Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (8th Edition) [Paperback]

M. Neil Browne (Author), Stuart M. Keeley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0132203049 | ISBN-13: 978-0132203043 | Edition: 8

The habits and attitudes associated with critical thinking are transferable to consumer, medical, legal, and general ethical choices. When our surgeon says surgery is needed, it can be life sustaining to seek answers to the critical questions encouraged in Asking the Right Questions This popular book helps bridge the gap between simply memorizing or blindly accepting information, and the greater challenge of critical analysing the things we are told and read. It gives strategies for responding to alternative points of view and will help readers develop a solid foundation for making personal choices about what to accept and what to reject.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This highly popular text helps students to bridge the gap between simply memorizing or blindly accepting information and the greater challenge of critical analysis and synthesis.  It teaches them to respond to alternative points of view and develop a solid foundation for making personal choices about what to accept and what to reject.

 

While the structure  of this new edition remains the same, for the sake of currency and relevance about two-thirds of the practice passages are new, as well as many of the longer illustrations and the final critical thinking case.  Also, this eighth edition  has been revised to emphasize the positive value of critical thinking as a means to autonomy, curiousity, reasonableness, openness, and better decisions.

About the Author

Neil Browne lectures at bowling Green State University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 8 edition (February 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0132203049
• ISBN-13: 978-0132203043
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Exercise & Fitness > Alexander Technique

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A balanced and informative guide, August 20, 2006

By 

David M. Pennington (Parker, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (8th Edition) (Paperback)

I found Asking the Right Questions (ARQ) to be a very balanced and thorough approach to critical thinking. I am an electrical engineer by profession... I am well-regarded by my peers as an careful thinker; however, I have found myself frustrated at times when discussing controversial issues with friends... some lines of thought don't ring true, but are nonetheless hard to refute. After reading ARQ, I found that these dilemmas are frequently either the result of not agreeing on the definitions of ambiguous terms (e.g. oppression, sexism, racism) or on some logical fallacy that was used. This has made a quite difference in my ability to discern the issues at hand.

ARQ uses a systematic list of questions to review the proposed thesis. These questions are designed to help you understand their conclusion, and evaluate their supporting evidence. Throughout the book, you are encouraged to set your own biases aside in favor of rationally evaluating the evidence. Furthermore, you receive some brief instruction on typical logical fallicies. In particular, Ad hominem attacks (i.e. attacks on the character of participants) are addressed; however, blatant character references are just beginning of an ad-hominem attack. Many times discussions get sidetracked by implicit accusations about a person's character. As an example, this statement (greatly simplified here) was used on me in the past, "you couldn't possibly be able to think critically, because your spiritual convictions make you biased." Until I read ARQ, I had a hard time realizing that this is actually a diversionary tactic used to sidetrack the discussion. If I accept this "evidence", the issue now becomes my credibility, instead of discussing my actual position on the issue.

Another good point the authors make is that that the mere existence of a logical fallicy should be not used as a means to halt discussion.

Finally, this book doesn't try to give you the "right answers" to controversial issues. They teach you how to find those answers on your own. In many cases, there are no right or wrong answers... simply a difference in the core values of the individuals.

I have been very pleased with the thoughtful approach that ARQ uses. I believe that every high-school and college student should be required to read it.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good questions. Very helpful indeed., April 3, 2007

By 

ServantofGod - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (8th Edition) (Paperback)

I strongly agree with the author on pg 13, that "by the end of the book, you should know when and how to ask these questions productively (elaborated through individual chapters):-

1. What are the issues and the concclusions?
2. What are the ressons?
3. Which words or phrases are ambiguous?
4. What are the value conflicts and assumptions?
5. What are the descriptive assumptions?
6. Are there any fallacies in the reasoning?
7. How good is the evidence?
8. Are there rival causes?
9. Are the statistics deceptive?
10. What significant information is omitted?
11. What reasonable conclusions are possible?

Of course, a compilation of good questions doesnt qualify it to be a good book. Indeed, the samples and stories well illustrate the principles and concepts behind. The discussions on various fallacies are marvelous, including:-

Ad hominem: An attack, or an insult, on the person, rather than directly addressing the person's reasons.
Slipperly Slope: Making the assumption that a proposed step will set off an uncontrollable chain of undesirable events, when procedures exist to prevent such a chain of events.
Hasty Generalization: A person draws a conclusion about a large group of based on experience with only a few members of the group.
Causal Oversimplification: Explaining an event by relying on causal factors that are insufficient to account for the event or by overemphasizing the role of one or more of these factors.
Confusion of Cause and Effect: Confusing the cause with the effect of an event or failing to recognise that the two events may be influencing each other.
Neglect of a common cause: Failure to recognize that two events may be related because of the effects of a common third factor.
Post hoc: Assuming that a particular event, B, is caused by another event, A, simply because B follows A in time.
............

In short, an excellent food for thought. Highly recommended!

p.s. I like the following story on pg 137 the most.

"After carefully conditioning a flea to jump out of a box following the presentation of a loud noise, the researcher removed the first pair of legs to see what effect this had. Observing that the flea was still able to perform his task, the scientist removed the second pair of legs. Once again noting no difference in performance, the researcher removed the final pair of legs and found that the jumping behaviour no longer occurred. Thus, the investigator wrote in his notebook, "When all the legs of a flea have been removed, it will no longer be able to hear."

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking, March 8, 2007

By 

B Gravlee (Lilburn, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (8th Edition) (Paperback)

An excellent book on the subject of reflective thought and criticism. Moreover, this book was more concise and illustrative than others I have read on the subject. This book includes many helpful case examples of short one and two paragraph essays which are analyzed critically for assumptions and fallacies in reasoning. If you needed to buy (and keep) just one book on the subject of critical thinking - this one should be it.