Course 2021-2022 a.y.

30527 - SEMINARIO DI CRITICAL THINKING / CRITICAL THINKING SEMINAR

Department of Law


For the instruction language of the course see class group/s below
Go to class group/s: 15 - 16 - 17 - 18
BIEM (1 credits - I sem. - OBBC)
Course Director:
DAMIANO CANALE

Classes: 15 (I sem.) - 16 (I sem.) - 17 (I sem.) - 18 (I sem.)
Instructors:
Class 15: DANIELE CHIFFI, Class 16: DANIELE CHIFFI, Class 17: ROBERTO CIUNI, Class 18: ROBERTO CIUNI

Class group/s taught in English

Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

The aim of the seminar is to acquaint students with the most important patterns of reasoning used in social sciences and decision-making. This is done by considering the characteristics of these patterns, their diverse applications, and the psychological biases that affect human reasoning. Each session of the seminar starts with a case study to be discussed in class, enhances a specific set of skills, and includes some tests, or experiments, to help students to understand the potential biases in reasoning and judgment.

CONTENT SUMMARY

  • What is an argument?
  • How to challenge an argument.
  • Pragmatics of argumentation.
  • Reasoning with conditionals.
  • Counterfactual reasoning.
  • Reasoning with analogies and explanations.
  • Reasoning with causes.
  • Reasoning with probabilities.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Identify the structure of an argument.
  • Use arguments to counter other arguments.
  • Understand how arguments are used in human communication.
  • Evaluate conditional reasoning.
  • Explain a fact or event by using analogies.
  • Identify the relationship between a cause and an effect.
  • Predict an event based on existing information.
  • Draw a conclusion about reality, by imagining a situation that does not actually take place.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Determine under what conditions an argument is sound.
  • Choose the proper argument to counter other arguments in reasoning.
  • Apply arguments strategically in interpersonal communication.
  • Assess a conclusion based on conditional statements.
  • Determine whether the explanation of a fact is convincing.
  • Determine whether a fact can be considered the cause of another fact.
  • Use statistics to justify a standpoint.
  • Evaluate the relevance of a counterfactual situation in decision-making.

Teaching methods

  • Face-to-face lectures
  • Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
  • Interactive class activities (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

DETAILS

  • Case-studies: each session of the seminar starts with the discussion of a case study presented through a short video or some slides.
  • Interactive class activities: the course includes tests and experiments that are carried out in class.

Assessment methods

  Continuous assessment Partial exams General exam
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
x   x

ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

The exam aims to evaluate the understanding of the notions discussed in class (how arguments are used in human communication, what their structure is, how to use them to counter other arguments) and the ability to apply those notions to particular questions (by determining the properties of an argument presented in the test, or selecting the right solution to a given problem).

The exam aims to evaluate the understanding of the notions discussed in class and the ability to apply them to particular questions.

Students have their grade recorded simply as a pass or fail. The seminar includes a continuous assessment or, alternatively, a final examination.

  • The continuous assessment consists of 2 multiple-choice partial tests. Those students who do not take the continuous assessment tests or do not pass all of them, have to take the final exam.
  • The final exam consists of a multiple-choice test which covers all the subjects considered in the seminar.

Teaching materials


ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS

  • D. CANALE, R. CIUNI, A. FRIGERIO, G. TUZET, Critical Thinking. An Introduction (Milano: EGEA, 2021), with the exception of Chapters 5 and 11, and sections 6.4 and 7.3.4.
  • Slides presented during the seminar.
Last change 28/08/2021 10:39