One cannot avoid thinking, sidestep decision making, nor elude the bombardment of poor logic and irrationality so abundant in society. It makes perfect sense to learn to become as clear a thinker and decision maker as possible. Schick and Vaughn, in their Critical Thinking masterpiece "How to Think About Weird Things" dive head first into the fundaments of rational thought, the aspects of human nature that produce irrationality, and the means to think as productively as possible. Ripe with examples from absurd lines of thinking to common complex fallacies, the book covers all pertinent aspects of critical thinking.
Put best in their own words on page 2, the authors state:
"You hear a lot of `whats', but seldom any good `whys'. You hear the beliefs, but seldom any solid reasons behind them - nothing substantial enough to indicate that these assertions are likely to be true. You may hear naiveté, passionate advocacy, fierce denunciation, one-sided sifting of evidence, defense of the party line, leaps of faith, jumps to false conclusions, plunges into wishful thinking, and courageous stands on the shaky ground of subjective certainty. But the good reasons are missing. Without good `whys', our beliefs are simply arbitrary, with no more claim to knowledge than the random choice of a playing card. Without good `whys' to guide us, our beliefs lose their value in a world where beliefs are already a dime a dozen."
While this thinking may not resonate with everyone, the reality is that it should. If society as a whole shifted to more rational thought and a consistent standard of scrutiny among all beliefs, there would be a lot less friction on this planet and a lot more level headed views. How to Think About Weird Things offers a comprehensive overview of rational thinking aimed at causing such a positive shift, and thus I recommend this book to any serious thinker.
- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 4 edition (August 5, 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 007287953X
- ISBN-13: 978-0072879537
- Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.7 x 9.3 inches
- Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
- Average Customer Review: 39 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#2,319,583 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2648 in Ethics
- #3734 in Ancient & Controversial Knowledge
- #1463 in Philosophy Criticism (Books)
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