Leaford has just started another critical thinking thread here - http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/outside/16302-critical-thinking-who-do-you-believe.html
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I'm finding it difficult to wade through the mounds of information, misinformation, claims, research, assumptions, marketing, facts, lies, myths, reports, hype, and all the stuff on this forum.
There was a time when I was secure in the knowledge that I knew nothing ... then I hung around here a while and started trying to get perspective. Now I still know nothing but in a far more informed and confused way
It seems to me that we really could be doing with more honest, accurate information, even if it doesn't sound favourable towards our beloved habit. Armed with truth we can make informed decisions and represent ourselves in an intelligent way instead of knee jerk 'well it just has to be good' reactions.
Can anyone give me some tips on critical thinking to help me wade through some of the crap here?
I found this link and will have a go at trying to learn a better way of approaching the forum - Critical Thinking On The Web
Ultimately I'd like to be able to carry on vaping in an enjoyable way without unnecessary interference from antis or authorities. In the long term I can only see that happening if we can win the moral battle and prove that we are capable of making our own rational choices even if there is some element of risk - much in the way dangerous sports are tolerated.
Kate, I just posted this link in the Outside section: Here Be Dragons: An Introduction to Critical Thinking
Believe me, skepticism and critical thinking are BIG, important issues for me. I HATE pseudoscience, and have been very careful not to fall into the same sort of logical errors.
I have been constantly questioning myself; am I suffering from confirmation bias, wishful thinking, or otherwise being fooled by fallacies? I try as much as possibe to follow up sources and get facts, not opinion. And in both directions, regarding benefits or dangers. I try to weigh the evidence on both sides fairly, and consider whether the theories are sound, whether the theories explain the known evidence, and whether they are better than the accepted theories.
I am of course no expert, and we could play games comparing competing experts all day and night on, just for example, the real risks of smokeless tobacco, if we wanted to.
But my point is that, yes, I have applied critical thinking skills to my own resoning, and I am as satisfied as I can be, barring new evidence, that my reasoning and conclusions are sound.
I would have to disgree with the extent you carry that to. Yes, in purely scientific or logical terms, nothing can be 100% proven, and thus even gravity remains officially a theory. But does anyone really disagree that gravity is a fact?
Facts are more than just accepted opinion, facts are proven information, like the fact that a dropped object will fall. And a scientific theory is more than just an idea. A scientific theory is the best, most accepted explanation for a large body of individual facts. Like the theory of gravity.
A good scientist does challenge accepted knowledge, it's true, but if he has a sound theory, and good evidence backing it up, he doesn't remain a sole voice of heresy for long. If he does, it's usually because he's wrong.
EDIT: Ya beat me to it again, Kate!
Most people tend to live their lives without worrying too much about the complexities of it. Otherwise we'd all wind up in an existential quagmire. Anyone worrying too much about what they put into their bodies soon will have a microscope on all the tiny bugs, natural or not, that thrive on and beneath the skin. Scientific evidence is fine, when it arrives, and then you'll have to decide for yourself how much of it is agenda-based and how much is in fact, fact. Feel comfortable in what you do until it doesn't feel comfortable anymore. The human species got along just fine for thousands of years without scientific reason or proofs, and sometimes I think we may have gotten too dependent on our modern science that some will manipulate to make decisions for us. Life is mostly about living, not just about analysis, especially other people's analysis.
zippity doo-dah in the face all along and almost nobody cares to address it.
in the face all along and almost nobody cares to address it.
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Kate I am a registered ISO 9000 internal quality auditor and as far as i am concerned critical thinking should begin with solid objective evidence. Start collecting that evidence and soon real answers will appear. Truth is truth, end of story. Stay away from gray areas and draw clear boundaries between black and white or truth and false. Then answers will make themselves plain and clear. Then you will be able to make informed decisions.
Wouldn't you agree too, iam0z, that productive evaluation depends also on collected and perhaps sequentially presented evidence which means not only observing but I suppose to some extent promoting the interaction between stakeholders?
C.
Well M'lady evaluations should always be made objectively and remember if any part of the statement is false the whole statement is false. We are in the pursuit of truths in order to collect facts and make informed decisions. So yes I guess all evidence must be examined for content and then graded on factual content. What was it Sherlock Holmes said? Something to the affect, that after dis guarding all evidence that is false. Whatever is left, no matter how illogical, must inevitably be the truth.
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Love the M'lady, half tempted to reply "Bring the car round now, Parker!"
What of the stakeholders though?
Truth is a many-faceted thing...
Best
C.
No Ma'am, actual truth is a single faceted diamond. For example, a bowling ball and a small marble both fall at the same rate 32 feet per second per second. white is white black is black water is wet the clear sky is blue and so on. For every aspect of science there can only be one truth. Though there maybe many paths one can take to achieve the same results the truths of the results are undeniable.
Kate quantum physics is all very well and good through out the galaxy and the universe, but all i want to do is clean an atomizer here on earth .............LOL!!!!!!!!!!
Well as we registered ISO 9000 internal quality auditors say......"you are examining things beyond the scope of the audit".................... snickers
Have read all these posts, and have concluded that your Thread Question has been answered!
YES, there are a lot of Critical Thinkers out here, we're the ones who pick through all the "stuff" and sort in into our "opinion" file.
But my impression of this whole new cigarette concept is that we do need more facts to back up our opinions.
YES, there are a lot of Critical Thinkers out here, we're the ones who pick through all the "stuff" and sort in into our "opinion" file.
But my impression of this whole new cigarette concept is that we do need more facts to back up our opinions.
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