Wheeeeeee!
I finally added my bio to my profile for this name. I rule ;-)
2005-05-17
I finally added my bio to my profile for this name. I rule ;-)
*uses her Critical Thinking class for something useful*
Inspired by an idiot ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
to_daae_for found...
I have to take the class, I may as well use it in my favour:
Every opinion is NOT valid. Your opinion is not as valid as my opinion is not as valid as X's opinion. There are these things called "facts" and they make opinions good or they make opinions bad. As Sarah says, "That's your opinion!" and as Hoggle replies, "Well it's a lot better than yours!"
Govier says at the beginning of her book A Practical Study of Argument in a note to the student:
...But more can be said. Applying logic to your own thinking will make you more aware of your own beliefs. It will lead you to understand the reasons and assumptions behind your own beliefs and responses to the world...In some cases your reasons will be exposed as incomplete, inadequate, or fallacious. When this happens, yhr honest response is to look seriously at your own ideas, explore fresh evidence and arguments, and think again.
Reasons and beliefs lead to actions, which express your character and define your relationship to the world. There are reasons underlying the beliefs that are fundamental to you. The logical understanding and evaluation of those reasons is part of understanding yourself and thinking for yourself--and doing it well...
It goes on from there, but that's the most relevant part.
Later on, in Chapter 1, she discusses opinions:
As human beings living in an uncertain world, we make claims about many matters about which we do not have knowledge or even well-confirmed beliefs. An opinion is a belief, often held with a rather low degree of confidence. Usually when we hold opinions, we are aware that they are our opinions in the sense that we cannot fully defend them by citing reasons or evidence in support. For example, it may be one person's opinion that the artificial sweetner Aspartame is harmless and another's opinion that it is a risk to health. These are opinions, but nevertheless it is clear that reasons and evidence are relevant to their credibility; there are facts about what effects Aspartame has, and those facts can be studied and reported in ways that are more or less reliable. Politically and legally, we are free to hold any opinion at all, as people so often insist when they say things like "I'm entitled to my own opinion." No one can coerce us into believing something we don't believe. This political right, however, does not mean that all opinions are equal with respect to their intellectual credibility. Some opinions are mere opinions, whereas other opinions are based on evidence and careful thinking.
Even though we are in some sense "entitled" to hold and express just about any opinion, when our opinions are carelessly formed and unsupported, they do us little service because they are not reliable guides to the world. We should seek well-founded and sensible opinions, grounded in factual accuracy and coherent reasons...
It is dangerous to be careless and freewheeling about our opinions...Calling some claim "a matter of opinion" is no excuse for failing to reflect on it.
to_daae_for found...I have to take the class, I may as well use it in my favour:
Every opinion is NOT valid. Your opinion is not as valid as my opinion is not as valid as X's opinion. There are these things called "facts" and they make opinions good or they make opinions bad. As Sarah says, "That's your opinion!" and as Hoggle replies, "Well it's a lot better than yours!"
Govier says at the beginning of her book A Practical Study of Argument in a note to the student:
...But more can be said. Applying logic to your own thinking will make you more aware of your own beliefs. It will lead you to understand the reasons and assumptions behind your own beliefs and responses to the world...In some cases your reasons will be exposed as incomplete, inadequate, or fallacious. When this happens, yhr honest response is to look seriously at your own ideas, explore fresh evidence and arguments, and think again.
Reasons and beliefs lead to actions, which express your character and define your relationship to the world. There are reasons underlying the beliefs that are fundamental to you. The logical understanding and evaluation of those reasons is part of understanding yourself and thinking for yourself--and doing it well...
It goes on from there, but that's the most relevant part.
Later on, in Chapter 1, she discusses opinions:
As human beings living in an uncertain world, we make claims about many matters about which we do not have knowledge or even well-confirmed beliefs. An opinion is a belief, often held with a rather low degree of confidence. Usually when we hold opinions, we are aware that they are our opinions in the sense that we cannot fully defend them by citing reasons or evidence in support. For example, it may be one person's opinion that the artificial sweetner Aspartame is harmless and another's opinion that it is a risk to health. These are opinions, but nevertheless it is clear that reasons and evidence are relevant to their credibility; there are facts about what effects Aspartame has, and those facts can be studied and reported in ways that are more or less reliable. Politically and legally, we are free to hold any opinion at all, as people so often insist when they say things like "I'm entitled to my own opinion." No one can coerce us into believing something we don't believe. This political right, however, does not mean that all opinions are equal with respect to their intellectual credibility. Some opinions are mere opinions, whereas other opinions are based on evidence and careful thinking.
Even though we are in some sense "entitled" to hold and express just about any opinion, when our opinions are carelessly formed and unsupported, they do us little service because they are not reliable guides to the world. We should seek well-founded and sensible opinions, grounded in factual accuracy and coherent reasons...
It is dangerous to be careless and freewheeling about our opinions...Calling some claim "a matter of opinion" is no excuse for failing to reflect on it.