LEGAL TECHNIQUES AND LOGIC – 03/11/2021

II. Critical Thinking

A. History
 Critical Thinking is the ability to analyze the way you think and present evidence for your ideas, rather than simply
accepting your personal reasoning as sufficient proof. You can gain numerous benefits from mastering critical thinking
skills, such as better control of your own learning and empathy for other points of view.
 Critical thinking is the act of analyzing facts to understand a problem or topic thoroughly. The critical thinking process
typically includes steps like collecting information and data, asking thoughtful questions and analyzing possible
solution
 The development of logic started at the pre-Socratic philosophers, most notable of which is Thales of Miletus. They
asked questions about the nature of the physical world and proposed various answers and theories to these
questions. With all these questions, the need to find out which of them are true become imperative.
 Greek Philosopher Socrates (2500 years ago) discovered a method of probing questioning that people could not
rationally justify their confident claims to knowledge. He established the fact that one cannot depend on those
“authority” to have sound knowledge. He stressed the importance of asking questions that probe profoundly into
thinking before accepting ideas as worthy of belief. He also established the importance of (1) seeking evidence; (2)
closely examining reasons and assumptions; (3) analysing basic concepts; and tracing out implications not only of
what is said but of what is done as well. His method of questioning is now known as "Socratic Questioning" and is the
best known critical thinking teaching strategy. In his mode of questioning, Socrates highlighted the need in thinking
for clarity and logical consistency.
 Socrates set the agenda for the tradition of critical thinking, namely, to reflectively question common beliefs and
explanations, carefully distinguishing those beliefs that are reasonable and logical from those which — however
appealing they may be to our native egocentrism, however much they serve our vested interests, however
comfortable or comforting they may be — lack adequate evidence or rational foundation to warrant our belief.
 Socrates’ practice was followed by the critical thinking of Plato (who recorded Socrates’ thought), Aristotle, and the
Greek skeptics, all of whom emphasized that things are often very different from what they appear to be and that
 only the trained mind is prepared to see through the way things look to us on the surface (delusive appearances) to
the way they really are beneath the surface (the deeper realities of life). From this ancient Greek tradition emerged
the need, for anyone who aspired to understand the deeper realities, to think systematically, to trace implications
broadly and deeply, for only thinking that is comprehensive, well-reasoned, and responsive to objections can take us
beyond the surface.
 In the Middle Ages, the tradition of systematic critical thinking was embodied in the writings and teachings of such
thinkers as Thomas Aquinas (Sumna Theologica) who to ensure his thinking met the test of critical thought, always
systematically stated, considered, and answered all criticisms of his ideas as a necessary stage in developing them.
Aquinas heightened our awareness not only of the potential power of reasoning but also of the need for reasoning to
be systematically cultivated and "cross-examined." Of course, Aquinas’ thinking also illustrates that those who think
critically do not always reject established beliefs, only those beliefs that lack reasonable foundations.
 In the Renaissance (15th and 16th Centuries), a flood of scholars in Europe began to think critically about religion, art,
society, human nature, law, and freedom. They proceeded with the assumption that most of the domains of human
life were in need of searching analysis and critique. Among these scholars were Colet, Erasmus, and Moore in England.
They followed up on the insight of the ancients.
 Francis Bacon, in England, was explicitly concerned with the way we misuse our minds in seeking knowledge. He
recognized explicitly that the mind cannot safely be left to its natural tendencies. In his book The Advancement of
Learning, he argued for the importance of studying the world empirically. He laid the foundation for modern science
with his emphasis on the information-gathering processes. He also called attention to the fact that most people, if
left to their own devices, develop bad habits of thought (which he called "idols") that lead them to believe what is
false or misleading. He called attention to "Idols of the tribe" (the ways our mind naturally tends to trick itself), "Idols
of the market-place" (the ways we misuse words), "Idols of the theater" (our tendency to become trapped in
conventional systems of thought), and "Idols of the schools" (the problems in thinking when based on blind rules and
poor instruction). His book could be considered one of the earliest texts in critical thinking, for his agenda was very
much the traditional agenda of critical thinking.
 Some fifty years later in France, Rene Descartes wrote what might be called the second text in critical thinking, Rules
For the Direction of the Mind. In it, Descartes argued for the need for a special systematic disciplining of the mind to
guide it in thinking. He articulated and defended the need in thinking for clarity and precision. He developed a method
of critical thought based on the principle of systematic doubt. He emphasized the need to base thinking on well-
 thought through foundational assumptions. Every part of thinking, he argued, should be questioned, doubted, and
tested.
 In the same time period, Sir Thomas Moore developed a model of a new social order, Utopia, in which every domain
of the present world was subject to critique. His implicit thesis was that established social systems are in need of
radical analysis and critique. The critical thinking of these Renaissance and post-Renaissance scholars opened the way
for the emergence of science and for the development of democracy, human rights, and freedom for thought.
 In the Italian Renaissance, Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince critically assessed the politics of the day, and laid the
foundation for modern critical political thought. He refused to assume that government functioned as those in power
said it did. Rather, he critically analyzed how it did function and laid the foundation for political thinking that exposes
both, on the one hand, the real agendas of politicians and, on the other hand, the many contradictions and
inconsistencies of the hard, cruel, world of the politics of his day.
 Hobbes and Locke (in 16th and 17th Century England) displayed the same confidence in the critical mind of the thinker
