Argumentation and critical thinking

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Summary of the module

Critical thinking is an intellectual attitude consisting to accept as reliable an affirmation or information only after careful examination. Currently many approaches to critical thinking tends to promote a certain passivity (simple sorting between the information that comes to oneself instead of an active search for reliable information) and too often leaves out the knowledge of research on critical thinking. With this module, participants will understand how to identify the structure of a document, and to identify its thesis and arguments, which will help them assess its reliability and limitations, but they will also learn to have an autonomous approach to strengthening their general knowledge, which is necessary for the task of evaluating arguments.

Detailed content of the sessions

Specific objectives:

At the end of the module, participants are able to:
Read an article or a speech identifying the studied problem or thesis defended, the arguments, the limits of the arguments, and evaluate whether the argument supports the conclusion;
Conduct bibliographic research on the basis of keywords, sort sources according to their reliability, and cite these sources appropriately (content and form) in their own productions. Confront the sources to disentangle the true from the false;
Identify the type of reasoning by which arguments are advanced (induction, deduction, other logical inferences) and how different types of reasoning can lead to valid or invalid arguments (reasoning flaws).

Lead trainers

References

Evaluation

– Multiple choice question

– A press article is presented, and the participant must explain the approach they would take to form an informed opinion on the subject matter of the article.