Paul and Elder Critical Thinking

Using the web pages associated with the Foundation for Critical Thinking website, choose one of the four topics below and respond to the aspects of the prompt in at least 400 words.

The essay must be 400 words in length, excluding title and reference pages, and formatted according to APA style. If you would like to refer to APA samples and tutorials, review the APA Checklist within the Ashford Writing Center (https://awc.ashford.edu/cd-apa-checklist.html) located in the Learning Resources tab in the left navigation bar. The only resources you will need to complete this assignment are the web pages of the critical thinking website that relate to your chosen topic. However, if you would like to include other sources, that is encouraged. Just be sure that you utilize the critical thinking web pages as your primary sources of information.

Choose one:
Inference and Assumption
Explain the difference between inference and assumption. Then, present four inferences you have made and connect those inferences to their underlying assumptions. Looking back, which of these were proper inferences, and which were improper inferences? Why?

Purpose, Point of View, and Decisions
Outline a problem that you currently face or have faced recently. Define the assumptions that you have about this issue. Explain your point of view, and outline the information that you have analyzed in relation to this problem. Finally, explain the implications that have arisen or will arise when you respond to this problem.

Valuable Intellectual Traits
Of the valuable intellectual traits listed in the online readings from this week, identify three of them that you believe you need to strengthen. Explain the traits, and then describe how you will attempt to implement actions in your life that will maximize those intellectual virtues.

Open-Minded Inquiry
Using the online reading “Open-minded Inquiry,” identify what you consider to be the three most important attributes that one must have as he or she approaches problems. Explain why you think these attributes are the three most important, and describe examples from your own life, or from the lives of those you know, in which people failed to display those attributes.