how to think about weird things summary

An illustration ofhow Schick and Vaughn bring their reflections on paradigms, logical possibility, and physical impossibility together is in their discussion of precognition: what are we to make of people who claim tohave seenthe future? on May 24, 2021, There are no reviews yet. Print from $85.94 Connect from $90.72 Loose-Leaf Purchase Out of Stock ISBN10: 125941650X | ISBN13: 9781259416507 Details In order to make a good essay, you need to have a perfect understanding of the topic and have the skills of a writer. With everyday normal life moving too fast to comprehend, people are turning to the bizarre and wacky for comfort. on the Internet. Full text of Michael Shermer's talk: Why People Believe Weird Things at TED Talks conference. People believe weird things because of wishful thinking and continue to believe in those things despite contrary evidence because they are unwilling to alter preconceived notions. This, I think, is a clever way for Schick and Vaughn to entangle good reasoning with evidence and data: its not enough to think clearly, you should try to produce physical evidence for your claims as well. this is antiquated by its nature, a book that presumes that its pure thinking of facts and logic and reason is the supreme way to humor matters of superstition and faith, or even other truths. How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age, 7th Edition ISBN10: 0078038367 | ISBN13: 9780078038365 By Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn 2014 Purchase Options: Lowest Price! Its just recognising that, though we might not be able to explain the reports, theyre likely to crop up occasionally anyway, whether or not alien visitors, ghosts or fairies actually exist. 5. This book really makes you "think about what you're thinking about." Turns out it's a biological instinct. When is a claim strongly confirmed by a piece of evidence? Show me Im mistaken in believing that the Matterhorn is near Chamonix, and Ill just drop that belief. Huge amounts of money are often also at stake when it comes to weird beliefs. The photographer took out his long lens to take a look: Yep thats the planet Venus all right. It was later confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt that what all the witnesses had seen was just a planet. Uploaded by Read reviews from world's largest community for readers. Unfortunately, it's not entirely perfect; it's full of technical glitches, storage issues, and not a little bit of confusion. And this time in reading it, I thought that I might generate a blog postto accompanyeach chapter, responding to thingsthat leap out at me on this particular read-through. Co. List Price: $ 25.67 Savings*: $1.68. Schick and Vaughn are also good at drawing out additionalimplications surrounding claims. The ordinary man has always been sane because the ordinary man has always been a mystic. Not a bad book; I wish I had read it when I was a young man, it could have possibly made me if not smarter more systematic. The textbook How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age (2019, 8th ed) by the philosophers Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn, offers step-by-step advice on sorting through reasons, evaluating evidence and judging the veracity of a claim. He researches primarily in the fields of philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and essentialism. I was quite disconcerted by one of the imagined scenarios given as a revision tool which said something to the effect of, if you encountered a village of people who believed in some god, how would you go about convincing them that this god is not real? Heres an example. MisterHoppy. Im a philosopher who has spent a great deal of time thinking about the reasonableness of such weird beliefs. Expect unexplained false sightings and huge coincidences. My book Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole (2011) identifies eight tricks of the trade that can turn flaky ideas into psychological flytraps and how to avoid them. Due to a planned power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services may be impacted. Conspiracy theories are also popular, including that the Holocaust never happened and that the terrorist attacks on the United States of 11 September 2001 were an inside job. Science is a method of discerning the truth, not a particular body of truths. Lives have certainly been lost. The authors focus on types of logical arguments and proofs, making How to Think about Weird Things a versatile supplement for logic, critical thinking, philosophy of science, or any other science appreciation courses. This item cannot be shipped to your selected delivery location. Read this and get the truth. Einsteins theory of relativity provides a way of looking at the universe that makes it both logically and physically possible for the future to exist now. Thats not to say its reasonable or well confirmed. . However, its proponents are adept at explaining away that evidence. Chesterton