Reason, Bias, and Inquiry

Reason, Bias, and Inquiry PDF Author: Nathan Ballantyne
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197636918
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
Philosophers and psychologists routinely explore questions surrounding reasoning, inquiry, and bias, though typically in disciplinary isolation. What is the source of our intellectual errors? When can we trust information others tell us? This volume brings together researchers from across the two disciplines to present ideas and insights for addressing the challenges of knowing well in a complicated world in four parts: how to best describe the conceptual and empirical terrain of reason and bias; how reasoning and bias influence basic perception of the physical world; how to assess knowledge and expertise in ourselves and others; and how people approach reasoning and knowledge among and about groups. Together, the chapters show what philosophers and psychologists can do together when they shine light on the challenges of reaching the truth and avoiding errors. Reason, Bias, and Inquiry is a multidisciplinary meditation for readers who are awash in information but are uncertain how to manage it to make informed decisions.

Reason, Bias, and Inquiry

Reason, Bias, and Inquiry PDF Author: Nathan Ballantyne
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197636918
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Get Book

Book Description
Philosophers and psychologists routinely explore questions surrounding reasoning, inquiry, and bias, though typically in disciplinary isolation. What is the source of our intellectual errors? When can we trust information others tell us? This volume brings together researchers from across the two disciplines to present ideas and insights for addressing the challenges of knowing well in a complicated world in four parts: how to best describe the conceptual and empirical terrain of reason and bias; how reasoning and bias influence basic perception of the physical world; how to assess knowledge and expertise in ourselves and others; and how people approach reasoning and knowledge among and about groups. Together, the chapters show what philosophers and psychologists can do together when they shine light on the challenges of reaching the truth and avoiding errors. Reason, Bias, and Inquiry is a multidisciplinary meditation for readers who are awash in information but are uncertain how to manage it to make informed decisions.

Reason, Bias, and Inquiry

Reason, Bias, and Inquiry PDF Author: Nathan Ballantyne
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780197636930
Category : Discrimination
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
"Questions surrounding reasoning, inquiry, and bias are among the most enduring in human history. Ideas and theories about human reasoning and knowledge can be found in ancient philosophical writings, from Greece to China. Yet, to a great extent, these questions have never been more pressing-and unsettled-as they are today in our information-drenched contemporary society"--

Reason, Bias, and Inquiry

Reason, Bias, and Inquiry PDF Author: Nathan Ballantyne
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780197636923
Category : Discrimination
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
"Questions surrounding reasoning, inquiry, and bias are among the most enduring in human history. Ideas and theories about human reasoning and knowledge can be found in ancient philosophical writings, from Greece to China. Yet, to a great extent, these questions have never been more pressing-and unsettled-as they are today in our information-drenched contemporary society"--

Reason in the Balance

Reason in the Balance PDF Author: Sharon Bailin
Publisher: Hackett Publishing
ISBN: 1624664792
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 510

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Book Description
Unlike most texts in critical thinking, Reason in the Balance focuses broadly on the practice of critical inquiry, the process of carefully examining an issue in order to come to a reasoned judgment. Although analysis and critique of individual arguments have an important role to play, this text goes beyond that dimension to emphasize the various aspects that go into the practice of inquiry, including identifying issues and relevant contexts, understanding competing cases, and making a comparative judgment. Distinctive Features of the Text: Emphasis on applying critical thinking to complex issues with competing arguments Inclusion of chapters on inquiry in specific contexts Attention to the dialogical aspects of inquiry, including sample dialogues Emphasis on the spirit of inquiry The Second Edition Features: Updated examples and items of current interest New dialogues on vaccination, prostitution, and climate change New material on biases in reasoning, including emotional, psychological, social, and cognitive The Reason in the Balance Website includes: An Appendix on Logic Exercises Quizzes

Knowing Our Limits

Knowing Our Limits PDF Author: Nathan Ballantyne
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019084728X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
Changing our minds isn't easy. Even when we recognize our views are disputed by intelligent and informed people, we rarely doubt our rightness. Why is this so? How can we become more open-minded, putting ourselves in a better position to tolerate conflict, advance collective inquiry, and learn from differing perspectives in a complex world? Nathan Ballantyne defends the indispensable role of epistemology in tackling these issues. For early modern philosophers, the point of reflecting on inquiry was to understand how our beliefs are often distorted by prejudice and self-interest, and to improve the foundations of human knowledge. Ballantyne seeks to recover and modernize this classical tradition by vigorously defending an interdisciplinary approach to epistemology, blending philosophical theorizing with insights from the social and cognitive sciences. Many of us need tools to help us think more circumspectly about our controversial views. Ballantyne develops a method for distinguishing between our reasonable and unreasonable opinions, in light of evidence about bias, information overload, and rival experts. This method guides us to greater intellectual openness--in the spirit of skeptics from Socrates to Montaigne to Bertrand Russell--making us more inclined to admit that sometimes we don't have the right answers. With vibrant prose and fascinating examples from science and history, Ballantyne shows how epistemology can help us know our limits.

