Critical Voter
104 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsUse the next election to become a critical thinker
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Episodes
How to Win an Argument
April 06, 2021 12:33Towards the end of last year, I was approached by a company called Listenable that produces audio courses built around ten or so podcast-like lectures, each of which are around 5-10 minutes in length. While most of the teaching I’ve done on this subject had a little more room to breathe, this format is comparable in length […] The post How to Win an Argument appeared first on Critical Voter.
Discourse – Part 1
January 06, 2021 13:49What happened during the last decade that turned the global commons into a sewer? The post Discourse – Part 1 appeared first on Critical Voter.
Deliberation
October 24, 2020 15:31Why was the second (and final) presidential debate so much more satisfying than the train wreck that took place the first time the candidates jousted? Kudos have been handed to the debate’s moderator, although changes to the structure of the event (specifically the decision to turn off the microphone of the person who was not […] The post Deliberation appeared first on Critical Voter.
Equivocation
October 22, 2020 16:44Did the British leave behind their waffles on the Falkland Islands? The fallacy of equivocation. The post Equivocation appeared first on Critical Voter.
Logic-Checking Ranked Choice
October 08, 2020 19:00Taking a break from national politics to logic-check a state ballot initiative on ranked-choice voting. The post Logic-Checking Ranked Choice appeared first on Critical Voter.
Just Released: the 2020 Edition of Critical Voter
October 01, 2020 14:12Just in time to navigate the home stretch of the weirdest election in American history, a new edition of Critical Voter! The post Just Released: the 2020 Edition of Critical Voter appeared first on Critical Voter.
Breaking 100
September 27, 2020 14:18Just hit 100 Amazon ratings for Critical Thinking from MIT Press! The post Breaking 100 appeared first on Critical Voter.
Donald Trump: Acting Base (Rate)
September 26, 2020 15:52Having taken a look at fallacies on display in a couple of Joe Biden campaign spots, it’s time to see if his opponent may have also broken a rule or two by committing formal or informal fallacies in some of his video ads. The post Donald Trump: Acting Base (Rate) appeared first on Critical Voter.
Joe Biden: Cool Kid and Rooster
September 17, 2020 15:58I’ll be reposting articles from my new LogicCheck site over the course of the next election cycle here at Critical Voter. Finishing up with the basics: Many of Joe Biden’s official campaign commercials avoid controversy by highlighting the candidate’s commitment to his family, his passion for driving a classic Corvette, or celebrations of working Americans. These are meant […] The post Joe Biden: Cool Kid and Rooster appeared first on Critical Voter.
Fallacies
September 10, 2020 16:04Fallacies are errors in reasoning that come up so frequently that they have been organized, categorized and assigned cool names in both English and Latin (which gives you a sense of how long people have been breaking logical rules). The post Fallacies appeared first on Critical Voter.
A Complex Argument for Opening Schools
September 03, 2020 16:07For this week’s LogicChecker, I’d like to look at an argument that relies heavily on the kind of numerical evidence I’ve been talking about over the last few postings where the certainty of mathematics must contend with imperfection of the real-world things being quantified. The post A Complex Argument for Opening Schools appeared first on Critical Voter.
Countdown to the Next Big Count
August 27, 2020 16:12You would think that counting stuff – the simplest of all mathematical operations – might be free from the ambiguity I have been describing. But if you ever lost track while trying to count just a few dozen similar items (like counting to figure out if a deck of cards is complete), you’ll realize that the human mind’s tendency to wander and miss things (like that forgotten joker) makes even simple counting tasks susceptible to imprecision. The post Countdown to the Next Big Count appeared ...
Look What Just Showed Up in the Mail!
March 09, 2020 15:39Critical Thinking Essentials from MIT Press will be available from all the usual place in a couple of weeks. Perfect reading when thinking through a crisis (in case one happens along). Journalists interested in a review copy or professors who want a desk copy can reach out to me via the contact page and I’ll arrange to get you […] The post Look What Just Showed Up in the Mail! appeared first on Critical Voter.
Getting Started 4 – Argument Health Check
November 30, 2019 21:26Validity and soundness - Did a visit to the doctor mean Trump was about to resign? The post Getting Started 4 – Argument Health Check appeared first on Critical Voter.
Getting Started 3 – The Editorial
November 29, 2019 21:18I’ll be reposting articles from my new LogicCheck site over the course of the next election cycle here at Critical Voter. Continuing with the basics: So far, we’ve taken a look at the logic behind a seemingly spontaneous (but likely pre-planned) quip, and an off-the-cuff set of tweets. Now, let’s begin to look at how to analyze the […] The post Getting Started 3 – The Editorial appeared first on Critical Voter.
