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Assumption and Critical Thinking

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What kinds of assumptions interfere with critical thinking?

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Solution Summary

This solution discusses some of the kinds of assumptions that people make that might interfere with their critical thinking and provides a variety of examples to illustrate the points.

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There a lot of things that can mess up our critical thinking. I will lay out several, hoping that you will run with them. One major obstacle is what's called wishful thinking. Here's a classic example from an essay (called the "the ethics of belief" written by W.K. Clifford way back in the 19th century). Suppose you own a passenger ship that's showing its age. You know, for example, that the hull planking is weak and the resulting leaks are barely controlled by the bilge pump. Now you stand to make a lot of money so long as the ship transports folks to New York City. Repairs are costly and the ship earns no money when it's tied up in dry dock. But what about your worries about the ship's integrity? That ...

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