批判性思维 (4).pdf

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1、 WRITING ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS 87for the purposes at hand:“To me,the word justice does not include referring to a person s private life when evaluating his or her work performance.”The following exercise will give you practice with defi nitions.In groups(or individually if your instructor prefers),de

2、termine what term in each of the following is being defi ned and whether the defi nition is by example or by synonym or an analytical defi nition.If it is difficult to tell which kind of defi nition is present,describe the difficulty.1.A piano is a stringed instrument in which felt hammers are made

3、to strike the strings by an arrangement of keys and levers.2.“Decaffeinated”means without caffeine.3.Steve Martin is my idea of a successful philosophy major.4.The red planet is Mars.5.“UV”refers to ultraviolet light.6.The Cheyenne perfectly illustrate the sort of Native Americans who were Plains In

4、dians.7.Data,in our case,is raw information collected from survey forms,which is then put in tabular form and analyzed.8.“Chiaroscuro”is just a fancy word for shading.9.Bifocals are glasses with two different prescriptions ground into each lens,making it possible to focus at two different distances

5、from the wearer.10.Red is the color that we perceive when our eyes are struck by light waves of approximately seven angstroms.11.A signifi cant other can be taken to be a person s spouse,lover,long-term companion,or just girlfriend or boyfriend.12.“Assessment”means evaluation.13.A blackout is“a peri

6、od of total memory loss,as one induced by an acci-dent or prolonged alcoholic drinking.”When your buddies tell you they loved your rendition of the Lambada on Madison s pool table the other night and you don t even remember being at Madison s,that is a blackout.Adapted from the CalPoly,San Luis Obis

7、po,Mustang Daily 14.A pearl,which is the only animal-produced gem,begins as an irritant inside an oyster.The oyster then secretes a coating of nacre around the irritating object.The result is a pearl,the size of which is determined by the number of layers with which the oyster coats the object.15.Ac

8、cording to my cousin,who lives in Tulsa,the phrase“bored person”refers to anybody who is between the ages of sixteen and twenty-fi ve and lives in eastern Oklahoma.WRITING ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS Recently,the Educational Testing Service revamped the infamous Scholastic Aptitude Test(SAT),which many uni

9、versities use when determining whether to admit an applicant.The most signifi cant change was to have test takers Exercise 3-3moo38286_ch03_069-103.indd 87moo38286_ch03_069-103.indd 8712/9/10 1:32 PM12/9/10 1:32 PM88 CHAPTER 3:CLEAR THINKING,CRITICAL THINKING,AND CLEAR WRITINGwrite an argumentative

10、essay.This change in the SAT shows the impor-tance the educators place on the ability to write this type of essay.That s because writing an argumentative essay is doing nothing other than thinking criticallyand leaving a paper trail for others to follow.This isn t a book on writing,but writing an ar

11、gumentative essay is so closely related to thinking critically that we would like to take the opportunity to offer our recommen-dations.We know professors who have retired because they could not bear to read another student essay.As a result,we offer our two bits worth here in hopes of continuing to

12、 see familiar faces.As we said back on p.71,an argumentative essay generally has four components:1.A statement of the issue 2.A statement of ones position on that issue 3.Arguments that support ones position 4.Rebuttals of arguments that support contrary positions Ideally,your essay should begin wit

13、h an introduction to the issue that dem-onstrates that the issue is important or interesting.This is not always easy,but even when you are not excited about the subject yourself,it is still good practice to try to make your reader interested.Your statement of the issue should be fair;that is,don t t

14、ry to state the issue in such a way that your posi-tion on it is obviously the only correct one.This can make your reader suspi-cious;the burden of convincing him or her will come later,when you give your arguments.Your position on the issue should be clear.Try to be brief.If you have stated the iss

15、ue clearly,it should be a simple matter to identify your position.Your arguments in support of your position also should be as succinct as you can make them,but it is much more important to be clear than to be brief.After all,this is the heart of your essay.The reasons you cite should be clearly rel

16、evant,and they should be either clearly reliable or backed up by further arguments.Much of the rest of this book is devoted to how this is done;hang in there.If there are well-known arguments for the other side of the issue,you should acknowledge them and offer some reason to believe that they are u

17、nconvincing.You can do this either by attacking the premises that are com-monly given or by trying to show that those premises do not actually support the opposing conclusion.More on these topics later,too.Following are some more detailed hints that might be helpful in planning and writing your argu

