The Critical Thinking Book

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The Critical Thinking Book Toolbox version 2.0

Canvas Software for (by Gary James Jason, through Broadview Press 2022)—Contents

To support my textbook, I have developed a considerable amount of support materials and software developed on the Canvas LMS. All of this support material (including the software) is available for any instructor adopting my text. For any such instructor, I will be happy to email a download of my Canvas sandbox containing all these materials. The Canvas IT elves tell me that this software is compatible with most other LMS programs, such as Blackboard. Once the instructor downloads it, they can modify and supplement the material as they see fit.

Let me list the materials that are currently in the Critical Thinking Canvas Sandbox.

  1. Student Study Guide: This is a 77-page booklet (in Word format) that the student downloads that includes all of the course bullet-point notes that I provide my students, along with the breakdowns of the course tests (two midterms and a final exam).
  2. The Critical Thinking Resource Center: This document (again, in Word format) lists the chapters in The Critical Thinking Book, and for various topics in those chapters, it has links to supporting and amplifying webpages, audio podcasts, and videos. There are 225 such links. For example: in Chapter 11, I discuss the 1984 McMartin Preschool criminal investigation as an egregious example of biased interrogation. (I have a link to a NY Times video “Retro Report” Anatomy of a Panic” discussing the case). Another example: I have a link to a website with dozens of talks by Elizabeth Loftus on the fallibility of memory. Yet another example: in Chapter 14 I talk about the infamous Wakefield study that purported to show that the MMR vaccine causes autism. I have a link to a Khan Academy video covering the history of that study.
  3. Tutorials: The Critical Thinking Book has numerous exercises in it supporting the topics covered. The answers to the even-numbered text problems are on the Broadview Press website. But besides these questions, I have constructed 37 auto-grading tutorials on Canvas to supplement various sections of the text. The online tutorials are made available for the students to take repeatedly throughout the entire semester, but their scores do not count towards their course grade. Each online tutorial has 15 problems. These tutorials include:
    • Tutorial 2.1—Identifying statements expressed by non-declarative sentences
    • Tutorial 2.2—Identifying simple and compound statements
    • Tutorial 3.1a—Distinguishing real from pseudo-questions
    • Tutorial 3.1b—Putting questions more clearly
    • Tutorial 3.1c—Identifying presuppositions of questions
    • Tutorial 3.2a—Identifying subjects, requests, and types of simple questions
    • Tutorial 3.2b—Identifying simple and compound questions
    • Tutorial 3.3—Identifying unresponsive answers
    • Tutorial 4.2—Identifying conclusions with rhetorical devices only
    • Tutorial 4.3—Identifying conclusions with rhetorical devices and expansion
    • Tutorial 4.4a—Identifying enthymemes
    • Tutorial 4.4b—Identifying conclusions
    • Tutorial 6.4a—Identifying question-begging language
    • Tutorial 6.4b—Identifying fallacies of faulty assumption
    • Tutorial 6.4c—Identifying ambiguous sentences
    • Tutorial 6.4d—Identifying fallacies of ambiguity
    • Tutorial 6.9—Review problems
    • Tutorial 8.2—Identifying fallacies of refusing to answer
    • Tutorial 8.3—Identifying fallacies of refusing to answer and irrelevant emotional appeals
    • Tutorial 8.4a—Identifying the real issue
    • Tutorial 8.4b—Identifying all the fallacies of relevance
    • Tutorial 8.4c—Identifying fallacies of faulty assumption, ambiguity and relevance
    • Tutorial 8.6—Review questions Chapters 1-8
    • Tutorial 11.8a—Identifying faulty appeals to authority
    • Tutorial 11.8b—Prima facie reasonable and prima facie fallacious appeals to authority
    • Tutorial 12.3a—Identifying faulty generalizations
    • Tutorial 12.3b—Prima facie reasonable vs. prima facie fallacious generalizations
    • Tutorial 12.6a—Identifying faulty instantiations
    • Tutorial 12.6b—Prima facie reasonable vs. prima facie fallacious instantiations
    • Tutorial 12.7—Distinguishing composition, division, faulty generalizations and faulty instantiation
    • Tutorial 13.1—Identifying analogical statements
    • Tutorial 13.3a—Identifying analogical arguments
    • Tutorial 13.3b—Identifying faulty analogies
    • Tutorial 13.3c—Prima facie reasonable vs. prima facie fallacious analogical arguments
    • Tutorial 13.7—Review questions from 1-13
    • Tutorial 14.7—Identifying faulty causal inference
    • Tutorial 14.9—Identifying faulty inductive arguments
