Key Insights from Chapter 5 – Enhancing Critical Thinking and Reasoning

Key Insights from Chapter 5 – Enhancing Critical Thinking and Reasoning

From the introduction of Chapter 5, the most valuable and important idea, in my opinion, is the stress on the need and challenge of understanding people’s claims and the reasons behind them before making an evaluative opinion. This idea highlights the fundamental critical thinking skill of analysis, which comprises profoundly comprehending the root of beliefs and decisions. Subsequently, the text emphasizes that premature evaluation without comprehensive analysis can often result in misunderstandings. The technique of mapping, as described, functions to illustrate the flow of reasoning, starting from the initial statements and flowing progressively all the way to the ending, which is conclusions, ensuring that analyses are accurate, complete, and fair-minded (Peter & Gittens, 2015). This approach promotes a deeper understanding of different perspectives and supports the development of well-founded evaluations.

Among the concepts discussed in the chapter, ambiguity is what I believe can make it challenging when analyzing a statement. The first reason for this is based on subjectivity, whereby the interpretation of ambiguous statements can be subjective and influenced by the analyst’s upbringing, experiences, preconceptions, and perceptions. This subjectivity can result in unreliable analyses and difficulty in reaching a consensus. Secondly, ambiguous statements can be inherently vague, meaning they lack precision. This vagueness makes it challenging to draw clear deductions, as the lack of precise information leaves room for numerous elucidations and assumptions. Thirdly, ambiguity can result in more than a few reasonable interpretations, making it challenging to determine which implication the message conveyer intended. As such, analysts have to take into consideration all possible meanings, increasing the complexity of the analysis.

I believe that bullying should be a crime that one should be prosecuted for. My evidence for this belief is from several studies, including one by Clark, Cochran, Maiolatesi & Pachankis, 2020), which found that LGTQ youths who committed suicide had a five times higher likelihood of having experienced bullying in their death records. Correspondingly, the study found that seventy-five percent of children aged ten to thirteen years who identified as members of the LGTQ community and had committed suicide had also been bullied. Notably, this does not only apply to the LGTQ community; children from numerous minority communities are constantly bullied, as well as children from majority communities, and some of them also sadly end up taking their own lives. In addition, apart from suicide, bullying has several other effects, including depression, anxiety, and loneliness, among others.

Applying the layers of why to my belief, in the first layer, bullying should be a crime that one should be prosecuted for. In layer two, the consequences of bullying have proven to be a violation of human rights because it means torturing someone else for one’s own pleasure. Besides, when an adult does the same thing a bully does to a child, it is considered child abuse, and they should be jailed for it. Similarly, children who bully others should also face the same fate. In layer three, I believe my last statement is true because bullying is just another word for abuse. When viewed from that perspective, particularly child abuse, it then becomes a crime and, therefore, should be treated as such. In the fourth layer, even amongst children, bullying should be treated as a crime, as children have demonstrated their capacity for criminality by committing a variety of crimes, such as rape, murder, and theft. Consistently, bullying should be considered both emotional and physical child abuse because it is exactly that, and bullies should not only be dealt with in school as is the norm; it should be a court matter. I believe enforcing this law would go a long way in preventing bullying, which prevents the effects of bullying, including child suicides and depression, among others, from occurring.

References

Clark, K. A., Cochran, S. D., Maiolatesi, A. J., & Pachankis, J. E. (2020). Prevalence of bullying among youth classified as LGBTQ who died by suicide as reported in the National Violent Death Reporting System, 2003-2017. JAMA pediatrics, 174(12), 1211-1213.

Peter, F., & Gittens, C. A. (2015). Think Critically. Pearson

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Remember – these journal questions require more thinking than writing. Think about exactly what you are asked to do, and then write as economically as possible.

For this journal assignment, answer each of the following prompts:

Important Idea
Considering only the Introduction to Chapter 5, in terms of developing critical thinking and reasoning, what do you consider is the most valuable and important idea in that section? You can either summarize or directly quote the text; then, briefly explain why you find this idea important and valuable.

Key Insights from Chapter 5 – Enhancing Critical Thinking and Reasoning

Critical Thinking
In Chapter 5, the section “Making Arguments” states: “In some ways applying our core critical thinking skills to analysis can be more difficult than offering an evaluative opinion. Analysis, like interpretation, is understanding at a deep level (p. 89)”
What concepts discussed in Chapter 4 might make analysis of a statement difficult – and why?
Beliefs
Why do you believe what you believe?
What is your “evidence”?
Test one of your beliefs by asking yourself, “Why?” As you answer each “why,” go down another layer – four layers will probably give you a good idea of why you believe what you believe.
Your product should show a well-reasoned and logical basis for your belief. Stay away from the big stuff, like believing in God, or who to vote for in the next election, and don’t look for sources – this is about what you believe and why you believe it. After all, this is only an 8-week course, and we can’t settle everything!
Click on the following link for an example of layers of why:
Example of Layers of Why
Note
Don’t be tempted to skip steps. If you start with layer 5, you have just opened up a whole new line of “whys.” For example, why should everyone be afforded an opportunity to reach his or her highest potential? After all, for most of the history of the world, that has not been the case.