that we find in Machiavelli. Neither accepted the traditional picture of things dominant in the thinking of their day.
Neither accepted as necessarily rational that which was considered "normal" in their culture. Both looked to the
critical mind to open up new vistas of learning. Hobbes adopted a naturalistic view of the world in which everything
was to be explained by evidence and reasoning. Locke defended a common sense analysis of everyday life and
thought. He laid the theoretical foundation for critical thinking about basic human rights and the responsibilities of
all governments to submit to the reasoned criticism of thoughtful citizens.
 It was in this spirit of intellectual freedom and critical thought that people such as Robert Boyle (in the 17th Century)
and Sir Isaac Newton (in the 17th and 18th Century) did their work. In his Sceptical Chymist, Boyle severely criticized
the chemical theory that had preceded him. Newton, in turn, developed a far-reaching framework of thought which
roundly criticized the traditionally accepted world view. He extended the critical thought of such minds as Copernicus,
Galileo, and Kepler. After Boyle and Newton, it was recognized by those who reflected seriously on the natural world
that egocentric views of world must be abandoned in favor of views based entirely on carefully gathered evidence
and sound reasoning.
 Another significant contribution to critical thinking was made by the thinkers of the French Enlightenment: Bayle,
Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot. They all began with the premise that the human mind, when disciplined by
reason, is better able to figure out the nature of the social and political world. What is more, for these thinkers, reason
must turn inward upon itself, in order to determine weaknesses and strengths of thought. They valued disciplined
 intellectual exchange, in which all views had to be submitted to serious analysis and critique. They believed that all
authority must submit in one way or another to the scrutiny of reasonable critical questioning.
 Eighteenth Century thinkers extended our conception of critical thought even further, developing our sense of the
power of critical thought and of its tools. Applied to the problem of economics, it produced Adam Smith’s Wealth of
Nations. In the same year, applied to the traditional concept of loyalty to the king, it produced the Declaration of
Independence. Applied to reason itself, it produced Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.
 In the 19th Century, critical thought was extended even further into the domain of human social life by Comte and
Spencer. Applied to the problems of capitalism, it produced the searching social and economic critique of Karl Marx.
Applied to the history of human culture and the basis of biological life, it led to Darwin’s Descent of Man. Applied to
the unconscious mind, it is reflected in the works of Sigmund Freud. Applied to cultures, it led to the establishment
of the field of Anthropological studies. Applied to language, it led to the field of Linguistics and to many deep probings
of the functions of symbols and language in human life.
 In the 20th Century, our understanding of the power and nature of critical thinking has emerged in increasingly more
explicit formulations. In 1906, William Graham Sumner published a land-breaking study of the foundations of
sociology and anthropology, Folkways, in which he documented the tendency of the human mind to think
sociocentrically and the parallel tendency for schools to serve the (uncritical) function of social indoctrination :
 "Schools make persons all on one pattern, orthodoxy. School education, unless it is regulated by the best knowledge
and good sense, will produce men and women who are all of one pattern, as if turned in a lathe. An orthodoxy is
produced in regard to all the great doctrines of life. It consists of the most worn and commonplace opinions which
are common in the masses. The popular opinions always contain broad fallacies, half-truths, and glib generalizations
(p. 630).
 At the same time, Sumner recognized the deep need for critical thinking in life and in education:
 "Criticism is the examination and test of propositions of any kind which are offered for acceptance, in order to find
out whether they correspond to reality or not. The critical faculty is a product of education and training. It is a mental
habit and power. It is a prime condition of human welfare that men and women should be trained in it. It is our only
guarantee against delusion, deception, superstition, and misapprehension of ourselves and our earthly
circumstances. Education is good just so far as it produces well-developed critical faculty. A teacher of any subject
who insists on accuracy and a rational control of all processes and methods, and who holds everything open to
unlimited verification and revision, is cultivating that method as a habit in the pupils. Men educated in it cannot be
 stampeded. They are slow to believe. They can hold things as possible or probable in all degrees, without certainty
and without pain. They can wait for evidence and weigh evidence. They can resist appeals to their dearest prejudices.
Education in the critical faculty is the only education of which it can be truly said that it makes good citizens” (pp. 632,
633).
 John Dewey agreed. From his work, we have increased our sense of the pragmatic basis of human thought (its
instrumental nature), and especially its grounding in actual human purposes, goals, and objectives. From the work of
Ludwig Wittgenstein we have increased our awareness not only of the importance of concepts in human thought, but
also of the need to analyze concepts and assess their power and limitations. From the work of Piaget, we have
increased our awareness of the egocentric and sociocentric tendencies of human thought and of the special need to
develop critical thought which is able to reason within multiple standpoints, and to be raised to the level of "conscious
realization." From the massive contribution of all the "hard" sciences, we have learned the power of information and
the importance of gathering information with great care and precision, and with sensitivity to its potential inaccuracy,
distortion, or misuse. From the contribution of depth-psychology, we have learned how easily the human mind is self-
deceived, how easily it unconsciously constructs illusions and delusions, how easily it rationalizes and stereotypes,
projects and scapegoats.
 To sum up, the tools and resources of the critical thinker have been vastly increased in virtue of the history of critical
thought. Hundreds of thinkers have contributed to its development. Each major discipline has made some
contribution to critical thought. Yet for most educational purposes, it is the summing up of base-line common
denominators for critical thinking that is most important. Let us consider now that summation.

