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Where science meets art. The only necessary and sufficient book store in Melbourne.
Hope our friends enjoy the new look and feel – now optimised for mobile devices for access on the go.
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Coordinator: Peter Ellerton
Web guy: Jason Etheridge RESOURCE COLLECTIONS
NEW RESOURCES
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- A nice Philosophy of Mind summary
- The power of categorical logic
- What exactly is the scientific method and why do so many people get it wrong?
- Paralympic athletes faster than olympic athletes — what does this tell us about difference?
- Logic: if + then = why? How can we understand the power of logic?
- How do we ensure we are exposed to new ideas? A parody with bite.
- A Life of Meaning (Reason Not Required) – What is the nature of our relationship with reason?
- Can you name this cognitive bias?
- By what measures can we value human life?
- Teaching philosophy improves standardised scores
- Are we in control of our own decisions?
- Neuroscience and education: myths and messages
- Free will is not as free as we think – and that’s ok.
- Where’s the Proof in Pseudoscience?
- Science in the lead?
RANDOM POSTS
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- A Wolf in Sheep's Lab Coat - Pseudoscience in the 21st Century
- Another resource for Fallacies of Reasoning
- Hume’s criticism of the design argument
- Free Will and the Genome Project
- Teaching philosophy improves standardised scores
- How Anecdotal Evidence Can Undermine Scientific Results
- Anarchy is a law unto itself
- Developing critical thinking skills
- Jean-Paul Sartre's notion of Bad Faith
- 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense (pdf)
USEFUL RSS FEEDS
Philosopher’s Zone
NYTimes – The Stone
Philosophy Now
RSA Animate
- The Green Corridors Initiative
- Governance governing government
- Why print money when we can print wealth?
- Building a resilient health and care system
- We'll always have Paris?
- Experimentation and equity in global cities
- Technology-enabled deliberative democracy
- Healthier placemaking
- Creating a sovereign wealth fund in Wolverhampton
- Economic recovery and climate action
Scientific American – Mind and Brain
- Asexuality Research Has Reached New Heights. What Are We Learning?
- Political Ads Can Target Your Personality. Here's What Could Go Wrong
- Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning
- People with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome May Have an "Exhausted" Immune System
- How to Close the 'Orgasm Gap' for Heterosexual Couples
- Virtual Bar Scenes Are a New Tool to Study Why People Commit Crimes in the Heat of the Moment
- Anger Can Help You Meet Your Goals
- How Sleep Engineering Could Help Heal the Brain
- Dominatrices Are Showing People How to Have Rough Sex Safely
- Farmers in Crisis, Long Overlooked, Are Finally Getting Mental Health Support
TED talks
- War journalism should be rooted in empathy — not violence | Bel Trew
- The problem with food and climate — and how to fix it | Jonathan Foley
- How buildings can improve life — inside and out | Doris Sung
- The satellite helping slow climate change — right now | Millie Chu Baird
- What's possible when the arts belong to everybody | Lear deBessonet with Brian Stokes Mitchell
- “Cant de la Sibil·la” / "Quien Más Me Ama" | Maria Arnal
- Bravery, brilliance and RuPaul Charles | On the Spot | RuPaul Charles
- How to claim your leadership power | Michael Timms
- Why young people are worse off than their parents — and what to do about it | Scott Galloway
- Quantum computers aren't what you think — they're cooler | Hartmut Neven
THEMED RESOURCES
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Category Archives: Critical Thinking
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
Posted in Booklets, Handouts and Worksheets, Critical Thinking, Media Articles, Cartoons, Philosophy of Science
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Correlation Does Not Imply Causation
Another classic from Dilbert See also Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
Posted in Critical Thinking, Media Articles, Cartoons
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The Coherentist’s Nightmare
The coherency theory of truth
Posted in Critical Thinking, Media Articles, Cartoons, Philosophy of Language
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Benefits of Collaborative Philosophical Inquiry in Schools
Stephan Millett & Alan Tapper Centre for Applied Ethics and Philosophy, Curtin University If you need to show why doing collaborative philosophical inquiry, or just philosophy, in schools is important, this is a good place to start. … Continue reading
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Conspiracy, Independent Scholarship and the Truth as a Commodity
Great stuff again from The Stone (NYTimes) Who Wrote Shakespeare? While it is perfectly obvious to everyone that Ben Jonson wrote all of Shakespeare’s plays, it is less known that Ben Jonson’s plays were written by a teen-age girl in … Continue reading
Posted in Critical Thinking, Media Articles, Cartoons
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The Backfire Effect
When people believe more strongly in something AFTER they have been given information that refutes it…. Good explanation here http://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/06/10/the-backfire-effect/ And paper by Brendan Nyhan here (pdf). Abstract below. An extensive literature addresses citizen ignorance, but very little research focuses … Continue reading
Posted in Booklets, Handouts and Worksheets, Critical Thinking, Media Articles, Cartoons
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Bayesian Inference (Homo Bayesianis)
Bayesian Inference (and a good explanation of Bayes’ Theorem) ~best to ignore this one if you’re not already in the loop~ via http://www.brera.mi.astro.it/~andreon/inference/Inference.html
Cognitive Dissonance Explained
By Dilbert, of course… Wikipedia cognitive dissonance.
The Changing Climate of Skepticism
Via Embiggen Books In this excellent talk given by Peter Ellerton (winner of the 2008 Australian Skeptics prize for Critical Thinking) on the Climate Change debate, the viewer is encouraged to examine the way in which the debate is being … Continue reading
Pick your Cognitive Bias
Another brilliant Dilbert
Imagining the Tenth Dimension
Excellent intellectual exercise
A Wonderful Piece of Pseudoscience in Advertising
Well worth reading the whole lot. The language is absolute nonsense. “By strengthening the body’s own natural energy and innate intelligence, the QLink allows it to recognise and differentiate between which external energies are healthy, and which are not. The … Continue reading
Reasons for Reason
Via MICHAEL P. LYNCH NYTimes The Stone Rick Perry’s recent vocal dismissals of evolution, and his confident assertion that “God is how we got here” reflect an obvious divide in our culture. In one sense, that divide is just over the … Continue reading
Atheism as a ‘Null Hypothesis’
An interesting take on the subject by QualiaSoup…
Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory
Great paper on Reasoning Why Do Humans Reason? (pdf) Abstract and authors below… Abstract: Reasoning is generally seen as a means to improve knowledge and make better decisions. However, much evidence shows that reasoning often leads to epistemic distortions and poor … Continue reading
Tips on Writing a Philosophy Paper/Essay
A nice overview from Douglas W. Portmore Tips on writing a philosophy paper (pdf) The full text is below…
Ability to Think Scientifically Declines as Kids Grow Up
Young children think like researchers but lose the feel for the scientific method as they age via Scientific American If your brownies came out too crispy on top but undercooked in the center, it would make sense … Continue reading
Developing critical thinking skills
A useful handout that talks about reading, writing and thinking critically with examples of how to achieve this. via http://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/documents/learning_centre/critical.pdf Critical Thinking Skills (pdf)
Critical Thinking – An Introduction (Alec Fisher)
This ebook is widely available for download on the web. I got it here www.axzopress.com/downloads/pdf/1560526483pv.pdf Critical thinking introduction (pdf) A good resource for referencing what we mean by critical thinking.
The power of the non sequitur
From www.dilbert.com of course…