    • Tutorial 14.10—Identifying the major fallacies discussed so far
    • Tutorial 17.5—Identifying irrational marketing
    • Tutorial 18.3—Identifying irrational propaganda
    • Tutorial 18.5—Review questions Chapters 1-18.
  4. Homework Sets: The online homework sets are defined to be taken only once, with the scores added together for a portion of the course grade. The homework sets are mainly 15 problems each, but a few have more. These homework sets include:
    • Homework 2.1—Identifying statements expresses by non-declarative sentences
    • Homework 2.2—Identifying simple and compound statements
    • Homework 3.1a—Distinguishing real from pseudo-questions
    • Homework 3.1b—Putting questions more clearly
    • Homework 3.1c—Identifying presuppositions of questions
    • Homework 3.2a—Identifying subjects, requests and types of simple question
    • Homework 3.2b—Identifying simple and compound questions
    • Homework 3.3—Identifying unresponsive answers
    • Homework 4.2—Identifying conclusions with rhetorical devices
    • Homework 4.3—Identifying conclusions with rhetorical devices and expansion
    • Homework 4.4a—Identifying enthymemes
    • Homework 4.4b—Identifying conclusions
    • Homework 6.4a—Identifying question-begging language
    • Homework 6.4b—Identifying fallacies of faulty assumption
    • Homework 6.4c—Identifying ambiguous sentences
    • Homework 6.4d—Identifying fallacies of ambiguity
    • Homework 6.9—Cumulative quiz on fallacies of faulty assumption and ambiguity
    • Homework 8.2—Fallacies of refusing to answer
    • Homework 8.3—Fallacies of refusing to answer and irrelevant emotional appeals
    • Homework 8.4a—Identifying the real issue
    • Homework 8.4b—Fallacies of relevance
    • Homework 8.4c—Fallacies of faulty assumption, ambiguity, and relevance
    • Homework 8.6—Review questions Chapters 1-8
    • Homework 11.8a—Identifying faulty appeals to authority
    • Homework 11.8b—Prima facie reasonable vs. prima facie fallacious appeals to authority
    • Homework 12.3a—Identifying faulty generalization
    • Homework 12.3b—Prima facie reasonable vs. prima facie fallacious generalization
    • Homework 12.6a—Identifying faulty instantiations
    • Homework 12.6b—Prima facie reasonable vs. prima facie fallacious instantiation
    • Homework 12.7—Distinguishing composition, division, faulty generalization, and faulty instantiation
    • Homework 13.1—Identifying analogical statements
    • Homework 13.3a—Identifying analogical arguments
    • Homework 13.3b—Identifying faulty analogies
    • Homework 13.3c—Identifying what weakens analogies
    • Homework 13.7—Review questions for Chapters 1-13
    • Homework 14.7—Identifying faulty causal inference
    • Homework 14.9—Identifying faulty inductive arguments
    • Homework 14.10—Identifying the major fallacies discussed so far
    • Homework 17.5—Identifying irrational marketing
    • Homework 18.3—Identifying irrational propaganda
    • Homework 18.5—Review questions for Chapters 1-18.
  5. Test Banks: To enable online midterms and final exams, I have developed 15 test banks. These include:
    • Test Bank #1—Identifying conclusions of arguments (30 questions)
    • Test Bank#2—Identifying enthymemes (25 questions)
    • Test Bank #3—Identifying presuppositions (20 questions)
    • Test Bank #4—Identifying unresponsive answers (20 questions)
    • Test Bank #5—Disambiguating ambiguous sentences (20 questions)
    • Test Bank #6—Identifying the Real Issue (10 questions)
    • Test Bank #7—Identifying fallacies covered in chapters 3-8 (70 questions)
    • Test Bank #8—Review questions chapters 1-8 (26 questions)
    • Test Bank #9—Identifying what weakens analogical arguments (15 questions)
    • Test Bank #10—Identifying fallacies chapters 9-13 (40 questions)
    • Test Bank #11—Review questions 9-13 (20 questions)
    • Test Bank #12—Identifying fallacies chapter 14 (22 questions)
    • Test Bank #13—Identifying deceptive marketing (21 questions)
    • Test Bank #14—Identifying deceptive rhetoric (20 questions)
    • Test Bank #15—Review questions all questions (53 questions)
  6. PowerPoint slides: The publisher has formulated PowerPoint slides for every chapter in the book. These slides are bundled together as a page file im the toolbox.

As I said above, any instructor who adopts the book is free to download the critical thinking sandbox, and use or modify anything the wish, whether or not they adopt my text. As it is, however, any instructor who covers the material I do will find that the tutorials, homework sets and test banks I have created sufficient to teach the course with no grading needed.

Gary James Jason
Department of Philosophy
California State University, Fullerton
PO Box 6868
800 N. State College Blvd
Fullerton, CA 92834-6868 (USA)
Email: gjason@fullerton.edu