Getting Started 2 – The Tweet
November 28, 2019 21:05Can the President pack a good argument into a couple of tweets? The post Getting Started 2 – The Tweet appeared first on Critical Voter.
LogicCheck – Getting Started 1 – The Zinger
November 28, 2019 15:59I’ll be reposting articles from my new LogicCheck site over the course of the next election cycle here at Critical Voter. Starting off with some basics: To introduce you to the concept of logic-checking, let’s start with some timely material related to the Democratic debates. As mentioned previously, logic-checking can help you understand situations when […] The post LogicCheck – Getting Started 1 – The Zinger appeared first on Critical Voter.
Introducing LogicCheck.net
November 27, 2019 11:51Just wanted to announce a new project called LogicCheck that will be using this coming election cycle to analyze the arguments behind the news. Why logic checking? Well cribbing from my initial post at the new site:As the late Gary Gutting, professor of philosophy at Notre Dame and a regular philosophy columnist at the New […] The post Introducing LogicCheck.net appeared first on Critical Voter.
Cover Art
October 15, 2019 11:58Lookee what showed up in my Inbox! I’ll have more news about the new book to supplement the nifty cover art (like release dates and book-event plans) shortly. In the meantime, as some readers may have noticed, I’ve restarted this Degree of Freedom blog and have been updating it with pieces published on this site […] The post Cover Art appeared first on Critical Voter.
Civics and Critical Thinking
February 07, 2019 13:59The challenges faced by those dedicated to civic education and the teaching of critical thinking are very similar. The post Civics and Critical Thinking appeared first on Critical Voter.
Re-inventing Civics Education – 3
January 23, 2019 19:38From the new blog… Whatever one thinks of our current “Age of Accountability” in public education, it’s not particularly controversial to point out that the American public-school system has historically flexed and reformed to meet accountability requirements. While we can argue over whether that system was assigned the right priorities, or over the consequences (intended […] The post Re-inventing Civics Education – 3 appeared first on Critical Voter.
Reinventing Civic Education – 2
January 22, 2019 20:43Civics education is a perfect example of a problem requiring a critical-thinking approach used to analyze complex issues. The post Reinventing Civic Education – 2 appeared first on Critical Voter.
Rethinking Civic Education – 1
January 20, 2019 17:31Attendees at last week’s Civic Learning Impact and Measurement Convening face a daunting challenge: restoring while reinventing civic education in America. The post Rethinking Civic Education – 1 appeared first on Critical Voter.
Been a While!
January 10, 2019 14:57With a mid-term election between now and when Critical Voter first chronicled our turbulent 2016 election cycle (one in which many of the challenges related to critically thinking about anything were made more manifest than in any time in history), I thought it safe to return to the blogging fold with a new project called […] The post Been a While! appeared first on Critical Voter.
Ethical Rebellion
November 29, 2016 14:48A few months back, I became curious about the alt-right, specifically why this political movement seemed to be choosing a moment of Republican ascendance to foment a civil war within Conservative ranks. Suspecting that I might be getting an incomplete picture from news sources telling me this alt-right consisted of little more than White Nationalist […] The post Ethical Rebellion appeared first on Critical Voter.
Thinking Critically About What Happened
November 15, 2016 10:56Having covered three Presidential elections with the goal of seeing how they can be used to teach and learn critical-thinking skills, I’m frequently asked the question of whether the latest election results mean we have lost the ability to think at all. This election, with its unexpected and extraordinary results, ratcheted up the intensity of […] The post Thinking Critically About What Happened appeared first on Critical Voter.
Surprise!
November 09, 2016 15:31Last night’s election coverage began from a place of familiarity. There were many of the same commentators I’ve seen describing election night events since the 1980s, a bit wrinklier but still talking about the virtues of exit poll data and the importance of what was happening in a particular neighborhood in Ohio. As with previous […] The post Surprise! appeared first on Critical Voter.
Vote
November 08, 2016 11:17Might this election mean we're starting to approach a ?sheer cliff we have been pretending does not exist? The post Vote appeared first on Critical Voter.
Dystopia
November 03, 2016 23:21While not a big cable binger, I’ve recently taken to a new Netflix series called Black Mirror. From what I’ve watched so far, it seems as though producers of each episode were given the mandate to come up with a dystopia that represents just a tiny acceleration of today’s technology trends. For instance, one episode […] The post Dystopia appeared first on Critical Voter.
Thinking Small
October 31, 2016 10:59With the vote just around the corner and momentous decisions before us, perhaps, it is time to reflect on things closer to home. The post Thinking Small appeared first on Critical Voter.
