Description

Book Synopsis

Comprehensive and engaging, this extensively revised edition of a student and instructor favorite introduces the basics of critical thinking using the claims of pseudoscience and the paranormal.

  • Guides readers through the critical thinking process by considering different types of support (sources, logic, and scientific observation) and ruling out alternative explanations
  • Allows students to practice and apply their new critical thinking skills on claims of extraordinary cures including energy treatments, complementary/alternative medicine and faith healing as well as four paranormal claims of consequence: astrology, spiritualism and the afterlife, parapsychology, and creationism.
  • Couples a conversational, nontechnical narrative with student-friendly pedagogical tools, including critical thinking questions and a study guide for each chapter.
  • Provides clear and open-minded discussions of the paranormal spectrum, belief justification surveys, the

    Table of Contents

    Acknowledgments ix

    Part I Introduction 1

    1 Critical Thinking: Your Survival Kit 3

    2 The Paranormal Spectrum 13

    3 What’s the Harm? Why Study These Things? 25

    Part II The Critical Thinker’s Toolkit 47

    4 Sources 49

    5 Logic (Bonus: The Big Four Informal Logical Fallacies) 61

    6 Logic and Language: Fallacies of Ambiguity 79

    7 Science 93

    Part III Alternative Explanations 115

    8 Oddities of Nature and the World of Numbers 117

    9 Perceptual Error and Trickery 135

    10 Memory Errors 155

    11 The Placebo Effect 167

    12 Sensory Phenomena, Hallucinations, and Psychiatric Conditions 189

    Part IV Paranormal Challenges 211

    13 Claims of Extraordinary Cures 213

    14 From the Paranormal Sampler: Four Claims of Consequence 229

    Appendix A: Why Do You Believe? 255

    Appendix B: Belief Justification Survey 261

    Notes 271

    References 273

    Index 295

Critical Thinking

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    A Paperback / softback by Jonathan C. Smith

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      Book details

      Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
      Published 29 August 2017
      ISBN-13 9781119029359
      978-1119029359
      ISBN-10 111902935X

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Comprehensive and engaging, this extensively revised edition of a student and instructor favorite introduces the basics of critical thinking using the claims of pseudoscience and the paranormal.

      • Guides readers through the critical thinking process by considering different types of support (sources, logic, and scientific observation) and ruling out alternative explanations
      • Allows students to practice and apply their new critical thinking skills on claims of extraordinary cures including energy treatments, complementary/alternative medicine and faith healing as well as four paranormal claims of consequence: astrology, spiritualism and the afterlife, parapsychology, and creationism.
      • Couples a conversational, nontechnical narrative with student-friendly pedagogical tools, including critical thinking questions and a study guide for each chapter.
      • Provides clear and open-minded discussions of the paranormal spectrum, belief justification surveys, the

        Table of Contents

        Acknowledgments ix

        Part I Introduction 1

        1 Critical Thinking: Your Survival Kit 3

        2 The Paranormal Spectrum 13

        3 What’s the Harm? Why Study These Things? 25

        Part II The Critical Thinker’s Toolkit 47

        4 Sources 49

        5 Logic (Bonus: The Big Four Informal Logical Fallacies) 61

        6 Logic and Language: Fallacies of Ambiguity 79

        7 Science 93

        Part III Alternative Explanations 115

        8 Oddities of Nature and the World of Numbers 117

        9 Perceptual Error and Trickery 135

        10 Memory Errors 155

        11 The Placebo Effect 167

        12 Sensory Phenomena, Hallucinations, and Psychiatric Conditions 189

        Part IV Paranormal Challenges 211

        13 Claims of Extraordinary Cures 213

        14 From the Paranormal Sampler: Four Claims of Consequence 229

        Appendix A: Why Do You Believe? 255

        Appendix B: Belief Justification Survey 261

        Notes 271

        References 273

        Index 295

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