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Beyond feelings is designed to introduce you to the subject of critical thinking.The subject may be new to you because it has not been emphasized in most elementary and secondary schools.In fact,until fairly recently,most colleges gave it little attention.For the past four decades,the dominant emphasis has been on subjectivity rather than objectivity,on feeling rather than on thought.
Over the past several decades, however,a number of studies of America's schools have criticized the neglect of critical thinking, and a growing number of educators and leaders in business,industry,and the professions have urged the development of new courses and teaching materials to overcome the neglect.
It is also no exaggeration to say that critical thinking is one of the most important subjects you will study in college regardless of your academic major.The quality of your schoolwork,your efforts in your career, your contributions to community life ,your conduct of personal affairs-all will depend on your ability to solve problems and make decisions.
The book has three main sections. ** The first ,"The Context," will help you understand such important concepts as individuality,critical thinking,truth,knowledge ,opinion,evidence, and argument and overcome attitudes and ideas that obstruct critical thinking. The second section,"The Pitfalls,"will teach you recognize and avoid the most common errors in thinking.The third section,"A Strategy,"will help you acquire the various skills used in addressing problems and issues. This section includes tips on identifying and overcoming your personal intellectual weaknesses as well as techniques for becoming more observant, clarifying issues,conducting inquiries,evaluating evidence, analyzing other people's views, and making sound judgments.**At the end of each chapter, you will find a number of applications to challenge your critical thinking and help you exercise your skills.These
applications cover problems and issues both timely and timeless.The final application in each of the first thirteen chapters invites you to examine an especially important issue about which informed opinion is divided.
Students sometimes get the idea that a textbook must be read page by page and that reading ahead violates some unwritten rule. This notion is mistaken.Students' background knowledge varies widely;what one student knows very well,another knows only vaguely and a third is totally unfamiliar with.Any time you need or want to look ahead to explanation in a later chapter,by all means do so.Let's say you make a statement and a friend says,"That's relativism,pure and simple."If you aren't sure exactly what she means,go to the index,look up "relativism",proceed to the appropriate page, and find out.
Looking ahead is especially prudent in the case of concepts and procedures relevant to the end-of-chapter applications.One such concept is plagiarism. If you are not completely clear on what constitutes plagiarism,why it is unacceptable, and how to avoid it,take a few minutes right now to learn.Look for the section"Avoiding Plagiarism" toward the end of Chapter 2. Similarly, if you are not as skilled as you would like to be doing library or Internet research,it would be a good idea to read Chapter 17 now. Doing so could save you a great deal of time and effort completing homework assignments.
