- Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Mark Battersby
Capilano University, Philosophy, Emeritus
- Mark Battersby is Professor Emeritus at Capilano University, where he taught for over 40 years. He has also taught cr... moreMark Battersby is Professor Emeritus at Capilano University, where he taught for over 40 years. He has also taught critical thinking at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and Stanford University, as well as presenting numerous workshops. He was founder of the British Columbia Association for Critical Thinking Research and Instruction and led a Ministry curriculum reform initiative based on learning outcomes. He has facilitated Philosophy Cafes since for over 10 years. He has written numerous articles on critical thinking, and is the author of Is That a Fact: A Field Guide to Scientific and Statistical Information (Broadview, 2nd Ed , 2016), and, with Sharon Bailin, Reason in the Balance: An Inquiry Approach to Critical Thinking (2nd Ed. Hackett, 2016). Both texts have been translated into Chinese. In 2018 Windsor Studies in Argumentation published Inquiry: A New Paradigm for Critical Thinking, a collection of his and Bailin's papers on their approach to critical thinking. He and Bailin are currently collaborating on CRITHINKEDU, a major European project to infuse critical thinking into higher education and has rewritten Reason in the Balance to make it culturally appropriate for Chinese students.edit
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Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Philosophy, Heuristics, Critical Thinking, and 14 moreBehavioral Economics, Cognitive Bias, Rational Choice Theory, Informal Logic, Irrationality, Rationality, Biases, Instrumental Rationality, Arts and Humanities, Epistemic Rationality, Ecological Rationality, Decision Field Theory, Evaluative Rationality, and Irrational number
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<p>There are numerous definitions of critical thinking, but the core concept has been said to be careful, reasoned, goal-directed thinking. There are also many conceptualizations of critical thinking, which are generally more... more
<p>There are numerous definitions of critical thinking, but the core concept has been said to be careful, reasoned, goal-directed thinking. There are also many conceptualizations of critical thinking, which are generally more detailed than brief definitions, and there are different views about what the goal(s) of critical thinking instruction should be. Whether critical thinking is a good thing is a matter of debate. Approaches to teaching critical thinking vary, partly, according to whether they focus on general principles of critical thinking or on subject-matter content or on a combination of both. A meta-analysis research report published in 2015 concluded that, subject to certain qualifications, a variety of critical thinking skills and dispositions can develop in students through instruction at all educational levels. Critical thinking instruction has been influenced by research in cognitive psychology that has suggested strategies for countering factors (e.g., biases) that the research has found to produce irrational beliefs. Methods of assessing critical thinking ability include teacher-designed tests and standardized tests. A research report published in 2014 on assessing critical thinking in higher education describes challenges involved in designing standardized critical thinking tests and proposes a framework for a "next-generation" assessment. The challenges include achieving a balance between the assessment's real-world relevance and its psychometric quality, and designing an assessment useful for instructional purposes and for comparisons of programs and institutions. The proposed framework is based partly on a review of existing frameworks of critical thinking in higher education. It has two analytical dimensions and two synthetic dimensions, and a dimension on understanding causation and explanation. Surveys show that employers value employees with strong critical thinking ability; this fact has significant implications for students, teachers, and administrators at all levels of education.</p>
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In this paper we discuss the relevance of considering context for critical thinking. We argue that critical thinking is best viewed in terms of ‘critical inquiry’ in which argumentation is seen as a way of arriving at reasoned judgments... more
In this paper we discuss the relevance of considering context for critical thinking. We argue that critical thinking is best viewed in terms of ‘critical inquiry’ in which argumentation is seen as a way of arriving at reasoned judgments on complex issues. This is a dialectical process involving the comparative weighing of a variety of contending positions and arguments. Using
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The original version of the book was inadvertently published with an incorrect chapter title as "Inoculating students again conspiracy theories: The case of Covid-19". It has now been corrected as "Inoculating students... more
The original version of the book was inadvertently published with an incorrect chapter title as "Inoculating students again conspiracy theories: The case of Covid-19". It has now been corrected as "Inoculating students against conspiracy theories: The case of Covid-19".The chapter and book have been updated with the changes
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A commentary on Tracy Bowell\u27s Whataboutisms, Arguments and Argumentative Harm summarizing her arguments and suggesting that the use of argumentative harm is not a helpful way to identify fallacious uses of whatabout questions
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<p>There are numerous definitions of critical thinking, but the core concept has been said to be careful, reasoned, goal-directed thinking. There are also many conceptualizations of critical thinking, which are generally more... more
