Critical Thinking in a Crisis

Arguing for Our Lives: Critical Thinking in Crisis Times  by Robert Jensen 

My own opinion is that this book fails to deliver what it promises and I was very disappointed in it.

The author is clearly a very agreeable and thoughtful academic teacher. He takes the view that we need active, committed citizens for democracy to work.  It is important to have opinions and to discuss them socially on topics that matter, including politics, religion, economics, the environment.  This requires effort, under the much maligned label of "intellectual," and it is hard work.  We need to confront those who are unwilling to make the intellectual effort and who use the concept of "my opinion" to cover a thoughtless and unreflecting adherence to prepackaged viewpoints put about by others.  We need also to understand the way people with power and wealth use their resources to mislead the public and promote their selfish interests.  Of course such topics provoke argument, but this is desirable, and he advocates specific rules of thumb which will help us to participate in such arguments competently, critically and also politely and respectfully.

If you accept these laudable sentiments, then this short book will yield another quick and useful entry towards your Goodreads reading challenge. However, if we imagine a scenario where an American Republican candidate carries this book openly into a television debate, and is not struck by lightening as a result, then I predict it will be used for only one purpose - to demonstrate the left wing bias of university academics.

I just have no experience to suggest that political debate is going to remain good natured or respectful once people start to question what assumptions lie beneath "just my opinion" or why those assumptions may have no factual basis or may not lead by any logical pathway to the irrational beliefs expressed or may, in fact, be nothing better than the unquestioned acceptance of media lies. I do not need to be told how to conduct a polite discussion - I need to be told how to deal with trolls and bigots, how to confront direct and blatant lies, how to detect and dodge rhetorical debating tricks and techniques for misrepresentation, how to get a fair hearing for unpopular truths and how to attempt all this without becoming depressed or crazy. The point is that people are not simply too stupid to see the truth - they actively want to be deceived and will get very nasty with anyone who exposes that attitude for what it is.

I can suggest a more effective reading list for people who really do want an argument.

Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahnemann (how we are manipulated)
The Logic of Real Arguments by Alec Fisher (how to work out what is going on)
Taming the Ox by Charles Johnson (how to stay sane while being politically engaged!)
The Contours of American History by William Appleman William  (a dated but excellent guide to the political ideology of the USA)

Of course, this is just my own opinion.