Beyond Feelings - Chapter 17&18

Summary

Conducting Inquiry

Inquiry is seeking answers to questions,investigating issues, and gathering information to help us draw conclusions. It enables us to get beyond our first impressions, feelings, preconceived notions,and personal preferences. There are two basic kinds of inquiry: inquiry into facts and inquiry into opinions. How much inquiry into each is needed will vary from situation to situation.

Not every question is answerable. Some issues remain unresolved for years, even centuries. However resistant to resolution a question may be, inquiry is still useful. So we should merely be realistic about how complete and final our answers are likely to be.

There are several suggestions on where to look for information:

1.Background on the issue.

2.Facts and statistics.

3.Information about people.

4.Information about the English language.

5.Articles in newspapers,magazines and journals.

6.Books.

7.Computer databases and abstracting service.

8.Internet resources.

    1)Use a search engine.

    2)Develop a list of resources.

    3)Evaluate your information sources.

It is a misconception that all above suggest long, monotonous, time- and energy-consuming research little different from that required for a doctoral dissertation. The truth is, with a little practice, it is possible to use quickly and efficiently all the reference sources mentioned, if ever we can keep focused and ensure the efficiency.

How Much Inquiry Is Enough?

1.Evidence is sufficient when it permits a judgment to be made with certainty.

2.If certainty is unattainable, evidence is sufficient if one view of the issue has been shown to have the force of probability.

3.In all other cases, the evidence must be considered insufficient.

Forming a Judgment

Judgments are conclusions arrived at through examination of evidence and careful reasoning. They are the products of thinking. They may contain elements of the spontaneous but are not unconscious.The strategy we have discussed for thinking critically about issues is designed to promote thoughtful judgments.

Knowing ourselves and being observant: we improve our perception and guard against error.

Systematically clarifying issues and conducting inquiry: we rescue our thinking from preconceived notions and first impressions.

Evaluating the evidence we have obtained:we determine what it means and how significant it is.

Before drawing a conclusion, we should pay great attention to evaluation of evidence as well as sources’ arguments, and then try to make careful distinctions based on the situation.

The following approach will help you express all your judgments effectively:

1.Strive for a balanced view.

2.Dealwith probability.

3.Make your subject appropriately specific.

4.Makeyour predicate exact.

5.Include all appropriate qualifications.

6.Avoid exaggeration.

Thought

第三大部分主要讲解的是方法和策略，从认识自己开始，到提升观察力，到选择议题、之后进行探究，最后形成我们的判断、得出结论，其实主要的思维过程也就结束了。

我们可以把以上几章的内容总结为一下几点：

1、了解自己，包括自己的思维习惯。认识自己的缺点和局限，并对此提高警惕。

2、用心观察和聆听，充分用到自己的感官，并加以处理和反思。

3、确定一个议题，列举出议题的各个方面并分别提出探究性问题加以探究和讨论。

4、仔细研究，确保研究过程的科学性、公正性和准确性。

5、综合以上步骤得出的结论，提出自己的判断。