Carl Sagan and Skeptical Thinking

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Recommended: The importance of critical thinking in science

Among the tools for skeptical thinking provided by Sagan’s essay are: facts confirmation, authority can be wrong, comparing your hypothesis objectively to others, quantify, chain of argument, and always try to falsify the hypothesis.

The foundation of science is built on trust. It is constructed on the fact that scientists using research and precise testing to based data on. Scientific testing uses analytical and statistical methods accurately and respectfully to obtain results (Committee on Science, 2009). Methods include: conducting experiments that will isolate cause and effect on the phenomena being studied, observing and formulating physical laws, and using accurate quantitative measurements (Dr. Richard, Paul ;Dr. Elder, Linda, 2006). It is essential to always apply critical and skeptical thinking when approaching science and to detect when trust is violated.

In his essay “The Fine Art of Baloney Detection” Carl Sagan suggests that there is great danger in losing one’s critical thinking skills (Sagan, 1997). According to The Foundation for Critical Thinking critical thinking is the method of using rational analysis to improve thinking in a self-directed process (Defining Critical Thinking, 2011). Sagan presents a set of tools called the “baloney detection kit”. His kit of skeptical thinking relies on examined and explored arguments along with methods differentiating between facts and falsehood that can assist in recognizing the truth.

The first tool is finding the evidence from independent sources (4). Data we receive is not free of biases, opinions, and distorted information. People have personal beliefs and ideology; as a result biases can influence actual facts. A message travels from sender to receiver in an eight st...

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... we can continue the scientific progress and ensure that professional codes are always the base of all scientific research (Committee on Science, 2009).

References

Defining Critical Thinking. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org: http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/our-concept-of-critical-thinking/411

BBC News. (2009, October 29). Profile: Hwang Woo-suk. Retrieved from BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4554704.stm

Bovée, C. L., & Thill, J. V. (2012). Business Communication Today. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education.

Committee on Science, E. a. (2009). On Being a Scientist. Washington: The National Academies Press.

Dr. Richard, Paul ;Dr. Elder, Linda. (2006). Scientific Thinking. Dillon Beach, CA: The Foundation of Critical Thinking.

Sagan, C. (1997). The Demon-Haunted World. New York: Ballantine Books.

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