Beyond Feelings

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CHAPTER 13 The Errors in Combination 151 like one of the guys with a cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth. As he progressed from an occasional cigarette to a pack-a-day habit, the cost became prohibitive, and he began to steal money from his parents to buy cigarettes. “Hey, it’s either that or do without,” he reasoned, “and I’m not about to do without.” Now Sam is forty years old, married with a couple of children, and still smoking. He has developed a wheeze but attributes it to an allergy. Each new surgeon general’s report on the dangers of smoking sends him into a tirade. “They haven’t been able to prove smoking causes any disease,” he argues, “so it’s up to the individual to decide whether he’ll be harmed by it.” More recently, when tobacco companies were accused of adding nicotine and suppressing unfavorable test results, Sam defended them. “Those executives are wealthy. They have no reason to harm millions of men, women, and children.” What incenses him most of all is the nonsmoking zones at work, in airports, and in other public places. “I don’t tell other people what to do and when and where to do it, so no one has any business telling me.” Sam’s first error was being victimized by conformity. His rationale for stealing reveals either/or thinking. (There was an alternative to stealing— get a part-time job.) His attribution of the wheeze to an allergy showed face-saving, and his tirades against the surgeon general’s reports contained the unwarranted assumption that individual smokers are informed enough to decide whether they’ll be harmed. His reasoning about executives assumed that wealthy people are not tempted to do wrong. But there are other temptations than financial gain to be considered, such as retaining prestige and being included in the inner circle of management. Finally, Sam oversimplified the issue of smoking in public places, notably by ignoring the problem of secondhand smoke. EXAMPLE 3 Stephen enrolls as a freshman at Progress Technical College. He notices that he has an eight-o’clock English class three days a week. Because he’s a late riser, this disturbs him. But when he attends the first class, he notices that the instructor’s name is Stein. “Wow,” he thinks to himself, “what better break could a Jewish kid who likes to sleep in the morning have than a Jewish instructor!” Over the next few weeks, he seizes any excuse to stay after class, talk with Mr. Stein, and win his favor. For his first two compositions, Stephen chooses subjects that will permit him to stress his Jewishness (and thereby impress Mr. Stein). Soon he decides that Mr. Stein “understands” him. He begins to cut class occasionally and hands in about one assignment out of four. When he sees Mr. Stein, Stephen plies him with pathetic tales of misfortune. His midterm grade is D, but he tells himself that Mr. Stein is just trying to scare him and will raise his grade in the end. Thus he attends class even less frequently and does less work. Eventually, the semester ends, and he receives an F in English. His first reaction is disbelief. He rushes to see Mr. Stein, who says, “I made it clear on the first day of class that students could expect to pass only if they attended class and did their homework faithfully. I’m sorry about the grade, but you deserve it.” From
152 PART TWO The Pitfalls that moment on, Stephen refuses to speak to Mr. Stein when he passes him on campus. And whenever the conversation in the snack bar or dorm turns to teachers, he loudly denounces Mr. Stein as a phony. Stephen’s first error was the unwarranted assumption that Mr. Stein is Jewish. (Many people named Stein are not Jewish.) Next he embraced the stereotype of Jews as quick to take care of their own. These errors led him to reject the most reasonable interpretation of his midterm grade and to believe instead that it was not cause for concern. When he finally failed the course, rather than acknowledge his dereliction and fallacious thinking, he resorted to the face-saving tactic of atttacking Mr. Stein’s integrity. A Sensible View of Terminology From time to time you may experience difficulty calling an error by its proper name. For example, you may have trouble distinguishing among oversimplification, hasty conclusion, and unwarranted assumption. (This is a common source of confusion.) The following comparison should help eliminate, or at least minimize, that confusion. Oversimplification Is stated directly. Occurs as a simple assertion or as the premise of an argument. Distorts reality by misstatement or omission. Hasty conclusion Is stated directly. Occurs as the conclusion of an argument. Fails to account for one or more significant items of evidence. Assumption Is unstated but implied. Often is a hidden premise in an argument. May be either warranted (supported by the evidence) or unwarranted. Knowing the right terminology is advantageous, but more important is recognizing where reasoning has gone awry and being able to explain the error in terms of the issue involved. In the vast majority of cases, plain language will do that job nicely. Applications 1. Each of the following passages suggests an error in thinking. Decide what error each suggests and explain your answer. a. In 1876, after learning of Alexander Graham Bell’s patent for the telephone, a Western Union telegraph executive sent the following in-house memo: “The ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” 1
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Beyond Feelings A Guide to Critical
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To the memory of Howard Trumble, wh
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vi CONTENTS Imperfect Memory 35 Def
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viii CONTENTS Using Your Inventory
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x PRFACE evaluate them carefully wh
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xii PRFACE Aimee Ross-Kilroy, Loyol
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2 INTRODUCTION applications cover p
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CHAPTER 1 Who Are You? Suppose some
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6 PART ONE The Context The Influenc
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8 PART ONE The Context What effects
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10 PART ONE The Context was not to
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12 PART ONE The Context does not su
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14 PART ONE The Context 1. Do a bri
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CHAPTER 2 What Is Critical Thinking
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18 PART ONE The Context that has ch
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20 PART ONE The Context Thought Pro
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22 PART ONE The Context Are interes
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24 PART ONE The Context Basic Activ
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30 PART ONE The Context Application
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CHAPTER 3 What Is Truth? For hundre
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34 PART ONE The Context You have he
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36 PART ONE The Context in their ti
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38 PART ONE The Context to express
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40 PART ONE The Context the example
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42 PART ONE The Context ripples can
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44 PART ONE The Context Application
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46 PART ONE The Context range of vi
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48 PART ONE The Context We may not
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52 PART ONE The Context seventeenth
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64 PART ONE The Context In the 1980
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66 PART ONE The Context What are th
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68 PART ONE The Context 2. Resist t
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70 PART ONE The Context 9. Think of
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CHAPTER 6 What Is Evidence? To stat
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74 PART ONE The Context the conclus
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76 PART ONE The Context EXPERT OPIN
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78 PART ONE The Context Were they o
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80 PART ONE The Context When the ev
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82 PART ONE The Context A Differenc
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84 PART ONE The Context It can be h
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86 PART ONE The Context The Argumen
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88 PART ONE The Context When an arg
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92 PART ONE The Context The U. S. C
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CHAPTER 8 The Basic Problem: ”Min
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96 PART TWO The Pitfalls important
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98 PART TWO The Pitfalls discussed
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CHAPTER 19 Persuading Others When y
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208 PART THREE A Strategy the compa
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212 PART THREE A Strategy Any reaso
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214 PART THREE A Strategy Consider,
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216 PART THREE A Strategy Violates
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220 PART THREE A Strategy restore t
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222 PART THREE A Strategy by the an
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Notes CHAPTER 1: WHO ARE YOU? 1. Th
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226 NOTES 7. “Town’s Terror Fro
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228 NOTES CHAPTER 8: THE BASIC PROB
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230 NOTES 5. “An Exercise in Educ
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abortion, 104, 138 absolutism, 108,
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Henry, Carl F., 99-100 Henslin, Jam
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psychology, 6-7, 11-13, 161 publish
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Beyond Feelings

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