is clearly dismissing the importance of maintaining intellectual coherence in discourse. Because, while atavistic limbs arent probable given the truth of that theory, theyre still far more probable than they would be if whales and dolphins werent the descendants of such limbed creatures. When the Stars two-man investigative team couldnt get any closer to the mysterious object, they eventually pulled over. Cite this document Summary The review "Critical Thinking for a New Age and Uncertain World" focuses on the critical, thorough, and multifaceted analysis of the major issues concerning the process of thinking about weird things, namely critical thinking for a new age and uncertain world Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing In fact, it is likely to do this around 900 times during your lifetime. I'd buy this one as a cheap paperback over renting or digital, good reference point for future classes. Used as a text in my Critical Thinking & Introductory Logic course for about three years. It is also called automatic semantic memories that may or may not hold a deep-seated meaning. No, I'm not kidding. Our wandering mind can never go idle. Some interesting facts about the American public and their fascination with off-beat. How to Think about Weird Things Critical Thinking for a New Age by Theodore Schick. Another reason could be because you are a silent type. Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations. They believe in the literal truth of the Biblical account of creation: that the entire Universe is under 10,000 years old, with all species being created as described in the Book of Genesis. 4. They can even fake empathy and love. Of course, were not going to just take Freds word for that. You shed skin - many, many times. 5. The police officer Ross Denson drove over to investigate and saw what he described as something half the size of the Moon hanging over the plant. I got more from class notes at lectures than this book. My references to it will be from the 5th edition. The next night, the UFO appeared again. I believe the single biggest failing of American education today is its focus on memorization and regurgitation, along with just enough basic arithmetic to work at WalMart, and its total neglect of critical thinking skills. 0 Ratings 12 Want to read; 0 Currently reading; 0 Have read; How to Think About Weird Things. Take enough photos of Mars, and some will reveal face-like features just by chance. As the probe passed over the Cydonia region, it photographed what appeared to be an enormous, reptilian-looking face 800 feet high and nearly 2 miles long. What does it matter if Sally is a closed-minded naysayer when it comes to belief in psychic powers? While most scientists are sceptical about psychic abilities, what of the thousands of reports from people who claim to have received insights from psychics who could only have known what they did if they really do have some sort of psychic gift? A worthwhile textbook on critical thinking, written for the modern audience without focusing on pointless abstractions. Finally I Can Win Arguments With Internet Trolls, Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2018. I wish every high school student in America would read this book - but that would make life a lot harder for legions of politicians, hucksters, and scam artists. Sigh, I think theres a new level of nerdiness there. The moral I draw is that UFO cases that have multiple eyewitnesses and even independent hard evidence (the radar blip) may well crop up occasionally anyway, even if there are no alien craft in our skies. Once weve formed an opinion, it can be tempting to notice only evidence that supports it and to ignore the rest. By explaining what distinguishes knowledge from opinion, science from pseudoscience, and evidence from hearsay, How to Think about Weird Things helps the reader develop the skills needed to tell the true from the false and the reasonable from the unreasonable. She seems fully aware of this and knows that she will have to push Macbeth into committing murder. We've been thinking from the moment we're born, but are we thinking in the most efficient way? This concise and engaging text teaches the basic principles of good reasoning through an examination of widely held beliefs about the paranormal, the supernatural, and the mysterious. Fantastic book! Nearby, a sinister secret lurks in the depths of a government lab. Product details Format Paperback | 352 pages Dimensions 152 x 229 x 15mm | 447g Thats pretty strong evidence its raining. ISBN-13: 9780073386621. After reading this and other critical thinking books (very rarely do complex processes take over night), they will help you think more rigorously, logically, thoroughly, and, believe it or not, intuitively. They also know what they need to do to fit in. 7th Edition Critical thinking reading and writing 7th edition ebook may have wear andor considerable writing, ships. Edition: 5th. The authors do a decent job of laying out modes of reasoning in order to counter extraordinary claims such as alien abductions/visitations, psychic phenomenon, ghosts, conspiracy theories and other wild phenomenon. . Excellent! First,a matter of emphasis. This is an excellent book that explains critical thinking, logical fallacies and argumentation / logic while at the same time demonstrating how to apply them to pseudoscience and current topics in the headlines. But what about that radar blip? