Thinking Socratically, 3rd edition

Critical Thinking Skills in Everyday Context — The Socrates Model

Thinking Socratically is a treatment of critical thinking, rather than an informal logic textbook. It emphasizes a philosophical reflection on real issues from everyday life, in order to teach students the skills of critical thinking in a commonplace context that is easy to understand and certain to be remembered.

Teaching and Learning Experience

Improve Critical Thinking - Thinking Socratically contextualizes the presentation of critical thinking topics through easy-to-understand information, and shows, rather than just tells, students how to be critical thinkers by encouraging them to follow Socrates as a model.

Engage Students — Thinking Socratically exposes students to a variety of readings listed after expository material, Venn diagrams, chapter-end summaries, etc. — in order to outline important concepts and learning tools needed for useful reasoning.

Support Instructors - Teaching your course just got easier!  You can create a Customized Text or use our Instructor’s Manual, or PowerPoint Presentation Slides.  Plus, Thinking Socratically is organized around topics for ease of assignments, and uses standard terminology to eliminate student confusion.

CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS IN EVERYDAY CONTEXT – THE SOCRATES MODEL

• Teachable units: Organizes topics for ease of assignments. Makes it easy for instructors to use the text as a basis for their syllabus. Enables students to grasp concepts in discrete units. (ex. p. 23)
• Expanded list of readings: Students spend more time with the 'fun' material that provides the 'hooks' for the concepts. (ex. p. 273)
• Chapter-end summaries: Outlines the important concepts and learning goals of each chapter, so that students can check their understanding of material before moving on. (ex. p. 215)

IMPROVE CRITICAL THINKING

• Thinking Socratically contextualizes the presentation of critical thinking topics by including readings taken from sources that include newspapers, literature, magazines, and philosophy. Based on this approach, students see that critical thinking is not an abstract academic exercise, but something that applies to all aspects of everyday life. (ex. p. 35)
• Thinking Socratically provides students with a deeper understanding of various critical thinking skills through easy-to-understand information on background knowledge, the Web of belief, the limits of evidence, the nature of proof, and dogmatism and relativism. (ex. p. 66)
• Thinking Socratically shows,rather than just tells, students how to be critical thinkers, and encourages them to follow modeling - with Socrates as the key model. (ex. p. 3)
• Thinking Socratically broadens students' understanding of how humans know, provides them with insight, and encourages their reflection via the integration of philosophical puzzles of rationality. (ex. p. 43)
• Thinking Socratically’s emphasis on the importance of rationality, as well as the limits of rational thought,helps students appreciate diverse ways of thinking and reasoning, and to have increased confidence in their own reasoning ability. (ex. p. 28)
• Thinking Socratically explores all forms of good reasoning (from moral to scientific) so that students can see their interconnection, and helps distinguish between science and pseudoscience. (ex. p. 281)

ENGAGE STUDENTS

• Through an expanded list of readings, students spend more time with the 'fun' material that provides the 'hooks' for the concepts
• The placement of readings after expository material helps students to see the connections between concepts more clearly. (ex. p. 285)
• Students are exposed to Venn diagrams as a tool for useful reasoning. (ex. p. 117)
• Chapter-end summaries outline the important concepts and learning goals of each chapter, so that students can check their understanding of material before moving on. (ex. p. 109)

SUPPORT INSTRUCTORS

• Teachable units – organized around topics for ease of assignments - makes it easy for you to use Thinking Socratically as a basis for your syllabus, and will enable your students to grasp concepts in discrete units.
• Standard Terminology – e.g. “reasoning with probability” has become “inductive reasoning” – serves to eliminate student confusion when you use more familiar terms.
• Instructor’s Manual with Tests (0205098029): For each chapter in the text, this resource provides a detailed outline, discussion questions and test questions in multiple-choice, true/ false, fill-in-the-blank, and short answer formats. For easy access, this manual is available at www.pearsonhighered.com/irc.
• PowerPoint Presentation Slides for Thinking Socratically 3/e (0205098045): These PowerPoint slides help you convey philosophy principles in a clear and engaging way. For easy access, they are available at www.pearsonhighered.com/irc.

