Critical Thinking

Order type: Article Critique
Read “apples to oranges” by Claire Ironside and “Eating Ethically –It’s Complicated [and Listener Comments],” by Adriene Hill. Respond to the following prompts:
1. If we interpret the “apples to oranges” as an evaluative argument, what is Ironside evaluating?
2. What are her criteria? What type of measurement does she supply?
3. After examining her criteria, suggest a warrant and some backing for a warrant for Ironside’s claim.
4. Hill in “Eating Ethically – It’s Complicated” makes a claim about eating ethically. If we interpret Hill’s claim as an evaluative argument, what is it?
5. What are Hill’s criteria? What type of measurement does he supply?
6. Examine two of the comments to “Eating Ethically – It’s Complicated.” Describe the evaluative claims and criteria for the arguments each commentator is making.
7. Which article or commentator is most convincing to you? Why?
8. Looking at “apples to oranges” and “Eating Ethically –It’s Complicated [and Listener Comments” together should help you draw conclusions about quantitative and qualitative criteria. What conclusions have you drawn?

Read “Are We Worried about Storm’s Identity – or Our Own?” by Patricia J Williams and “The Freedom to Choose Your Own Pronoun,” by Jennifer Conlin. Respond to the following prompts:
1. In what ways is Williams’s argument an argument of definition? Which of the definitions concern Storm, and which concern society in general?
2. In what ways is Conlin’s argument an argument of definition?
3. State Williams’s argument and Conlin’s argument using the Toulmin terms claim, reasons, warrant and backing. In which of these do the two authors agree? What points of disagreement do you notice?
4. Ultimately, both authors are Asian Studies

The essay question: Choose two of the three stories read this week. Compare and contrast what might have motivated each of its writers to write such a story. In each case, what role did the vernacular language play in helping the writer achieve this goal?

reading list for the week:? ?Vernacular Stories,? pg. 834;
? Feng Meng-long (1574-1646), ?Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger,? pg. 835-856
? Lang-xian, ?Censor Xue Finds Immortality in the Guise of a Fish,? pg. 856-879

In no less than 5 paragraphs, address the following:

Critical Thinking requires the deep analysis of content on levels beyond surface meaning. Why do you think this has to be taught as an academic discipline, and how do you think it can be applied to real life?