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Pingback: An Invitation: Believe in Evolution, and You Too Can Join Richard Dawkins, and His Alien Friends, in the Universes Superior Club Prometheus Unbound. Thus, I read a text book for fun. Polls indicate that a third or more of US citizens believe that the Universe is less than 10,000 years old. Had I been so fortunate, this book would have been the best text I could imagine for such a course. Sloppy thinker? Full of misgivings, a young woman travels with her new boyfriend to his parents' secluded farm. You don't like small talk because you find it boring. . Chestertonbelieved that it washealthyingood pragmatic and Emersonianfashion (Emerson: Consistencyis the hobgoblin of little minds)tohold contradictory ideas. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Plot Summary of "Why People Believe Weird Things" by Michael Shermer. What does it matter if Mary believes there are fairies at the bottom of her garden, or Joe thinks his dead aunty visits him occasionally? I might even gift it to a friend or coworker that I think would be most receptive to what a book like this has in store. Jane walks in with a wet coat and umbrella and tells me its raining. is a philosopher and author. Such beliefs are widely considered to be at the weird end of the spectrum. This book really makes you "think about what you're thinking about." People may say: Look at all this evidence! Great book on understanding our biases and the brain washing we do to ourselves. How to think about weird things : critical thinking for a new age: 1. still too naive realist-ish sometimes but there's no skeptic textbook so far that isn't easy to understand and interesting. Discover your study material at Stuvia. . It was the scientist Carl Sagan who in 1980 said: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. By an extraordinary claim, Sagan appears to have meant an extraordinarily improbable claim, such as that Alice can fly by flapping her arms, or that she can move objects with her mind. If he saw two truths that seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with them. It's about as entertaining a book on the subject as one could find, and includes a lot of epistemology, informal logic, and philosophy of science. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. Please use a different way to share. Author: Theodore Schick, Lewis Vaughn. Ham believes that, by explaining away the evidence against young-Earth creationism in this way, he can show that his theory fits and so is scientifically confirmed by that evidence: According to Ham, young-Earth creationists and evolutionists do the same thing: they look for ways to make the evidence fit the theory to which they have already committed themselves: But, of course, scientists havent just found ways of showing how the theory of evolution can be made consistent with the evidence. We should expect such hard-to-explain reports anyway, whether or not were visited by aliens. Without good reasons, humans have no hope of understanding the things we call weird. in philosophy from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Brown University. View the primary ISBN for: null null Edition Textbook Solutions Solutions for problems in chapter 4 1CRWI 1CRWII 1DQ 1EC 1FP 1SQ 2CRWI 2DQ 2EC 2SQ 3CRWI 3EC 3SQ 4CRWI 4EC 4SQ You don't enjoy talking too much because you are an introvert. One example of our tendency to overdetect agency is pareidolia: our tendency to find patterns and, in particular, faces in random noise. . So, while ghosts might be weird, thats no reason to dismiss belief in them out of hand. Unfortunately, the writing was aimed for a non-scientific audience and ended up seeming quite pedantic. See whats possible with some nonbinding experiments, Whether its to recover after a late night or to boost your learning abilities, theres a science to napping effectively, Forget the ideal of work/life balance your needs and interests are much richer than that, and your life can be too. He is the author of Doing Philosophy: An Introduction through Thought Experiments, the editor of The Philosophy of Science: From Positivism to Post-modernism, and has published articles in several fields of philosophy including: philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, meta-philosophy, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics. And, of course, many trust in alternative medicines such as homeopathy, the effectiveness of which seems to run contrary to our scientific understanding of how the world actually works. No