An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Creativity: Think More, Think Better
- 5h 35m
- Joe Y. F. Lau
- John Wiley & Sons (US)
- 2011
A valuable guide on creativity and critical thinking to improve reasoning and decision-making skills
Critical thinking skills are essential in virtually any field of study or practice where individuals need to communicate ideas, make decisions, and analyze and solve problems. An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Creativity: Think More, Think Better outlines the necessary tools for readers to become critical as well as creative thinkers. By gaining a practical and solid foundation in the basic principles that underlie critical thinking and creativity, readers will become equipped to think in a more systematic, logical, and imaginative manner.
Creativity is needed to generate new ideas to solve problems, and critical thinking evaluates and improves an idea. These concepts are uniquely introduced as a unified whole due to their dependence on each other. Each chapter introduces relevant theories in conjunction with real-life examples and findings from cognitive science and psychology to illustrate how the theories can be applied in numerous fields and careers. An emphasis on how theoretical principles of reasoning can be practical and useful in everyday life is featured, and special sections on presentation techniques, the analysis of meaning, decision-making, and reasoning about personal and moral values are also highlighted.
All chapters conclude with a set of exercises, and detailed solutions are provided at the end of the book. A companion website features online tutorials that further explore topics including meaning analysis, argument analysis, logic, statistics, and strategic thinking, along with additional exercises and multimedia resources for continued study.
An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Creativity is an excellent book for courses on critical thinking and logic at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The book also serves as a self-contained study guide for readers interested in the topics of critical thinking and creativity as a unified whole.
About the Author
Joe Y. F. Lau, PhD, is Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Hong Kong. Dr. Lau teaches critical thinking, the philosophy of mind, and cognitive science. He has authored and coauthored numerous books and articles in philosophy, and he was awarded a university teaching fellowship for teaching excellence.
In this Book
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Chapter 1: Introduction
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Chapter 2: Thinking and Writing Clearly
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Chapter 3: Definitions
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Chapter 4: Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
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Chapter 5: Linguistic Pitfalls
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Chapter 6: Truth
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Chapter 7: Basic Logic
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Chapter 8: Identifying Arguments
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Chapter 9: Valid and Sound Arguments
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Chapter 10: Inductive Reasoning
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Chapter 11: Argument Mapping
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Chapter 12: Argument Analysis
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Chapter 13: Scientific Reasoning
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Chapter 14: Mill's Methods
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Chapter 15: Reasoning about Causation
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Chapter 16: Diagrams of Causal Processes
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Chapter 17: Statistics and Probability
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Chapter 18: Thinking about Values
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Chapter 19: Fallacies
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Chapter 20: Cognitive Biases
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Chapter 21: Analogical Reasoning
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Chapter 22: Making Rational Decisions
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Chapter 23: What is Creativity?
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Chapter 24: Creative Thinking Habits
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Solutions to Exercises
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Bibliography
