Argument Ninja: Critical Thinking As A Martial Art

Argument Ninjas need to acquire a basic understanding of the psychology of human reasoning. This is essential for improving the quality of our own reasoning, and for mastering skills in communication and persuasion. On this episode I take you on a guided tour of our divided mind. I compare and contrast the dual-process theories of Daniel Kahneman (Thinking, Fast and Slow), Jonathan Haidt (The Righteous Mind) and Joshua Greene (Moral Tribes). The simple mental models these authors use should be part of every critical thinker's toolbox. My other goal with this episode is to help listeners think more critically about dual-process theories in cognitive science, to better understand the state of the science and the diversity of views that fall under this label. In This Episode: - Why it's important to cultivate multiple mental models (2:40) - Kahneman and Tversky: biases and heuristics (4:20) - Example: the availability heuristic (5:30) - Cognitive biases originating from mismatches between the problem a...