Syllabus
This course introduces Honors students to models and methodologies of critical thinking and prepares them to utilize critical thinking techniques to evaluate claims and arguments. Special attention is paid to cognitive biases, informal logical fallacies, and the disciplinary assumptions that undergird argumentative claims from a variety of scientific fields. We will also utilize inductive, deductive, and abductive reasoning to think through real-world problems of a pseudoscientific nature. While establishing the nuts and bolts of critical thinking as a method for effective thinking, we will apply these methods to a different pseudoscientific claim each week. Some of these controversies may result in uncomfortable situations that could occur during readings, viewings, and discussions. It is our job to use our nascent critical thinking skills to hone our initial, emotional reactions into rational, intellectual ones: in other words, to employ subjective impulses to inform objective responses. Therefore, as we develop critical thinking skills, we are also developing information literacy and learning the art of effective argumentation.
