Sections 7A, 7C: Please review this by Friday, 8/25. This is your digital copy of what we went over in class with some more detail for the section, Critical Thinking and the Internet on Wednesday, 8/23 ( Four Tools for Fact Checking (Not Fake News), Ethics Articles?, and Ethics Article Homework Guide are exactly the same). Critical Thinking and the Internet A good deal of misinformation can be found on the internet. Many people even make money by peddling false claims in the online world. For these reasons, a critical thinker approaches the web with a degree of initial wariness. How do we separate the trustworthy from the questionable, the truth from the false, when considering whether or not to trust a web resource? The first step is to identify the author or organization behind the website. Ask, Who created this site? Who wrote the page or the item under consideration? If an author created the website, the next step is to evaluate the author s credibility. What justifies placing trust in his or her claims? Begin by asking, What are the author s credentials? Can they be checked? (Are they real?) Are the credentials issued by a respected institution, one with a track record of accomplishment? For example, suppose a scientist named John Doakes makes a controversial claim on his website about some issue in physics. His claim is more likely to be true if his PhD is from Oxford University in England than if it is from the John Doakes Institute of Theoretical Physics (headquartered in his basement). Oxford University has a long record of accomplishment in theoretical physics. When an organization has produced a website, similar questions ought to be asked before wholeheartedly accepting the information. What is the organization behind the website? What sort of reputation does it have in the area? What are its qualifications on the matter? Is it a recognized authority in the subject area? If so, then the usual checks on expert evidence may be performed. We can also ask, Does the organization have a proven track record? Is it known for reliable, proven information? Or does it have a track record of misinformation? Is its information up to date? Or outmoded? Does it back up its claims with solid evidence? Does it cite its sources? Or does it assert things without any backing or documentation? If it does provide documentation, is the backing publicly checkable? Can interested people look it up and verify it? Is the organization biased in some way? For example, is it funded by political or special interests that stand to gain if if the information it distributes is widely accepted? Is the organization closely associated with with a particular political party or political or ideological movement? Political and ideological movements have an agenda to promote and are interested parties in a matter. Does the organization devote more time, space, and energy to one side of a controversial issue? These facts alone do not show that the organization s claims are false, but they do raise a red flag, and call for further investigation.
When evaluating a web resource, we can also ask, What is the purpose of the web page? Is its primary purpose advertising? Does it exist mainly to sell a product? If so, its veracity is called into question, since promoting sales rather than the truth may be a primary motive (and it is part of our background information that the two do not always coincide). Is the primary purpose advocacy and opinion? If so, then the veracity of the source is again called into question. If advocacy is the goal, the source may be inflamed by the passion and bias of zealotry, emotions that do not always lead to the truth. The material will have to be checked for balance and accuracy in this case. Is the primary purpose entertainment? If so, the veracity of the source is again called into question, since having fun rather than reaching the truth may be a primary goal, and as we all know, fun and the truth do not always coincide. Herrick, Paul. The Internet, News Media, and Advertising. Think with Socrates: an Introduction to Critical Thinking, Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 226 227. Four Tools for Fact Checking (Not Fake News) 1. Snopes.com 2. Politicfact.com 3. Factcheck.org 4. Truthorfiction.org Example : (1) Go to the National Report website (Nationalreport.net) and see what it looks like. (2) Use the search bar on the National Report website and enter the query, Solar Panels Drain the Sun. This should be the link of the page that you are on: http://nationalreport.net/solar-panels-drain-suns-energy-experts-say/ (3) Google National Report and see what immediately comes up from Google and Wikipedia Ethics Articles? Let s go over some different news articles and identify the articles that are related to the study of ethics: (1) BBC article, Animal v Athlete: Four Times Man Has Raced Beast (2) National Review article on the case of Charlie Gard, Charlie Gard s Parents, Not the State, Must Decide His Fate
(3) NY Times article, Is it O.K. to Fire a Muslim Driver for Refusing to Carry Wine? (4) BBC article, TVs in Children s Bedrooms [I]ncrease Risk of Obesity (5) NY Times article, What Should You Do With Your Father s Nazi Keepsake? (6) CNN s article, Wonder Woman Sequel is a Go Ethics Articles: #2,3,5 Ethics Article Homework Guide Each week you have to submit- for a homework grade- both a printed out ethics news article and handwritten or typed response to the information contained within the article. In order to complete the homework assignment, follow these 5 steps: Step 1: Find a news article from a credible source that focuses on an ethical dilemma. (Note: Need help figuring out what a credible source is? Refer to the Critical Thinking and the Internet post) Step 2: Read the article and highlight important facts related to the situation as well as quotes contained within the article. Step 3: Reflect on the different types of ethical stances one could take on the issue by creating a Consequence Diagram/ Decision Tree.
Step 4: Write a paragraph response to the ethical dilemma posed within the article. Your response should include your opinion on the matter, HOWEVER, your opinion should not be formed only by referring to your emotions- YOU MUST HAVE A JUSTIFICATION. *PROVIDE SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE AND USE SOUND REASONING* Step 5: Review your work and edit accordingly.