We are going to explore what is meant by the concept of "critical thinking," looking especially at ways in which poor critical thinking affects our behavior. We will distinguish between 'external' and 'internal' critical thinking. External critical thinking is the ability to apply critical thinking skills to assertions and arguments of others. Internal critical thinking is "thinking about your thinking, while you're thinking, in order to improve your thinking." It is this aspect that the class will focus on. In other words, we will be looking at ways that we as individuals might be wrong, without realizing it, due to common mistakes that human beings tend to make. This is the heart of the class and it borrows significantly from the fields of psychology, philosophy, statistics, and economics/business, and more generally, the scientific method. In this section we will learn about concepts such as confirmation bias, the Dunning Kruger effect, logical fallacies, and risk management. We will then examine how a deficit of critical thinking has created a "vicious cycle" and helped lead to our current political environment. Confirmation bias, negative partisanship, echo chambers, and social media interact in a way that enhances the need for stronger critical thinking skills. We will end with ways individuals can work on their own critical thinking, as well as ways to collectively improve critical thinking as a society.

Students will take two in-class quizzes, produce two short in-class writing assignments, and one final exam. The structure of the course is meant to leverage intellectual curiosity, promote discussion and critical thinking, and improve reading and writing skills. 

Here is our schedule (subject to change, with advance notification):

Section 1: Introduction
Week 1: Introduction to the course, myself, critical thinking, and politics
Week 2: Defining and understanding critical thinking, both external and internal
Section 2: Internal Critical Thinking: Problems and Pitfalls
Week 3: (Quiz 1) Psychology: Dunning-Kruger, Confirmation bias, etc.
Week 4: Philosophy/Logic: Logical fallacies, such as the strawman argument, ad hominem attacks, the genetic fallacy
Week 5: Statistics: Laws of probability, absolute v relative percentages
Week 6:  (Quiz 2) Business/economics: Risk management
Section 3: The political world
Week 7: A 'vicious circle' of partisanship, social media, echo chambers, and bias
Week 8: Political partisanship
Weeks 9: Experts and expertise
Week 10: The media
Weeks 11 Case study: COVID-19
Week 12: Final exam