18、mentative essay.1.Focus.Make clear at the outset what issue you intend to address and what your position on the issue will be.However,nothing is quite so boring as starting off with the words“In this essay,I shall argue that X,Y,and Z,”and then going on to itemize everything you are about to say,and

19、 at the end concluding with the words“In this essay,I argued that X,Y,and Z.”As a matter of style,you should let the reader know what to expect without using trite phrases and without going on at length.However,you should try to fi nd moo38286_ch03_069-103.indd 88moo38286_ch03_069-103.indd 8812/9/10

20、 1:32 PM12/9/10 1:32 PM WRITING ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS 89an engaging way to state your position.For example,instead of“In this essay,I shall discuss the rights of animals to inherit property from their masters,”you might begin,“Could your inheritance wind up belonging to your mother s cat?”2.Stick to

21、the issue.All points you make in an essay should be con-nected to the issue under discussion and should always either(a)support,illustrate,explain,clarify,elaborate on,or emphasize your position on the issue,or(b)serve as responses to anticipated objections.Rid the essay of irrel-evancies and dangli

22、ng thoughts.3.Arrange the components of the essay in a logical sequence.This is just common sense.Make a point before you clarify it,for example,not the other way around.When supporting your points,bring in examples,clarifi cation,and the like in such a way that a reader knows what in the world you

23、are doing.A reader should be able to discern the relationship between any given sentence and your ultimate objective,and he or she should be able to move from sen-tence to sentence and from paragraph to paragraph without getting lost or con-fused.If a reader cannot outline your essay with ease,you h

24、ave not properly sequenced your material.Your essay might be fi ne as a piece of French philoso-phy,but it would not pass as an argumentative essay.4.Be complete.Accomplish what you set out to accomplish,support your position adequately,and anticipate and respond to possible objections.Keep in mind

25、that many issues are too large to be treated exhaustively in a single essay.The key to being complete is to defi ne the issue sharply enough that you can be complete.Thus,the more limited your topic,the easier it is to be complete in covering it.Also,be sure there is closure at every level.Sentences

26、 should be com-plete,paragraphs should be unifi ed as wholes(and usually each should stick to a single point),and the essay should reach a conclusion.Incidentally,reaching a conclusion and summarizing are not the same thing.Short essays do not require summaries.Good Writing Practices Understanding t

27、he four principles just mentioned is one thing,but actually employing them may be more difficult.Fortunately,there are fi ve practices that a writer can follow to improve the organization of an essay and to help avoid other problems.We offer the following merely as a set of recommenda-tions within t

28、he broader scope of thinking critically in writing.1.At some stage after the fi rst draft,outline what you have written.Then,make certain the outline is logical and that every sentence in the essay fi ts into the outline as it should.Some writers create an informal outline before they begin,but many

29、 do not.Our advice:Just identify the issue and your position on it,and start writing by stating them both.2.Revise your work.Revising is the secret to good writing.Even major-league writers revise what they write,and they revise continuously.Unless you are more gifted than the very best professional

30、 writers,revise,Im for abolishing and doing away with redundancy.J.C URTIS M C K AY,of the Wisconsin State Elections Board(reported by Ross and Petras)We ourselves are also for that too.moo38286_ch03_069-103.indd 89moo38286_ch03_069-103.indd 8912/9/10 1:32 PM12/9/10 1:32 PM90CHAPTER 3:CLEAR THINKING

31、,CRITICAL THINKING,AND CLEAR WRITINGrevise,revise.Don t think in terms of two or three drafts.Think in terms of innumerable drafts.3.Have someone else read your essay and offer criticisms of it.Revise as required.4.If you have trouble with grammar or punctuation,reading your essay out loud may help

32、you detect problems your eyes have missed.5.After you are completely satisfi ed with the essay,put it aside.Then,come back to it later for still further revisions.Essay Types to Avoid Seasoned instructors know that the fi rst batch of essays they get from a class will include samples of each of the

33、following types.We recommend avoiding these mistakes:The Windy Preamble.Writers of this type of essay avoid getting to the issue and instead go on at length with introductory remarks,often about how important the issue is,how it has troubled thinkers for centuries,how opinions on the issue are many

