Unit-2-critical-thinking.doc

Unit 2 Critical Thinking
批判性思维
思辨
Keynote Address — July 23, 2007
By 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 — July 23— 26, 2007
Berkeley, CA
In 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 existing 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它让我们以知识得眼光瞧待事物、 A system that opens up systems is one way to think of critical thinking、开发各种系统得系统,这就是瞧待批判性思维得一种方式。
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升华思想得思维、
Here is the second definition of critical thinking、
There’s a third way to talk about critical thinking overlapping and related to the other two、 It’s 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 thinking、 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 您可以以功能失调得方式关注您得思维— that is not critical thinking、
This morning, let’s 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 think more prehensively as a result、 And in thinking more prehensively, 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 prehensive framework、
For example, we need to discover the extent to which our thinking is bound by a culture受文化得约束、 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? It’s important because we, as creatures, are deeply determined深深地受到(我们思维方式)得左右 — 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得思想了吗?  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 we’re in the driver’s seat 将这个过程倒过来,这样我们就坐在驾驶座上— so that we’re doing the thinking we need to do as well as we can – is what critical thinking is about、 Our future as a species is dependent on whether we can develop the wherewithal方法 to raise our collective thinking激发我们得集体思维 so as to produce positive changes in societies across the world、
The task before us collectively is a Herculean [ˌhɜːkjuˈliːən]大力神得,力大无比得,费力得one、 The task of developing 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开创性得,种子得 book, "Folkways,"《民俗论》 that if a critical society existed – that 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 some 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 acplished easily without facing barriers to critical thought, amongst which are the following、 Human egocentricity, our tendency to think with ourselves at the center of the world、 Sociocentricity, our tendency to think within the confines of our social groups、 Selfdelusion, our tendency to create pictures of the world that deceive us and others、 Narrowmindedness, wherein we think of ourselves as broad, deep, and in touch with reality when, 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, our 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 click 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 controlling 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 students to learn in a new way、 And it is a way that is not fortable 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 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 personbyperson through a process, which we call intellectual work、 Think of the "Elements of Thought:"  Each element 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 e to conclusions about the 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, are 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 longer 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 requires 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'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、 What 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 an orchestrated way of thinking that enables you to depose your thinking at any moment、 It enpasses 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 thereby 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 selfmonitors and selfassesses、
The American Medical Association did a large study that was published four years ago on unnecessary deaths 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 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 behavior 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 "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 changing faster and faster and faster、 And not only is the world a world of accelerated change, it's a world of intensifying plexity, 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 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. d
B. 1~5 b d d b d
6~10 d b d a d
C. 1~5 a b a d d
6~10 c a a c c
Reading Skills
Deciding with Synonyms and Abtonyms
Practice
1、 Finding synonyms and antonyms、 Check your dictionary、 Find at least two synonyms and two antonyms for each word、

Word
Synonyms
Antonyms
1、 languid

(weary exhausted )

( energetic lively )
2、 disparate

(separate dissimilar )

( 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、 serious

( solemn grave )

(light insignificant )
10、 noisy

( loud blatant )

( quiet silent )
11、 blame

( censure accuse )

(praise mend )
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 the 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
pervade
plausible
pragmatic
prolific
sagacious
salient
tenacious
unwitting
wary
zealous

Fast Reading
Passage One
    No one thought of anything even a little bit like the zipper until Whiteb L、 Judson came along、 There were buttons and buttonholes, hooks and eyes, laces and buckles、 They all took an irritatingly long time to do up, especially when men wore highlaced boots and fashionable ladies squeezed themselves into long corsets、
    Whiteb L、 Judson's slidefastener was an outoftheblue invention, and no one knows what gave him the idea、 No one even 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 motorcars、
    Judson invented the first zipper (called, at the time, a Clasp Locker or Unlocker) in 1891、 This ingenious little 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 twentytwo years, many improvements and another inventor to make the zipper really practical、
    (164 words)

   1、 Before Judson invented the zipper, people found buttoning clothes to be ________、( B )
   (a) interesting
   (b) burdensome
   (c) easy
   (d) fortable
2、 When Judson's invention first appeared, people ________、( B )
(a) had expected it for a long time
(b) were very much surprised
(c) didn't understand it
(d) were indifferent to it
3、 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 ________、( 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 town 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 found the art of making eyeglasses 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 talked to him、" We know what Friar Giordane said because admirers copied his sermons down as he gave them、