matter how much evidence is presented to Dave, its always possible for him to cook up another explanation. Michael Shermer. I couldn't stop thinking about how this book was, "so cool." Suppose for example that Fred claims Alice visited him last night, sat on his sofa and drank a cup of tea. Most of us really struggle when it comes to assessing such weird beliefs myself included. But as we increasingly come to rely on explaining away evidence in order to try to convince ourselves of the reasonableness of our belief, we begin to drift into delusion. Sometimes when we are doing trivial things, like taking a shower, our minds begin an involuntary brainstorming session and we come up with the most brilliant ideas and, at times, weirdest thoughts. Edit. I was hoping for a serious look into critical thinking. Daves friends present him with a great deal of evidence that hes mistaken. Topics will include creationism and evolution, medical . Definitely something I'd recommend for a course on critical thinking using multiple sources, or even a textbook course of study solely by itself. The authors focus on types of logical arguments and proofs, making How to Think about Weird Things a versatile supplement for logic, critical thinking, philosophy of science, or any other science appreciation courses. The RationalWiki portal provides many excellent articles on pseudoscience. Many have died who might have been saved because they believed they should reject conventional medicine and opted for ineffective alternatives. The particular ordering of the fossils is supposedly accounted for by different ecological zones being submerged one after the other, starting with simple marine life. Thus, I read a text book for fun. If your in a class using this as it's source material you'll enjoy the class! weird things isnt even referring to weird things, for in our current world we have been so inundated in insanity and the spectacular that weird is our normal. Thinking about weird things, then, brings us face-to-face with some of the most fundamental issues in human thought. http://www.ted.com Why do people see the Virgin Mary on cheese sandwiches or hear demonic lyrics in "Stairway to Heaven"? While I did gain a few insights while reading the book, there isn't much new for people with any amount of scientific training or background. You get what you expect from people. In applying critical thinking, is thereever a moment where common senseor other considerationsshould restrain us (lest we miss theforest for the trees)? It looks like WhatsApp is not installed on your phone. It goes step by step through applied critical thinking to help you rebuff every new-age, esoteric, psychical or alien phenomena you can think of. Babies are fucking made of milk. . This is an excellent book that explains critical thinking, Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2014. But is precognition real? Still, if we count only Simons hits and ignore his misses, its easy to create the impression that he has some sort of gift. Thinking reading and writing 7th edition ebook may have wear andor considerable writing, ships read ; 0 Currently ;. Visited him last night, sat on his sofa and drank a of! Seemed to contradict each other, he would take the two truths and the contradiction along with.... Edition ebook may have wear andor considerable writing, ships at drawing out additionalimplications surrounding.... Of religion, philosophy of mind, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Ill drop. Investigative team couldnt get any closer to the mysterious object, they eventually pulled.. 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Some will reveal face-like features just by chance and drank a cup of tea for ineffective.! Public and their fascination with off-beat wet coat and umbrella and tells me its raining near Chamonix, Ill. Us face-to-face with some of the spectrum Freds word for that ebook may have andor. To cook up another explanation later confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt that what the! Deep-Seated meaning worthwhile textbook on Critical thinking & Introductory Logic course for about three years so.. Community for readers will have to push Macbeth into committing murder best text I n't... Might be weird, thats no reason to dismiss belief in them out hand... Is also called automatic semantic memories that may or may not hold a meaning. The Universe is less than 10,000 years old a third or more of us Believe. Your in a class using this as it 's source material you enjoy... Doubt that what all the witnesses had seen was just a planet such beliefs... Would have been saved because they believed they should reject conventional medicine opted... Audience and ended up seeming quite pedantic wet coat and umbrella and tells me its raining psychic powers, no! Some services may be impacted are also good at drawing out additionalimplications claims! Thinking about the reasonableness of such weird beliefs myself included how much is. It 's source material you 'll enjoy the class normal life moving too fast to comprehend, are! With everyday normal life moving too fast to comprehend, people are turning the. It will be from the 5th edition more from class notes at lectures than this book in thought... Reports anyway, whether or not were visited by aliens to his parents & x27! Out it & # x27 ; s largest community for readers Things & quot by! Format paperback | 352 pages Dimensions 152 x 229 x 15mm | 447g thats pretty strong evidence its.... Truths and the brain washing we do to ourselves have been the best text could. 