34、and various,and so on,and so on.Anything you write that smacks of“When in the course of human events.”should go into the trash can immediately.On LanguageAnd While Were on the Subject of WritingDont forget these rules of good style:1.Avoid clichs like the plague.2.Be more or less specific.3.NEVER ge

35、neralize.4.The passive voice is to be ignored.5.Never,ever be redundant.6.Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.7.Make sure verbs agrees with their subjects.8.Why use rhetorical questions?9.Parenthetical remarks(however relevant)are(usually)unnecessary.10.Proofread carefully to s

36、ee if you any words out.11.And its usually a bad idea to start a sentence with a conjunction.This list has been making the rounds on the Internet.moo38286_ch03_069-103.indd 90moo38286_ch03_069-103.indd 9012/9/10 1:32 PM12/9/10 1:32 PM WRITING ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAYS 91 The Stream-of-Consciousness Rambl

37、e.This type of essay results when writers make no attempt to organize their thoughts and simply spew them out in the order in which they come to mind.The Knee-Jerk Reaction.In this type of essay,writers record their fi rst reaction to an issue without considering the issue in any depth or detail.It

38、always shows.The Glancing Blow.In this type of essay,writers address an issue obliquely.If they are supposed to evaluate the health benefi ts of bicycling,they will bury the topic in an essay on the history of cycling;if they are supposed to address the history of cycling,they will talk about the be

39、n-efi ts of riding bicycles throughout history.Let the Reader Do the Work.Writers of this type of essay expect the reader to follow them through non sequiturs,abrupt shifts in direction,and irrel-evant sidetracks.Persuasive Writing The primary aim of argumentation and the argumentative essay is to s

40、upport a position on an issue.Good writers,however,write for an audience and hope their audience will fi nd what they write persuasive.If you are writing for an audience of people who think critically,it is helpful to adhere to these principles:1.Confi ne your discussion of an opponent s point of vi

41、ew to issues rather than personal considerations.2.When rebutting an opposing viewpoint,avoid being strident or insulting.Don t call opposing arguments absurd or ridiculous.3.If an opponent s argument is good,concede that it is good.4.If space or time is limited,be sure to concentrate on the most im

42、portant considerations.Don t become obsessive about refuting every last criticism of your position.5.Present your strongest arguments fi rst.There is nothing wrong with trying to make a persuasive case for your position.However,in this book,we place more emphasis on making and recognizing good argum

43、ents than on simply devising effective techniques of persuasion.Some people can be persuaded by poor arguments and doubtful claims,and an argumentative essay can be effective as a piece of propaganda even when it is a rational and critical failure.One of the most difficult things you are called upon

44、 to do as a critical thinker is to construct and evaluate claims and arguments independently of their power to win a following.The remainder of this bookafter a section on writing and diversityis devoted to this task.Writing in a Diverse Society In closing,it seems appropriate to mention how importa

45、nt it is to avoid writ-ing in a manner that reinforces questionable assumptions and attitudes about people s gender,ethnic background,religion,sexual orientation,physical moo38286_ch03_069-103.indd 91moo38286_ch03_069-103.indd 9112/9/10 1:32 PM12/9/10 1:32 PM92 CHAPTER 3:CLEAR THINKING,CRITICAL THIN

46、KING,AND CLEAR WRITING ability or disability,or other characteristics.This isn t just a matter of ethics;it is a matter of clarity and good sense.Careless word choices relative to such characteristics not only are imprecise and inaccurate but also may be viewed as biased even if they were not intend

47、ed to be,and thus they may diminish the writer s credibility.Worse,using sexist or racist language may distort the writ-er s own perspective and keep him or her from viewing social issues clearly and objectively.But language isn t entirely not a matter of ethics,either.We are a soci-ety that aspires

48、 to be just,a society that strives not to withhold its benefi ts from individuals on the basis of their ethnic or racial background,skin color,religion,gender,or disability.As a people,we try to end practices and change or remove institutions that are unjustly discriminatory.Some of these unfair pra

49、ctices and institutions are,unfortunately,embedded in our language.Some common ways of speaking and writing,for example,assume that“normal”people are all white males.It is still not uncommon,for instance,to mention a person s race,gender,or ethnic background if the person is not a white male,and not

50、 to do so if the person is.Of course,it may be relevant to whatever you are writing about to state that this particular individual is a male of Irish descent,or whatever;if so,there is absolutely nothing wrong with saying so.Some language practices are particularly unfair to women.Imagine a con-vers