B. Pseudo-thinking
 Pseudo critical thinking is a form of intellectual arrogance masked in self-delusion or deception, in which thinking
which is deeply flawed is not only presented as a model of excellence of thought, but is also, at the same time,
sophisticated enough to take many people in. No one takes a rock to be a counterfeit diamond. It is simply other than
diamond. But a zircon mimics a diamond and is easily taken for one and hence can be said to be a pseudo diamond.
 Medieval philosophy and theology, for example, was used as a sophisticated tool to resist, quite unknowingly of
course, the advance of science.
C. Skills
 Observing: One notices something in one’s immediate environment (sudden cooling of temperature in Weather,
bubbles forming outside a glass and then going inside in Bubbles, a moving blur in the distance in Blur, a rash in Rash).
Or one notes the results of an experiment or systematic observation (valuables missing in Disorder, no suction without
air pressure in Suction pump)
 Feeling: One feels puzzled or uncertain about something (how to get to an appointment on time in Transit, why the
diamonds vary in frequency in Diamond). One wants to resolve this perplexity. One feels satisfaction once one has
worked out an answer (to take the subway express in Transit, diamonds closer when needed as a warning in
Diamond).
 Wondering: One formulates a question to be addressed (why bubbles form outside a tumbler taken from hot water
in Bubbles, how suction pumps work in Suction pump, what caused the rash in Rash).
 Imagining: One thinks of possible answers (bus or subway or elevated in Transit, flagpole or ornament or wireless
communication aid or direction indicator in Ferryboat, allergic reaction or heat rash in Rash).
 Inferring: One works out what would be the case if a possible answer were assumed (valuables missing if there has
been a burglary in Disorder, earlier start to the rash if it is an allergic reaction to a sulfa drug in Rash). Or one draws a
conclusion once sufficient relevant evidence is gathered (take the subway in Transit, burglary in Disorder, discontinue
blood pressure medication and new cream in Rash).
 Knowledge: One uses stored knowledge of the subject-matter to generate possible answers or to infer what would
be expected on the assumption of a particular answer (knowledge of a city’s public transit system in Transit, of the
requirements for a flagpole in Ferryboat, of Boyle’s law in Bubbles, of allergic reactions in Rash).
 Experimenting: One designs and carries out an experiment or a systematic observation to find out whether the results
deduced from a possible answer will occur (looking at the location of the flagpole in relation to the pilot’s position in
Ferryboat, putting an ice cube on top of a tumbler taken from hot water in Bubbles, measuring the height to which a
suction pump will draw water at different elevations in Suction pump, noticing the frequency of diamonds when
movement to or from a diamond lane is allowed in Diamond).
 Consulting: One finds a source of information, gets the information from the source, and makes a judgment on
whether to accept it. None of our 11 examples include searching for sources of information. In this respect they are
unrepresentative, since most people nowadays have almost instant access to information relevant to answering any
question, including many of those illustrated by the examples. However, Candidate includes the activities of extracting
information from sources and evaluating its credibility.
  Identifying and analyzing arguments: One notices an argument and works out its structure and content as a
preliminary to evaluating its strength. This activity is central to Candidate. It is an important part of a critical thinking
process in which one surveys arguments for various positions on an issue.
 Judging: One makes a judgment on the basis of accumulated evidence and reasoning, such as the judgment in
Ferryboat that the purpose of the pole is to provide direction to the pilot.
 Deciding: One makes a decision on what to do or on what policy to adopt, as in the decision in Transit to take the
subway.
D. Characteristics

