Week 13 · Readings & resources

Week 13 — Readings & Resources

Critical Thinking Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 13 (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 87–103 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)

① What would prove it wrong?

Chapter 13, Section “Ask what would prove it wrong: hypotheses and testability” · Session 1, Segment 1, “What would prove it wrong” · Remember: a claim earns trust from a test only when some possible result could have counted against it.

Karl Popper, Science, & Pseudoscience: Crash Course Philosophy #8 — CrashCourse — a nine-minute episode that sets a theory making risky predictions beside one that can explain any result, then tests a childhood belief the same way; listen for why a theory that fits every possible outcome tells you nothing you could check. The episode says no one argues about Popper's idea anymore; the chapter treats falsifiability as one influential proposal with a standard criticism. (video, 9 min) (captions: creator)
Difference between a Theory and a Hypothesis (Intro Psych Tutorial #16) — PsychExamReview — a six-minute talk on turning a general idea into a testable hypothesis with specific definitions, and on why evidence can support or refute a hypothesis without proving it, the same move as the chapter's smoke-alarm test. Note that the speaker calls his untested starting idea a "theory"; the chapter uses the word only for a well-tested, broad explanation. (video, 6 min) (captions: creator)

② Compare with a control

Chapter 13, Section “Compare with a control: placebos, blinding, and the lone success story” · Session 1, Segment 3, “Compare with a control” · Remember: a story about one person cannot show what would have happened anyway, so a fair test compares a treated group with a look-alike control group.

Psychological Research: Crash Course Psychology #2 — CrashCourse — an eleven-minute episode that designs an experiment on caffeine and a maze, with a decaf placebo group, random assignment, and a double-blind setup; this builds on Week 9's work with samples and causal claims, since every group in the design is a sample that has to be compared fairly. (video, 11 min) (captions: creator)
Statistics: Control Groups and the Placebo Effect — Mathispower4u — an eight-minute lesson on why an experiment needs a comparison group and how single-blind and double-blind designs keep expectations out of the results; pause after each design and say who knows what. (video, 8 min) (captions: creator)
Placebo: Effects, Examples, Types, and More — Effectiviology — an article on what a placebo is and why trials give one to a comparison group; read the opening sections on placebo pills and placebo surgery, and skip the later material on placebo buttons if you are short on time. Use it while working through the Week-13 module overview. (reading, 12–16 min)

③ Choose the best explanation

Chapter 13, Section “Choose the best explanation: fit, simplicity, scope, and consistency” · Session 2, Segment 4, “Choose the best explanation” · Remember: list the rival explanations, judge each against the clues, prefer the one that fits more with fewer extra assumptions, and then test it.

CRITICAL THINKING - Fundamentals: Abductive Arguments — Wireless Philosophy — a six-minute talk that reasons from a blush, a detective's clues, and an unexpected wobble in a planet's orbit to the explanation that fits best; as you watch, name which of the chapter's four criteria each example leans on. (video, 6 min) (captions: creator)
Parsimony: Why You Should Prefer Simpler Explanations — Effectiviology — an article on preferring the explanation with fewer assumptions, opening with a barking dog and a light switch; read the first sections on the principle and its limits, and compare its examples with the chapter's car that will not start. (reading, 10–14 min)

④ Read the warning signs, and know why no test is final

Chapter 13, Section “Tell a theory from a guess, and read the warning signs” · Session 2, Segment 5, “Read the warning signs” · Remember: testimonials, secret methods, and claims that no test can measure are reasons to look harder, not proofs that a claim is false.

How to Spot Health Fraud — U.S. Food and Drug Administration — a federal agency's guide to the tip-offs in health-product ads, including personal testimonials, one product that claims to do it all, and claims that others are hiding a cure; match each tip-off to one of the chapter's five warning signs. (reading, 9–12 min)
The Problem of Induction — Carneades.org — a six-minute talk that runs Hume's question on an urn of black balls and on the sunrise, and shows that "the future will resemble the past" cannot be defended without circular reasoning; it deals only with the claim that science gives certainty and leaves probable conclusions for a later video, which fits the chapter's point that no inductive conclusion is guaranteed. Stop here before the biases in your own reasoning; next week takes that up. (video, 6 min) (captions: automatic)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

The Problem of Induction — Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy — a reference entry on Hume's question about expecting the future to resemble the past; read the opening overview and the section that states Hume's argument, and skip the later technical replies, which go beyond this week. (reading, 10–15 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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