<p>There are numerous definitions of critical thinking, but the core concept has been said to be careful, reasoned, goal-directed thinking. There are also many conceptualizations of critical thinking, which are generally more detailed than brief definitions, and there are different views about what the goal(s) of critical thinking instruction should be. Whether critical thinking is a good thing is a matter of debate. Approaches to teaching critical thinking vary, partly, according to whether they focus on general principles of critical thinking or on subject-matter content or on a combination of both. A meta-analysis research report published in 2015 concluded that, subject to certain qualifications, a variety of critical thinking skills and dispositions can develop in students through instruction at all educational levels. Critical thinking instruction has been influenced by research in cognitive psychology that has suggested strategies for countering factors (e.g., biases) that the research has found to produce irrational beliefs. Methods of assessing critical thinking ability include teacher-designed tests and standardized tests. A research report published in 2014 on assessing critical thinking in higher education describes challenges involved in designing standardized critical thinking tests and proposes a framework for a "next-generation" assessment. The challenges include achieving a balance between the assessment's real-world relevance and its psychometric quality, and designing an assessment useful for instructional purposes and for comparisons of programs and institutions. The proposed framework is based partly on a review of existing frameworks of critical thinking in higher education. It has two analytical dimensions and two synthetic dimensions, and a dimension on understanding causation and explanation. Surveys show that employers value employees with strong critical thinking ability; this fact has significant implications for students, teachers, and administrators at all levels of education.</p>
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Posing a significant danger to society are conspiracy theories, particularly those regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper argues for the crucial role of critical thinking education in ‘inoculating’ students against conspiracy... more
Posing a significant danger to society are conspiracy theories, particularly those regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper argues for the crucial role of critical thinking education in ‘inoculating’ students against conspiracy theories and outlines an approach for building their defenses against these, and other, conspiracy theories. There are numerous epistemic, social, and psychological factors which play a role in the attraction of conspiracy theories and which need to be addressed in critical thinking education. Epistemic factors include myside bias, the ignorance of epistemic criteria, a lack of understanding of source credibility, and the particular epistemic traps of conspiracy theories. Social factors, including the structure of the information environment and psychological factors, including the desire for control, defensive bias, and cultural cognition also play a role. The paper describes how critical thinking education can address the epistemic shortcomings and error...
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Over the last few years, there have been five best sellers critical of religion and religious belief. It seems that there is great interest in questions about religious belief. Ironically, critical thinking texts seldom examine the topic.... more
Over the last few years, there have been five best sellers critical of religion and religious belief. It seems that there is great interest in questions about religious belief. Ironically, critical thinking texts seldom examine the topic. This paper will evaluate eight arguments to exempt religious belief from rational critique. I conclude that the topic of religious belief should not be exempt from critical thinking classes.
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The rejection of evidence based, rational decision making by the American President and his cabinet and the popularity of concepts like “post-truth” and “fake news” underlines the great need for the promotion of critical thinking in our... more
The rejection of evidence based, rational decision making by the American President and his cabinet and the popularity of concepts like “post-truth” and “fake news” underlines the great need for the promotion of critical thinking in our schools. To be maximally effective the approach to critical thinking must go beyond the focus of early critical thinking texts which were limited to argument analysis (and small arguments at that) and avoidance of fallacies (the Logical Self Defense Approach). Such an approach leaves students without guidance in how to make positive judgments about what to believe and do. The broader approach to critical thinking can be thought of as instruction in applied rationality. There are two aspects to applied rationality, epistemic rationality (what to believe) and practical rationality (what to do). While epistemic rationality is treated in most critical thinking texts, rational decision-making gets little attention. This paper addresses that issue by developing a model of rational decision-making appropriate for critical thinking courses and texts.
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The rejection of evidence based, rational decision making by the American President and his cabinet and the popularity of concepts like “post-truth” and “fake news” underlines the great need for the promotion of critical thinking in our... more
The rejection of evidence based, rational decision making by the American President and his cabinet and the popularity of concepts like “post-truth” and “fake news” underlines the great need for the promotion of critical thinking in our schools. To be maximally effective the approach to critical thinking must go beyond the focus of early critical thinking texts which were limited to argument analysis (and small arguments at that) and avoidance of fallacies (the Logical Self Defense Approach). Such an approach leaves students without guidance in how to make positive judgments about what to believe and do. The broader approach to critical thinking can be thought of as instruction in applied rationality. There are two aspects to applied rationality, epistemic rationality (what to believe) and practical rationality (what to do). While epistemic rationality is treated in most critical thinking texts, rational decision-making gets little attention. This paper addresses that issue by developing a model of rational decision-making appropriate for critical thinking courses and texts.