Asking the Right Questions, A Guide to Critical Thinking, 8th Ed

CHAPTER
12
WHAT SIGNIFICANT
INFORMATION IS OMITTED?
How compelling are the following advertisements?
Try Happyme, the number one doctor prescribed treatment for depression.
See Kingdom of Heaven, the best action film of the year!
The purpose of the advertisements is, of course, to persuade you to buy more
of the designated product and to see the designated movie. Even before your
critical-thinking skills developed to their current level, you knew that such
advertisements tell less than the whole truth. For example, if the Happyme
Company gives a bigger discount to psychiatrists than do other pharmaceutical
companies, provides psychiatrists with greater numbers of free samples, or provides
cruises for psychiatrists who use their product, you are unlikely to see this
information included in the ad. You will not see that information, but it is quite
relevant to your decision about what to take for your depression.
While critical thinkers are seeking the strength of autonomy, they cannot
do so if they are making decisions on the basis of highly limited information.
Almost any conclusion or product has some positive characteristics. Those who
have an interest in telling us only the information they want us to know will tell
us all of these positive characteristics in great and vivid detail. But they will hide
the negative aspects of their conclusions. Thus, actual autonomy requires
our persistent searching for what is being hidden, either accidentally or on
purpose.
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