Week 1 — Readings & Resources

Your primary reading is Chapter 1 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 10 items (4 readings and 6 videos). Allow 65–81 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (18–21 min total)

• CRITICAL THINKING - Fundamentals: Introduction to Critical Thinking — Wireless Philosophy
• What Is an Argument? Premises & Conclusions Explained — Let's Get Logical
• Explanations vs. arguments — Wikipedia

① What critical thinking is, and what it is not

Chapter 1, Section “Ask three questions: what critical thinking is” · Session 1, Segment 1, “What critical thinking is” · Remember: critical thinking asks what is claimed, what supports it, and how good that support is before you accept it.

• CRITICAL THINKING - Fundamentals: Introduction to Critical Thinking — Wireless Philosophy — an animated introduction that ties critical thinking to having good reasons for what you believe; watch the first half, on what critical thinking is and what an argument is, and compare it with the chapter's three questions. Use it while working through the Week-1 module overview. (video, 10 min) (captions: creator)
• What is Critical Thinking? A Definition — Gary Meegan — a three-minute explainer that takes one well-known definition of critical thinking apart word by word; as you watch, decide which parts match asking what a claim says and what supports it. (video, 3 min) (captions: creator)
• Critical Thinking, section 3: The Definition of Critical Thinking — online Encyclopedia of Philosophy (reference entry) — a reference entry's survey of how scholars have defined critical thinking; read section 3 only and notice how often the definitions mention judging reasons before accepting a claim. The rest of the entry is far more detail than this week needs. (reading, 10–15 min)

② Spotting an argument and its parts

Chapter 1, Section “Spot an argument: premises and a conclusion” · Session 1, Segment 3, “What makes an argument” · Remember: an argument is a set of claims in which premises are offered as reasons to accept a conclusion.

• How to Argue - Philosophical Reasoning: Crash Course Philosophy #2 — CrashCourse — a fast, friendly tour of what philosophers mean by an argument; it opens with an older picture of reason, then turns to premises and conclusions about halfway through, so start there, and treat the closing material on judging arguments as a preview you can skip for now. (video, 10 min) (captions: creator)
• What Is an Argument? Premises & Conclusions Explained — Let's Get Logical — a three-minute explainer on statements, premises, and conclusions, and on why a list of facts is not an argument; pause after each example and say which sentence is the conclusion. (video, 3 min) (captions: creator)
• Arguments and Inference — Philosophy Pages — a plain-language overview of what an argument is and how to recognize its conclusion; read the sections on arguments and on recognizing arguments, and stop when the page turns to deductive inferences. (reading, 8–12 min)

③ Argument or explanation, and the signal words

Chapter 1, Section “Tell an argument from an explanation: is it in doubt?” · Session 2, Segment 4, “Arguments and explanations” · Remember: if the supported claim is already accepted, the reasons explain; if it is still in doubt, they argue.

• Arguments vs. Explanations (1) — Samuel Bennett — a six-minute lesson that sets an argument apart from a bare statement, a description, and an explanation, with everyday pairs such as two reasons someone is an hour late; before each verdict, ask whether the "because" tells why something happened or gives a reason to believe it. (video, 6 min) (captions: automatic)
• Premise and conclusion indicators — Karin Howe — a two-minute screencast listing common premise and conclusion indicator words; its premise list includes "but" and "and" at the start of a sentence, which this course does not treat as indicators, so afterward check each word against the chapter's list and its caution that indicators are clues, not proof. (video, 2 min) (captions: creator)
• Explanations vs. arguments — Wikipedia — an encyclopedia section on why arguments start from a doubted claim and explanations start from an accepted one, with a short example; read this section only and compare it with the chapter's doubt test. (reading, 5–8 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

• Argument: The Structural Approach to Characterizing Arguments — Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy — a reference article on what an argument is; read only this first section, on premises and conclusions, and skip the rest unless you want more depth. (reading, 8–12 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

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