on one day the way the
00:05:59
world is is wrong on the other hand your
00:06:03
professor thinks that it's simply a fact
00:06:05
of life in college the way the world is
00:06:08
seems just fine to him once you've
00:06:11
concluded that you do have a problem
00:06:13
then you must clearly Define it poorly
00:06:16
defined problems like poorly articulated
00:06:18
arguments leave way too much room for
00:06:21
everyone to hear what they want to hear
00:06:23
and interpret the problem however they
00:06:25
want to consider for example if a person
00:06:29
said we have a problem with guns in this
00:06:31
country what does that really mean can
00:06:34
you tell with certainty what the problem
00:06:37
actually is one person might interpret
00:06:40
that as meaning that there are too many
00:06:41
guns overall someone else might think it
00:06:44
speaks to illegal gun ownership and yet
00:06:47
another might assume the speaker is
00:06:48
talking about gun violence a problem
00:06:52
with guns is not really giving a clear
00:06:55
definition of a problem it doesn't
00:06:57
specifically say anything about the way
00:06:59
things are compared with a specific idea
00:07:02
of the way things should be a clearer
00:07:06
problem identification might be if that
00:07:08
person said we have a problem in this
00:07:10
country there are too many people killed
00:07:13
by guns no one should have to worry
00:07:15
about being shot to death from that
00:07:17
statement you can break down the
00:07:19
assessment of how things are many people
00:07:21
being killed versus how things should be
00:07:24
no one should be killed by guns then the
00:07:27
next steps in problem solving can be
00:07:29
undertaken
00:07:30
analyze the problem formulate and
00:07:32
evaluate possible solutions and choose
00:07:34
one or more actions as you can see it is
00:07:37
important to make sure you pay close
00:07:39
attention to the starting point for
00:07:40
problem solving defining the issue or
00:07:43
problem you need to address if you can't
00:07:46
clearly identify the problem then it
00:07:48
will be impossible to fairly evaluate
00:07:50
the argument and if you do not take the
00:07:52
time to explain the problem and why it's
00:07:55
viewed as a problem to begin with you
00:07:57
will likely have a hard time convincing
00:07:58
anyone to go along with your conclusion
00:08:01
why Implement a solution for a problem
00:08:03
that doesn't exist it is important to
00:08:06
apply critical thinking skills to
00:08:08
evaluating the way things are in order
00:08:11
to determine whether a problem exists
00:08:13
and what the specific nature of that
00:08:15
problem is
