CSE101 Critical College Mind in the Info Age
What does it mean to be a critical thinker as a college student, especially during the information revolution? And why is critical thinking in college, and in life, more important than ever? Using timely and relevant examples drawn from college life itself, this course will introduce students to thenature, value and significance of critical thinking; and most notable, it will help them to develop and hone foundational critical thinking skills for their lives as college students and beyond. Topics may include: the difference between critical and non-critical thinking, how to know if one id a critical thinker, the indicators of non critical thinking [such as reason substitutes and argument stoppers], the difference between knowledge and information, deifference between truth and fact, and how they are related, relativism and naive pragmatism, how to gather, analyze and evaluate information, the difference between description and argument, the myths of privileged knowledge sources, critical thinking about values, and the fallacies of eberyday and technical reasoning.