电子商务专业英语实用教程(21)

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.  The Toulmin Model. Because so much attention was paid to developing complicated systems of logic and mathematics, there were no simpler systems to use in ordinary thinking situations. Stephen Toulmin devised a system when he began to examine the way most people think. This system is often called the Toulmin Model, and it consists of three main elements: the grounds, the warrant, and the claim. The grounds are the pieces of information you think about or collect that relate to a topic, the claim is the conclusion you draw when you look at the information, and the warrant is the connecting principle that allows you to link the information to the conclusion.
These three elements are the basis for drawing conclusions about the world. In some ways the warrants exist before the other two elements in the habits and manners you use to organize and connect information. Warrants are the general approaches or rules that you use to guide your thinking processes. They are often derived from values and beliefs about the way the world works, and you probably put them into practice automatically and without thinking.

2.3 Informed Decision Making
We all make decisions, virtually minute by minute. Some are so common and made so often that we no longer even think about them as decisions. The question “Shall I have a cup of coffee with breakfast?” is a good example of such a decision. Others are so weighty and consequential that we may agonize for days or months over them. “Shall I apply to a college far away, even though the person I love most in the world is staying behind?” is a question involving a very serious decision. Making quality decisions is a goal of critical thinking, even if the decision is not one of action but only of judgment such as “Who is the best singer in the world?” To make decision making a manageable process, look at the bases for decisions and the likely consequences they may have. Evaluating information, sources, supporting materials, and probable outcomes requires a usable evaluation system. This system is based on specific criteria, and can be divided into the four areas of decision making. When you ask, “What do you mean by the ‘best’ singer?”, you are asking for a criterion – a measure by which to define the term best. Without criteria, no informed decision is possible. The criteria that we use, however, are often unexpressed, assumed, unknown, or hidden. Here is where critical thinking comes into play. By demanding that criteria be expressed, we as decision makers can become aware of the forces that drive our decisions. We can examine them, evaluate them, and clarify or modify them as appropriate.
Let us look at each of the five criteria of informed decision making:
.  Evaluating Information. Information is the data we get through our senses or manufacture in our minds. Critical listening helps us to retain and evaluate information. We can listen for information, for recreation, and for evaluation. These types of listening are not necessarily mutually exclusive; we can do all three at once. When evaluating information from a critical-thinking perspective, examine four areas: premises, consistency, completeness and coherence.
Each of the above-mentioned areas is important but a premise is perhaps the most difficult element to find and the most significant in terms of evaluation. A well-expressed idea based on a faulty premise is still faulty at its core. On the other hand, a soundly based claim may have shortcomings in the way it is expressed but still be sound.
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Premises, then, are the general statements that precede conclusions. A critical thinker will attempt to discover the premises in any communication event. Once discovered, the criterion for judging whether the premises are correct is fairly simple to express: They must be based on known, sufficient, and representative facts.

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Consistency means that the information in the premise must agree with the known world and within itself. For example, studying for exams is a consistently reliable way to pass them. However, if the student has never before studied when she said she was staying in for that purpose, we may suspect that her premises are not consistent with her behavior. External consistency means that warrants, grounds, conclusions, and premises are based on reliable information. Internal consistency means applying information in a similar manner in similar circumstances. The language must be consistent – not shift in meaning midstream. Definitions must remain the same throughout the reasoning process.
　
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