Beyond Feelings

CHAPTER 16
Selecting an Issue
The term issue, in the context of critical thinking, means any matter about
which people tend to disagree; in other words, it is almost synonymous
with the word controversy.* The most prominent issues—the ones we see
most often in the news—are moral, legal, and political: Is abortion murder?
Should teenagers who commit serious crimes be tried as adults? Has
soft money corrupted the financing of political campaigns? But controversies
exist in other fields as well: Agriculturalists are divided over the
effects of pesticides on the environment. Investment analysts disagree
over what percentage, if any, of the average person’s portfolio should be in
technology stocks. Educators are at odds over the merits of tenure. Legal
scholars differ on whether judicial activism is a danger to the Republic.
Speaking and writing about issues are so common and so natural that
they are often done too casually. (We noted earlier how the belief that
everyone is entitled to his or her opinion has emboldened many people to
express views for which they have no evidence.) Critical thinkers, however,
understand that care in selecting issues for analysis is an important
part of the thinking process.
The Basic Rule: Less Is More
This rule may sound strange, particularly if you are in the habit of choosing
the broadest possible topics for your compositions. Fear of the blank
page leads many students to this behavior. They reason as follows: “If I
choose a limited subject, such as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ chances of
getting to the Super Bowl this year, the latest research on high blood pressure,
or the Battle of Saratoga during the Revolutionary War, I may run
out of things to say before I reach the required number of words. So I’ll
play it safe and pick a general topic such as sports, disease, or war.”
*The expression controversial issue, though commonly used, is redundant.
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