CRITICAL THINKING & REASONING

Prepared By Dr. Ahmed Yakout

Lectured By Prof. Adel El Hennawy Prof. Abdel Wahab El Ghandour Dr. Walid El Khattam

REFERENCE
R. Paul, R. Niewoehner, and L. Elder, The Thinkers Guide to Engineering Reasoning, 2nd edition, 2006. M. Mostafa, Technical Report Writing, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University .

TALK OUTLINE
1. Critical Thinking
a. b. c. d. A Model For Critical Thinking Intellectual Standards Elements of Thought Intellectual Traits

2. Reasoning
a. Inductive Reasoning b. Deductive Reasoning

1. CRITICAL THINKING
Critical thinking is routinely applying intellectual standards to the elements of thought as they seek to develop the traits of a mature engineering mind.

1.1 A Model of Critical Thinking

1.2 Intellectual Standards

1. Clarity : understandable, the meaning can be grasped 2. Accuracy: free from errors or distortions, true.

3. Relevance: relating to the matter at hand

4. Logicalness: the parts make sense together, no contradictions. 5. Breadth: encompassing multiple view points.

1.2 Intellectual Standards

6. Precision: exact to the necessary level of detail. 7. Significance: focusing on the important, not trivial. 8. Completeness: something is whole, nothing is missing. 9. Fairness: Justifiable, non self serving or one sided 10. Depth: containing complexities and multiple view points.

1.3ELEMENTS OF THOUGHTS
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Purposes Questions Points of view Information Inferences Concepts Implications Assumptions

1.3 ELEMENTS OF THOUGHTS

When we understand the structure of thought, we ask important questions implied by these structures.

1.4 INTELLECTUAL TRAITS

1. Intellectual Humility: is knowledge of ignorance, sensitive to what you know and what you dont know. 2. Intellectual Autonomy: is thinking for oneself while adhering to standards of rationality. 3. Intellectual Integrity: consists of holding yourself to the same intellectual standards you expect others to honor (no double standards)

1.4 INTELLECTUAL TRAITS

4. Intellectual Courage: is the disposition to
question beliefs about which you feel strongly.

5. Intellectual Perseverance: is the

disposition to work your way through intellectual complexities despite frustrations inherent in the task.

1.4 INTELLECTUAL TRAITS

6. Confidence in Reason: is based on the
belief that ones own higher interests and those of humankind at large are best served by giving freest play to reason.

7. Intellectual Empathy: is awareness of the

need to actively entertain views that differ from your own, especially those with which you strongly disagree.

1.4 INTELLECTUAL TRAITS

8. Fair mindedness: is being conscious of the
need to treat all viewpoints alike, without reference to ones own feeling or vested interests, or the feelings or vested interests of ones friends, company, community or nation.

2. REASONING
Reasoning occurs when we draw conclusions based on reason. Reasoning includes Analyzing and Interpreting Information and Data where, Trends are observed, Percentages are determined, Common Sense is applied, and Logical explanation is given to Draw Conclusions and Formulate Recommendations.

EXAMPLE 1

The power generation and distribution data for several electric companies are given in Table 1. If the reserve power is defined as the difference between the generated capacity and load supplied, while the average unit capacity is the generating capacity divided by the number of units, give a detailed discussion for Table 1.
Table 1 Generation and load data of three electric companies.

Company Total No. of no. Generation Generating Capacity Units (MW)

Load Supplied (MW)

Generation Cost ($/MWh)

1 2 3

3450 1488 6220

21 17 18

3000 1200 6900

100 50 25

SOLUTION
Table 2 Reserve and unit capacities of three electric companies.

Company Reserve Power Average Unit no. Capacity (MW) (MW)

Generation Cost ($/MWh)

1 2 3

450 288 - 680

164.285 87.52 345.556

100 50 25

Company 3 has the largest unit capacity, while company 2 has the least. Company 1 has the largest power reserve. Company 3 needs to buy extra power from other companies to supply its loads. Company 3 should buy the total reserve 288 MW of company 2 as it is cheaper and then buy the rest 392 MW from company 1.

EXAMPLE 2

If Figure 1 shows some experimental results, Discuss the figure.

Figure 1 Potential difference versus current.

SOLUTION
Resistance changes with temperature. The relationship is nonlinear for coil in air.

The relationship is linear for coil in water.

Resistance increases for coil in air. Resistance is constant for coil in water.

2.1 Two basic categories of human reasoning

Deduction: reasoning from general premises, which are known or presumed to be known, to more specific, certain conclusions. Induction: reasoning from specific cases to more general, but uncertain, conclusions. Both deductive and inductive arguments occur frequently and naturallyboth forms of reasoning can be equally compelling and persuasive, and neither form is preferred over the other (Hollihan & Baske, 1994).

2.2 Deduction Vs. Induction

Deduction: commonly associated with formal logic. involves reasoning from known premises, or premises presumed to be true, to a certain conclusion. the conclusions reached are certain, inevitable, inescapable. Induction commonly known as informal logic, or everyday argument involves drawing uncertain inferences, based on probabilistic reasoning. the conclusions reached are probable, reasonable, plausible, believable.

2.3 Sample Deductive and Inductive Arguments

Example of Deduction major premise: All tortoises are vegetarians minor premise: Bessie is a tortoise conclusion: Therefore, Bessie is a vegetarian

Example of Induction Boss to employee: Biff has a tattoo of an anchor on his arm. He probably served in the Navy.

Inductive or deductive reasoning?

A sample of fifty motorists who were stopped by a checkpoint on a Saturday at midnight revealed that one in four drivers were either uninsured, intoxicated, or both. Thus, if you get involved in an accident on the freeway there is a 25% chance the other motorist will be drunk or uninsured. The Law of the Sea treaty states that any vessel beyond a 12 mile limit is in international waters. The treaty also states that any vessel in international waters cannot be legally stopped or boarded. Therefore, when the U.S. Coast Guard intercepts boats coming from Cuba or Haiti more than 12 miles from the U.S. coast, it is violating the Law of the Sea.