Found in this section:
1. Overview of Changes2. Chapter-by-Chapter Changes

1. Overview of changes

• Eight new sections.
• Updated content: e.g. longer readings were trimmed and outdated readings were removed. (ex. p. 88)
• New and additional exercises, especially for deductive reasoning. (ex. p. 97)

• Increased number of informal fallacies so that students may recognize faulty reasoning in their own, and others', thinking. (ex. p. 219)
• A prominent and central concept of “the web of belief” connected to consensus and personal belief. (ex. p. 66)

ENGAGE STUDENTS

The new edition of Thinking Socratically provides:

• Clearer explanations of traces and patterns in inductive reasoning. (ex. p. 248)
• Greater emphasis on the power of language to influence everyday thought and critical thinking. (ex. p. 32)
• Updated readings to reflect recent issues and events such as racial profiling and the 2010 Yale campus murder. (ex. p. 134)

SUPPORT INSTRUCTORS

• New! An expanded treatment of deductive reasoning correlates to increased emphasis placed on the subject, and assures student comprehension.
• New! Create a Custom Text: For enrollments of at least 25, create your own textbook by combining chapters from best-selling Pearson textbooks and/or reading selections in the sequence you want.  To begin building your custom text, visit www.pearsoncustomlibrary.com. You may also work with a dedicated Pearson Custom editor to create your ideal text—publishing your own original content or mixing and matching Pearson content. Contact your Pearson Publisher’s Representative to get started

2. Chapter-by-Chapter Changes

Chapter 1     Why Be Rational?

• Added! Introduction of Critical Thinking and the Importance of Open Dialogue

Chapter 2     Language.

• New! Reading ‘9/11 Rumors That Harden into Conventional Wisdom by Michael Slackman
• New! Reading ‘The Salmon of Doubt’ by Douglas Adams
• Added! Central concept of web of belief placed more prominently and connected to consensus and personal belief
• New! Greater emphasis on the power of language to influence everyday thought and critical thinking

Chapter 3     Knowledge and Certainty.

• Added! Material on belief
• New! Reading ‘Ideas & Trends; For Air Crash Detectives, Seeing Isn’t Believing’ by Matthew L. Wald
• New! Reading ‘President Tom’s Cabin’ by Jill Lepore
• Replaced: Reading ‘Double Identity’ by Michael Dobbs

Chapter 4     Arguments and Explanations.

• Added! Explanation and exercises on reasoning

Chapter 5     Deductive Links.

• Added! New exercises on deductive reasoning
• New! Explanation of analyzing a deductive argument

Chapter 6     Deductive Standards.

• Updated! Material on deductive argument forms

Chapter 7     Supporting Our Claims.

• Added! Clearer explanation of traces and patterns of inductive reasoning
• New! Reading ‘Report on Yale Murder Outlines Suspicions’ by James Barron and Alison Leigh Cowan and ‘Trial by Fire: Did Texas Execute An Innocent Man?’ by David Grann
• Replaced: Reading ‘The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Chapter 8     Standards of Inductive Reasoning.

• Added! Explanation of three basic forms of inductive reasoning
• New! Reading ‘Troublemakers’ by Malcolm Gladwell
• Removed: Reading ‘Thy Countenance Shakes Spears’ by Mark K. Anderson

Chapter 9     Fallacies.

• New! Reading ‘Why Obama is Flip-Flopping’ by Glenn Beck
• Removed: Reading ‘Love is a Fallacy’ by Max Shulman

Chapter 10     Scientific Reasoning.

• New! Reading ‘The Sex Life of the Whiptailed Lizard’ by Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch

Chapter 11     Pseudoscience.

• New! Updated exercises and examples

Chapter 12     The Nature of Morality.

• New! Reading ‘Utilitarianism’ by Jeremy Bentham
• Added! Expanded section on Objectivism and Subjectivism

Chapter 13     Reasoning About Good and Bad.

• New! Updated exercises and examples

Chapter 14     Moral Dialogue.

• New! Updated exercises and examples

Chapter 15     Reason and Commitment.

• New! Updated exercises and examples