Author Archives: Peter Ellerton

About Peter Ellerton

Director of the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project and Lecturer in Critical Thinking.

The Tale of the Slave

Robert Nozick’s dangerous question.

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10 Philosophical Principles

From John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, Aristotle’s ‘mean’ philosophy to the principle of charity, here are the greatest principles of philosophy By JULIAN BAGGINI, Editor of The Philosopher’s Magazine 1. THE HARM PRINCIPLE by JOHN STUART MILL, 1806-1873 Whenever legislation is … Continue reading

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The Fallacy of Deepest Offence

Are all ideas equal? Not in the classroom By Peter Ellerton, University of Queensland There is a widespread belief amongst teachers that it is part of their duty of care, even a defining aspect of their professionalism, that all views … Continue reading

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Philosophy Graduate Abilities

Data on the performance of Philosophy graduates. Click to enlarge.     More info here.  Note that the philosophy students perform outstandingly well in verbal and writing skills and are the best of the non-quatitative areas in quantitative reasoning.  

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Fallacies Poster

A lovely job from http://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/  please visit the site for interactive presentation.

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What Truth Doesn’t Mean

The truth, the whole truth and … wait, how many truths are there? Calling something a “scientific truth” is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it carries a kind of epistemic (how we know) credibility, a quality assurance that a … Continue reading

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Can science answer questions about morality?

Sam Harris on TED

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The Language of Science

Listen and learn: the language of science and scepticism Peter Ellerton Making sure what’s intended is what’s heard can be more difficult than it seems. Melvin Gaal (mindsharing.eu) As scientists, one of our responsibilities should be to promote clarity. A lot … Continue reading

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Analysis of Critical Thinking in Climate Science

No one likes to change their mind, not even on climate People put up all kinds of psychological barriers to changing their minds. Thomas Galvez Last night’s ABC documentary I Can Change Your Mind About Climate was about two people — … Continue reading

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Post hoc ergo propter hoc or False Cause – Correlation does not imply causation

Another legend from Dilbert.

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Philosophy — What’s the Use?

Are you looking to see why teaching philosophy is important?  Another great article from NYTimes The Stone Almost every article that appears in The Stone provokes some comments from readers challenging the very idea that philosophy has anything relevant to … Continue reading

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What Democracy is not…

Discuss.

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The Fallacy of ‘Deepest Offence’

The Fallacy of ‘Deepest Offence’ By Peter Ellerton  image via here Nothing is so central to a liberal society as the right to discuss ideas. Not being able to do this at all is totalitarianism – the banning of discussing, … Continue reading

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Another Double Blind Test surprise

Stradivarius Fails Sound Test Versus Newbie Violins Download pdf (from sciam) Can you tell the difference between modern violins and antiques crafted by Italian masters? Don’t feel too bad – expert players can’t do it either. In a double-blind test, 21 experienced … Continue reading

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When Should Science be Censored?

Calls to censor details of potential killer flu via ABC News The suppression of breakthrough research into deadly bird flu strains has been labelled scientific censorship by some, but others say it is a necessary step to prevent a possible … Continue reading

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Truth

Discuss…

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Correlation Does Not Imply Causation

Another classic from Dilbert See also  Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

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Philosophical Zombies

From the concept by Chalmers.  Could humans exist that are not conscious?  The extract below is from his site. Philosophical zombies It is philosophical zombies that I’m most interested in here, since I’m a philosopher and they raise very interesting … Continue reading

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The Coherentist’s Nightmare

The coherency theory of truth

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Harvard Justice Series: The Moral Side of Murder

Part One:

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