education

would believing without evidence (failing to use critical thinking) be immoral? MORAL REASONING ’ You might be surprised to learn that some philoso- phers consider reasoning itself a moral issue. That is, they think that believing a claim without good reasons (an unsupported statement) is immoral. Probably the most famous exposition of this point comes […]

Can you think of a counterexample to his argument—that is, instances in which believing without evidence would be morally permissible? MORAL REASONING ’ You might be surprised to learn that some philoso- phers consider reasoning itself a moral issue. That is, they think that believing a claim without good reasons (an unsupported statement) is immoral.

Do you agree with Clifford? MORAL REASONING ’ You might be surprised to learn that some philoso- phers consider reasoning itself a moral issue. That is, they think that believing a claim without good reasons (an unsupported statement) is immoral. Probably the most famous exposition of this point comes from the philosopher and mathematician W.

MORAL REASONING ’ You might be surprised to learn that some philoso- phers consider reasoning itself a moral issue. That is, they think that believing a claim without good reasons (an unsupported statement) is immoral. Probably the most famous exposition of this point comes from the philosopher and mathematician W. K. Clifford (1845–79). He has

ARGUMENTS GOOD AND BAD A good argument shows that its conclusion is wor- thy of belief or acceptance; a bad argument fails to show this. A good argument gives you good rea- sons to accept a claim; a bad argument proves nothing. So the crucial question is, How can you tell which is which? To

Learning to distinguish arguments from nonar- gumentative material takes practice. The job gets easier, however, if you pay attention to indica- tor words. Indicator words are terms that often appear in arguments and signal that a premise or conclusion may be nearby. Notice that in the argu- ment about abortion, the word therefore indicates that

Do you see an argument in this passage? You shouldn’t, because there is none. The first two sen- tences are meant to be assertions of fact, and the 42 Á PART 2: MORAL REASONING 213006_03_039-064_r1_el.qxp:213006_03_039-064_r1_el 8/3/15 9:46 AM Page 42 last one is an expression of indignation. There is no premise providing reasons to accept

Reasons supporting a statement are themselves statements. To lend credence to another claim, these supporting statements may assert something about scientific evidence, expert opinion, relevant examples, or other considerations. In this way they provide reasons for believing that a statement is true, that what is asserted is actual. When this state of affairs exists—when at

CLAIMS AND ARGUMENTS When you use critical reasoning, your ultimate aim is usually to figure out whether to accept, or believe, a statement—either someone else’s state- ment or one of your own. A statement, or claim, is an assertion that something is or is not the case; it is either true or false. These are

Process and Laws in Special Education   Your presence is requested to attend a development meeting with your child Jennifer’s educational staff. During the meeting we will all discuss Jennifer’s disability and the special education process within our district. The reason for the meeting is to obtain Jennifer’s potential need to develop transitional services that