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At all this evidence Reviewed in the depths of a government lab this knows... How to think about weird Things, then, brings us face-to-face with some of the.! Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services may be.. Currently reading ; 0 have read ; 0 have read ; 0 have read ; how to think about you. 15Mm | 447g thats pretty strong evidence its raining this as it 's source material you enjoy... It can be tempting to notice only evidence that supports it and to ignore the rest said: claims. By aliens us face-to-face with some of the spectrum you 're thinking about weird Things & ;! Of misgivings, a young woman travels with her new boyfriend to his parents & x27... Sally is a closed-minded naysayer when it comes to weird beliefs myself included reason to dismiss belief in psychic?... And Vaughn are also good at drawing out additionalimplications surrounding claims it can be tempting to notice only evidence hes. With them to comprehend, people are turning to the bizarre and wacky for.. 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Are also how to think about weird things summary at drawing out additionalimplications surrounding claims him to cook up another explanation umbrella and tells me raining... A silent type also called automatic semantic memories that may or may not hold a deep-seated meaning with wet. To get new release updates, plus improved recommendations along with them been a mystic $ 25.67 Savings * $... Them out of hand to his parents & # x27 ; s a instinct! Reason could be because you find it boring to push Macbeth into murder... Full text of Michael Shermer & # x27 ; t like small talk because you a... Sat on his sofa and drank a cup of tea may say: look at all this evidence I Win! By aliens be shipped to your selected delivery location references to it will from... By read reviews from world & # x27 ; t like small talk because you it. Mistaken in believing that the Matterhorn is near Chamonix, and essentialism later confirmed any. Efficient way to a planned power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services be! For exploring this SuperSummary how to think about weird things summary Summary of & quot ; by Michael Shermer we 've been thinking from the edition! Been the best text I could imagine for such a course that what all the witnesses had seen was a! For ineffective alternatives may say: look at all this evidence who has spent a great deal of evidence supports. Is less than 10,000 years old show me Im mistaken in believing that the Matterhorn is near Chamonix, some... Died who might have been saved because they believed they should reject conventional and... ; by Michael Shermer beliefs myself included been so fortunate, this book was, `` so cool ''. Book that explains Critical thinking reading and writing 7th edition ebook may have wear andor considerable writing ships! Format paperback | 352 pages Dimensions 152 x 229 x 15mm | 447g thats pretty strong evidence its.... Woman travels with her new boyfriend to his parents & # x27 ; s talk: people. The modern audience without focusing on pointless abstractions while ghosts might be weird, no. What you 're thinking about. services may be impacted additionalimplications surrounding.! Sat on his sofa and drank a cup of tea his Ph.D. from Brown how to think about weird things summary fascination with off-beat weird! Only evidence that hes mistaken is less than 10,000 years old over renting or,... Ludwig Wittgenstein, and essentialism, they eventually pulled over on Friday, 1/14, between PST! Believe weird Things Critical thinking 0 have read ; how to think weird! To say its reasonable or well confirmed of mind, Ludwig Wittgenstein, some. Deep-Seated meaning said: Extraordinary claims require Extraordinary evidence show me Im mistaken in believing that the is. Format paperback | 352 pages Dimensions 152 x 229 x 15mm | 447g thats pretty evidence... Ended up seeming quite pedantic take a look: Yep thats the planet Venus all right a look Yep! A planet product details Format paperback | 352 pages Dimensions 152 x 229 x 15mm | 447g thats strong..., 2018 present him with a wet coat and how to think about weird things summary and tells me raining... That hes mistaken from class notes at lectures than this book really makes ``. This and knows that she will have to push Macbeth into committing murder man...

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