Curriculum Reading
October 30, 2016 11:26I've recently added chapters of Critical Voter to the ?curriculum pages so that teachers using that material can assign readings at no cost. The post Curriculum Reading appeared first on Critical Voter.
Apologies
October 20, 2016 10:12This election campaign provides countless examples of how not to behave when confronted with one’s misdeeds or shortcomings. The post Apologies appeared first on Critical Voter.
Ignoring the Audience
October 10, 2016 22:22In a Presidential debate (or any form of persuasive communication) you should ask first: who is the audience? The post Ignoring the Audience appeared first on Critical Voter.
Fact Checking
October 05, 2016 01:07The latest devolution of fact-checking to one more aspect of partisan warfare probably arises from the nature of the candidates. The post Fact Checking appeared first on Critical Voter.
An End to Rhetoric?
September 28, 2016 23:29Analyzing the rhetoric of the first Clinton-Trump debate turned out to be nearly impossible The post An End to Rhetoric? appeared first on Critical Voter.
Fault Lines
September 22, 2016 22:58The odd thing about the Democratic defections is that they seem to be trending more towards the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, rather than Jill Stein. The post Fault Lines appeared first on Critical Voter.
Disorientation
September 15, 2016 00:54During a normal election year, you can set your watch based on the stages of bias overwhelming the ability to think critically. The post Disorientation appeared first on Critical Voter.
British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands
September 01, 2016 19:52Ambiguity is great for humor. For critical thinking? Not so much The post British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands appeared first on Critical Voter.
The Crowd
August 25, 2016 12:12One of the things we are supposed to be celebrating in this era of social media, open-source everything, citizen journalism, and various forms of “super-enabling” Internet politics is how it frees us from having to rely on authority. In the past, if we wanted news, it was fed to us vetted by a set of […] The post The Crowd appeared first on Critical Voter.
Critical Voter – Available Everywhere!
August 17, 2016 19:46Critical Voter is now available on all major ebook platforms managed by the Smashwords publishing service. The post Critical Voter – Available Everywhere! appeared first on Critical Voter.
The Gaffe
August 16, 2016 10:09One of the great pleasures in life is to watch someone you can’t stand make a blunder, preferably publicly, and suffer ridicule (or worse) as the result. In politics, such blunders are referred to as “gaffes,” and it’s interesting to consider the evolution of what constitutes a political gaffe and what this might say about […] The post The Gaffe appeared first on Critical Voter.
Argument Ninja
August 09, 2016 10:02As many of you know, I’m a huge fan of Kevin deLaplante, the man behind Critical Thinker Academy and Critical Thinker Academy podcast, both of which were hugely inspirational when I went down the route of podcasting critical-thinking lessons with the original Critical Voter curriculum in 2008. Well now Kevin has kicked off a new […] The post Argument Ninja appeared first on Critical Voter.
The Single Issue Voter
August 02, 2016 09:58Does every event in the known universe hinge on the single question of who to vote for in November? The post The Single Issue Voter appeared first on Critical Voter.
Plagiarism
July 28, 2016 01:13Is Melania Trump alleged “Plagiarism” worth thinking about? The post Plagiarism appeared first on Critical Voter.
Conventional Wisdom
July 19, 2016 09:54Last chance to receive a free Kindle version of Critical Voter at Amazon, with the last Fre-ebook Tuesday of the season. Speaking of free, with the convention season kicking off I thought I’d provide a couple of free chapters from the book that deal specifically with convention-related issues. You can find them at this new […] The post Conventional Wisdom appeared first on Critical Voter.
Convergence
July 15, 2016 18:34What we mean when we use the phrase “critical thinking”? The post Convergence appeared first on Critical Voter.
Noise
July 06, 2016 09:31It seems as though the voters have become the tool of an Internet-enabled information ?Colossus that knows much more about us than we know about it. The post Noise appeared first on Critical Voter.
Doubt
June 30, 2016 21:15That image is of Charles Sanders Peirce, father of Pragmatic philosophy, by the way. The post Doubt appeared first on Critical Voter.
Another Fre-ebook Tuesday
June 28, 2016 11:31Just a reminder that today is another Fre-ebook Tuesday where you can get the Kindle version of Critical Voter free from Amazon. Pass along the link/word and remember that Fre-ebook Tuesdays will continue until July 19th. Jonathan The post Another Fre-ebook Tuesday appeared first on Critical Voter.
Another Fre-ebook Tuesday
June 28, 2016 11:31Just a reminder that today is another Fre-ebook Tuesday where you can get the Kindle version of Critical Voter free from Amazon. Pass along the link/word and remember that Fre-ebook Tuesdays will continue until July 19th. Jonathan The post Another Fre-ebook Tuesday appeared first on Critical Voter.