The Epistemology of Democracy

The Epistemology of Democracy PDF Author: Hana Samaržija
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000861694
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
This is the first edited scholarly collection devoted solely to the epistemology of democracy. Its fifteen chapters, published here for the first time and written by an international team of leading researchers, will interest scholars and advanced students working in democratic theory, the harrowing crisis of democracy, political philosophy, social epistemology, and political epistemology. The volume is structured into three parts, each offering five chapters. The first part, Democratic Pessimism, covers the crisis of democracy, the rise of authoritarianism, public epistemic vices, misinformation and disinformation, civic ignorance, and the lacking quantitative case for democratic decision-making. The second part, Democratic Optimism, discusses the role of hope and positive emotions in rebuilding democracy, proposes solutions to myside bias, and criticizes dominant epistocratic approaches to forming political administrations. The third and final part, Democratic Realism, assesses whether we genuinely require emotional empathy to understand the perspectives of our political adversaries, discusses the democratic tension between mutual respect for others and a quest for social justice, and evaluates manifold top-down and bottom-up approaches to policy making.

Why It's OK Not to Think for Yourself

Why It's OK Not to Think for Yourself PDF Author: Jonathan Matheson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000924319
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
We tend to applaud those who think for themselves: the ever-curious student, for example, or the grownup who does their own research. Even as we’re applauding, however, we ourselves often don’t think for ourselves. This book argues that’s completely OK. In fact, it’s often best just to take other folks’ word for it, allowing them to do the hard work of gathering and evaluating the relevant evidence. In making this argument, philosopher Jonathan Matheson shows how 'expert testimony' and 'the wisdom of crowds' are tested and provides convincing ideas that make it rational to believe something simply because other people believe it. Matheson then takes on philosophy’s best arguments against his thesis, including the idea that non-self-thinkers are free-riding on the work of others, Socrates’ claim that 'the unexamined life isn’t worth living,' and that outsourcing your intellectual labor makes you vulnerable to errors and manipulation. Matheson shows how these claims and others ultimately fail -- and that when it comes to thinking, we often need not be sheepish about being sheep. Key Features Discusses the idea of not thinking for yourself in the context of contemporary issues like climate change and vaccinations Engages in numerous contemporary debates in social epistemology Examines what can be valuable about thinking for yourself and argues that these are insufficient to require you to do so Outlines the key, practical takeaways from the argument in an epilogue

Assessing Information Processing and Online Reasoning as a Prerequisite for Learning in Higher Education

Assessing Information Processing and Online Reasoning as a Prerequisite for Learning in Higher Education PDF Author: Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2832501648
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description


Why I Write

Why I Write PDF Author: George Orwell
Publisher: Renard Press Ltd
ISBN: 1913724263
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 15

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Book Description
George Orwell set out ‘to make political writing into an art’, and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell’s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Why I Write, the first in the Orwell’s Essays series, Orwell describes his journey to becoming a writer, and his movement from writing poems to short stories to the essays, fiction and non-fiction we remember him for. He also discusses what he sees as the ‘four great motives for writing’ – ‘sheer egoism’, ‘aesthetic enthusiasm’, ‘historical impulse’ and ‘political purpose’ – and considers the importance of keeping these in balance. Why I Write is a unique opportunity to look into Orwell’s mind, and it grants the reader an entirely different vantage point from which to consider the rest of the great writer’s oeuvre. 'A writer who can – and must – be rediscovered with every age.' — Irish Times

Inquiry Under Bounds

Inquiry Under Bounds PDF Author: David Thorstad
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198886160
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
This is an open access title available under the terms of a [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International] licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Herbert Simon held that the fundamental turn in the study of bounded rationality is the turn from substantive to procedural rationality. Theories of substantive rationality begin with normative questions about attitudes: what should we prefer, intend, or believe? By contrast, theories of procedural rationality begin with normative questions about processes of inquiry: how should we determine what to prefer, intend, or believe? If Simon was right, then the central task for theories of bounded rationality is to develop an account of rational inquiry for bounded agents. We need, that is, a theory of inquiry under bounds. Inquiry Under Bounds takes as its starting point a five-point bounded rationality program inspired by recent work in cognitive science. To elaborate on and defend that program, Thorstad argues we need an account of rational inquiry for bounded agents. Inquiry under bounds develops an account of rational inquiry for bounded agents: the reason-responsiveness consequentialist view. I use this account to clarify and defend key insights from the bounded tradition as well as to shed light on recent controversies in the epistemology of inquiry.