| Edition |
Fifth edition. |
| Description |
xviii, 335 12 unnumbered pages : illustrations ; 23 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Foreword -- Preface -- 1: Introduction: Close Encounters With The Strange -- Importance of why -- Beyond weird to the absurd -- Weirdness sampler -- Notes -- 2: Possibility Of The Impossible -- Paradigms and the paranormal -- Logical possibility versus physical impossibility -- Possibility of ESP -- Theories and things -- On knowing the future -- Summary -- Study questions -- Evaluate these claims -- Discussion questions -- Field problem -- Critical reading and writing -- Suggested readings -- Notes -- 3: Arguments Good, Bad And Weird -- Claim and arguments -- Deductive arguments -- Inductive arguments -- Enumerative induction -- Analogical induction -- Hypothetical induction (abduction, or inference to the best of explanation) -- Informal fallacies -- Unacceptable premises -- Begging the question -- False dilemma -- Irrelevant premises -- Equivocation -- Composition -- Division -- Appeal to the person -- Genetic fallacy -- Appeal to authority -- Appeal to the masses -- Appeal to tradition -- Appeal to ignorance -- Appeal to fear -- Straw man -- Insufficient premises -- Hasty generalization -- Faulty analogy -- False cause -- Slippery slope -- Summary -- Study questions -- Evaluate these claims -- Discussion questions -- Field problem -- Critical reading and writing -- Suggested readings -- Suggested web sites -- Notes -- 4: Knowledge, Belief, And Evidence -- Babylonian knowledge-acquisition techniques -- Propositional knowledge -- Reasons and evidence -- Expert opinion -- Coherence and justification -- Sources of knowledge -- Appeal to faith -- Appeal to intuition -- Appeal to mystical experience -- Astrology revisited -- Summary -- Study questions -- Evaluate these claims -- Discussion questions -- Field problem -- Critical reading and writing -- Suggested readings -- Notes -- 5: Looking For Truth In Personal Experience -- Seeming and being -- Perceiving: why you can't always believe what you see -- Perceptual constancies -- Role of expectation -- Looking for clarity in vagueness -- Blondlot case -- Constructing UFOs -- Remembering: why you can't always trust what you recall -- Conceiving: why you sometimes see what you believe -- Denying the evidence -- Subjective validation -- Confirmation bias -- Availability error -- Representativeness heuristic -- Against all odds -- Anecdotal evidence: why testimonials can't be trusted -- Variable nature of illness -- Placebo effect -- Overlooked causes -- Scientific evidence: why controlled studies can be trusted -- Summary -- Study questions -- Evaluate these claims -- Discussion questions -- Field problem -- Critical reading and writing -- Suggested readings -- Suggested web sites -- Notes -- 6: Science And Its Pretenders -- Science and dogma -- Science and scientism -- Scientific methodology -- Confirming and confuting hypotheses -- Criteria of adequacy -- Testability -- Fruitfulness -- Scope -- Simplicity -- Conservatism -- Creationism, evolution, and criteria of adequacy -- Scientific creationism -- Intelligent design -- Parapsychology -- Summary -- Study questions -- Evaluate these claims -- Discussion questions -- Field problem -- Critical reading and writing -- Suggested readings -- Notes -- 7: Case Studies In The Extraordinary -- Search formula -- Step 1: State the claim -- Step 2: Examine the evidence for the claim -- Step 3: Consider alternative hypotheses -- Step 4: Rate, according to the criteria of adequacy, each hypothesis -- Homeopathy -- Dowsing -- UFO abductions -- Communicating with the dead -- Near-death experiences -- Ghosts -- Conspiracy theories -- Summary -- Study questions -- Evaluate these claims by using the search method -- Field problem -- Critical reading and writing -- Suggested readings -- Suggested web sites -- Notes -- 8: Relativism, Truth, And Reality -- We each create our own reality -- Reality is socially constructed -- Reality is constituted by conceptual schemes -- Relativist's petard -- Facing reality -- Summary -- Study questions -- Evaluate these claims -- Discussion questions -- Field problem -- Critical reading and writing -- Suggested readings -- Suggested web sites -- Notes -- Epilogue: Mysteries in perspective -- Credits -- Index. |
| Summary |
From the Publisher: This brief, inexpensive text helps the reader to think critically, using examples from the weird claims and beliefs that abound in our culture to demonstrate the sound evaluation of any claim. The authors focus on types of logical arguments and proofs, making How to Think about Weird Things a versatile supplement for logic, critical thinking, philosophy of science, or any other science appreciation courses. |
| Subject |
Critical thinking.
|
|
Curiosities and wonders.
|
| Added Author |
Vaughn, Lewis.
|
| ISBN |
9780073386621 alkaline paper |
|
0073386626 alkaline paper |
|
