The Nature of Reading & Thinking | 2.2

• Reading


  A process in which you view letters and words printed on a text or flashed on the screen and try to make meaning out of them.
• Schema


  Background knowledge
• Literal Comprehension & Inferential Comprehension


  Levels of reading Comprehension
• Literal Comprehension


  -here, the reader "reads the lines"

  -get what is directly stated in the text

  -there's no other meaning being comprehended apart from what is already obvious.

  -can be answered simply reading the words
• Literal Comprehension


  foundation of all levels of comprehension
• Inferential Comprehension


  -"read between the lines"

  -search for meaning that is not clearly or explicitly stated, but is actually implied.

  -a related meaning based on what has been said.
• By reading critically, we think and analyze.
• Reading critically leads to a decision on whether or not to believe in what the author says.
• As the University of Liecester put it, "The aim of critical reading is not to find fault, but to assess the strength of the evidence and the argument.
• There are two ways to thinks critically - to look at things inductively and deductively.
• Inductive


  Specific to General
• Deductive


  General to specific
• Inductive


  -puts parts together in order to come up with a generalization

  -looks at similar pieces of evidence and comes up with a general concept.
• Deductive


  -Breaks down things into parts

  -looks at a concept and tries to prove through examples

  -looks for evidence through examples before believing in something.
• Similarities between Inductive and deductive thinking

  • needs evidence
  • needs thinking
  • Ways of thinking
• Logical fallacies


  Arguments that are illogical
• THE 4 LOGICAL FALLACIES

  1. Personal attack (Ad Hominem)
  2. Appeal to Force (Ad Baculum)
  3. Appeal to Numbers (Bandwagon)
  4. Appeal to Pity (Ad Misericordiam)
• Personal Attack (Ad Hominem)


  -one of the most effective

  -uses insults, criticisms, and racial slurs to demean a person in order to discredit his/her opinion/argument

  -also known as mudslinging
• Appeal to Force (Ad Baculum)


  -threats of physical or emotional violence are given to the person in order to coerce the latter to do something
• Appeal to Numbers (Bandwagon)


  -arguments are based solely on the number of people subscribing to a certain idea or belief.

  -"Everybody else is doing it."
• Appeal to Pity (AD Misericordiam)


  -defies objectivity by appealing to the person's sense of humanity and compassion.
• Reasoning


  -is using a reason or cause in order to explain or justify something.

  -needed to explain why things happen, to convince people, or to demonstrate conviction.
• Our first instinct is to rely on our previous experiences and knowledge called schema when we reason.
• Relying on our schema is natural, often helpful and reliable, especially when we have lots of background knowledge from our previous experiences and learning.
• CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUND REASONING

  1. Ideas are substantiated with facts from other people, thus adding validity and credibility to your claim.
  2. It is focused on the issue.
  3. It tries to represent the views of not just one person
  4. It does not attack people to discredit them and make their arguments less credible.