Why Learning How to

Reason and Think

Critically?
The world we live in
Crises that require us being informed and having cooperation among diverse
groups with conflicting beliefs and values:

● COVID-19

● Climate Change

● Polarization
Fundamentalism
● Attachment to a set of unquestionable beliefs (dogmas or pet beliefs)
○ Political
○ Religious
○ Moral
○ …

● Neofundamentalism (Marcia Tiburi)

○ Defending beliefs as true
○ Not because of dogma,
○ But because its effects:
■ profit, audience, votes, etc.
○ Useful truths
Thought experiment
● Pre-social media era
● Opinion Maker
○ Half truths
○ “Fake news”
○ Intentionally misleading news
● Self-interest or lack of research
● Would there be something problematic?
● What consequences could this have?
○ Misinformed decisions
■ While making financial decisions
■ While voting
Social media
● By sharing something we are influencing others.
○ We are “opinion makers” to a certain degree.
● What we share has consequences
● If something goes viral, it could reach more people
than any other news bite or news report.

● Breakout question: What is our responsibility

while sharing contents?
○ Distinguishing good from bad content

○ Denounce bad content?

○ Educate others?
Information war
● Misinformation: the inadvertent sharing of false information
● Disinformation: the deliberate creation and sharing of information known to
be false.
Motivations
Dissemination Mechanisms

● Social media

● Journalists

● Groups attempting to influence

● Disinformation campaigns:

○ Bots: automated

○ Trolls: actual people posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages,
with the intent of provoking readers
Echo chambers and
confirmation bias
Breakout question: What should we pay
attention to when we receive information?

● Do you fact-check?

● Do you share after just reading the headline?

● Do you look for different oppinions?

● Do you consume always the same media

outlet?
Quiz
The problem: Lack of mutual understanding

● Not talking to each other

● Talking past each other

● Incommensurable world views

● Violence
Giving up on understanding
• “I cannot imagine why they think that.”

• Formulate the rival’s view as silly

Goal: not to convince opponents or appreciate their positions, but only to amuse
their allies by abusing their opponents.

Result: Elections won by most rousing or humorous slogans or advertisements

instead of by who gives strongest reasons for their policies.
What can we do?
Each of us can do something about it in our personal lives instead of having to
wait for politicians and cultural leaders to act:

● State and understand arguments on both sides.

● Offer our reasons to our opponents and demand their reasons from them.

"Without exchanging reasons, we cannot understand each other. Without

understanding, we cannot figure out how to compromise or cooperate with each
other. Without cooperation, we cannot solve our problems. Without solving our
problems, we will all be worse off.” TA, p. 5
Having an argument vs. Arguing

A debate. Attempts to increase the understanding.

Arguments as eapons in a war or in a Offering reasons help the other to understand

competition. why you believe certain claim.

Disagreement might persist, but at least

understanding is improved.
This doesn’t lead us to work together.
This helps us to work together!
Social skills and habits
Needed to encourage our audiences to be receptive to reasons.

● Modesty: not claiming that we possess the whole truth

● Graciousness: including conceding opponents’ good points.

● Patience: in waiting for audiences to think through our points

● Forgiveness: when an opponent refuses to concede our own good points