E. Importance
 The ability to think clearly and rationally is important whatever we choose to do. Being able to think well and solve
problems systematically is an asset for any career.
 The proper functioning of a liberal democracy requires citizens who can think critically about social issues to inform
their judgments about proper governance and to overcome biases and prejudice.
 A critical thinker has the self-awareness to know the difference between a rational thought based on careful
consideration and an emotional response based on personal bias. Emotion is the enemy of reason. By understanding
your own perspective, you can also consider the perspective of others and come to a conclusion based on fact, not
feelings.


III. REASONING
A. Argument
 A structured group of propositions, reflecting an inference.
 A form of expression consisting of a coherent set of reasons presenting or supporting a point of view; a series of
reasons given for or against a matter under discussion that is intended to convince or persuade the listener
 Every argument in logic has a structure — every argument in logic can be described in terms of this structure.
 A. Premises: statements which give evidence for, or reasons for, accepting the conclusion.
B. Conclusion: statement which is purported to be established or affirmed on the basis of other statements (the
premisses).
B. Statement

 The meaning of a declarative sentence at a particular time

 In logic, the word “statement” is sometimes used instead of “propositions”
C. Sentence
 Can be viewed as expressing a proposition, something that must be true or false.
 Given a structure, it will have a true fixed value.
 Propositions where it is an assertion that something is (or is not) the case; all propositions are either true or false;
it may be affirmed or denied
 Example: Today is raining.
 Simple Propositions: A proposition making only one assertion
Example: Mars has 2 moons. The sun is the center of the solar system.
 Compound Proposition: A proposition containing two or more simple propositions
Example: The Mars has 2 moons and it revolves around the sun.
 Disjunctive/Alternative Propostion: A type of compound proposition; If true, at least one of the component
propositions must be true
Example: "Canada is in North America or New York City is the biggest city in Canada”
 Hypothetical/Conditional Proposition: A type of compound proposition; It is false only when the antecedent is
true and the consequent is false.
Example: If my cat is hungry, then she will rub my leg.
If a polygon has exactly four sides, then it is a quadrilateral.
If triangles are congruent, then they have equal corresponding angles.
D. Non Arguments
 Do not contain the structures of an argument: Premise and Conlusion
 Fiction, poetry, emotional discourse: the purpose is not factual truth.
  Commands: they are not statements because they have no truth value. (However, they can be subjected to a "logic
of commands" as noted later.)
 Conditional statements (by themselves) are not arguments.: "If ... then ..." statements, sometimes called
"hypotheticals," although many logicians distinguish different various forms of conditionals.
 Explanations: their purpose is usually not to prove, but to provide understanding. In general, explanations are not
arguments. (Some good explanations have a deductive character, as discussed below.)
E. Truth, Logic, and Soundness
 Truth: An attribute of a proposition that asserts what really is the case.
 Sound: An argument that is valid and has only true premises.
