Here Be Dragons - An introduction to critical thinking

[Rigwyn]

I found this by accident while searching for information about the literal use of the phrase "Here be dragons" on ancient maps. Anyways... its good stuff...

http://herebedragonsmovie.com/

[Chessire]

I would love to raise some counterpoints to this video but its piling so many invalid points over one another its really no use doing so. While critical thinking is essential for any situation this guy is simply using it as an excuse to attack any ideas foreign to the western civilisation without giving them the benefit of a serious examination as well as pass political opinions as "the muslims attacked us on 9/11" or "FDA is good", also without examining the claims of the opposite opinions.

I don't know what you like about this video but if its because it simply happens to agree with personal opinions of yours this is not what we call critical thinking. You need to take any idea seriously individually and closely examine it even if it hurts just as I took the time to watch this video, not group ideas up and bash them under the excuse of "critical thinking" or "logic", only to conclude that your own opinion is the best and everything else is mumbo-jumbo.

[Rigwyn]

What I liked is that he discusses critical thinking and gives some illustrations of where critical thinking is or has been ignored. I personally agree with many of his points, but I am MORE in favor of the actual process of critical thinking and sniffing out logical fallacies than the conclusion that follows.

I agree, the guy wears a doctor's coat while discussing his position on medical issues, however nowhere on the site does it say that he's a medical doctor or in any way an authority on medicine. This appears to be an appeal to authority.

He covered a very wide swath of topics that would need to be discussed and weighed out individually. I don't think anyone should just assume that he's correct because he looks like an authority figure, has a video and book, or because his tone of voice indicates that you are foolish if you disagree - which in itself would be fallacious.

[Chessire]

It is true the techniques he is describing are valid and very useful for discerning the truth. Its just he accompanies everything with examples of his personal opinions and presents the opposing ideas in absurd ways.
Notice during the first part how all the people who speak about alternative medicine organic food or spiritual matters (all mixed together) are all looking pretty ordinary while chewing their words. As you said, he is wearing a lab coat even after he's done pointing out how wearing a lab coat is used to appeal  to authority and he is filmed in a room full of scientific equipment. Throughout the whole video he appears talking from all sorts of amazing locations mostly in nature while everyone else depicted are in some ordinary place in city landscape, giving a much more free and relaxed tone to his own image. Last but not least, while presenting critical thinking techniques at first he ends up spending most of the time explaining why one or another opinion is wrong.
If you are not appalled by the points he raises but feel closer to his own point of view instead you may fail to notice he is disregarding the subject of his video to pass his own ideas. There is nothing wrong with that of course, except this is supposed to be a video that teaches you ways to think correctly, not what to think.

The techniques he is describing are great, I just feel mistrust over someone who teaches me how to think for myself while also trying to convince me he is right. The video presents itself as educational by the title while being primarily political, this is clearly an underhanded way to express opinions.

[Rigwyn]

Not to mention the use of subtle background music to go along with the "word chewing" This section does resemble a "Strawman Fallacy" -- where you make up an exaggerated representation of your target ( a strawman ), then then beat up on this inferior representation instead of criticizing the true target.

That is also partially the point in the the title, though. "Here be dragons" ( or some latin equivalent ) and the depiction of dragons and monsters were sometimes used by cartographers to show that certain regions of their map was simply "unexplored" or "unknown". In some cases, it literally meant that it was believed to be dangerous. Some who read these maps took this a bit too literally.

An interesting article on this topic from a cartographer's point of view.
http://www.antiquemaps.co.uk/book/chapter10.asp

The interesting use of "Here be Dragons" on maps
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_be_dragons

The underlying fault is that people chose to make judgements about the world by examining someone else's representation of the world instead of looking at the world itself. They were subject to both errors and inaccuracies in the representation of the worlds ( the map ) and by their interpretation of this second hand representation of the world.

You see this pattern of error in movies all the time. One of the characters will turn to a false representation of reality for information. They will turn to a television, a seer, mirror or an old movie reel.  Its usually interesting to see what happens next as a result.

This is not to say that making a representation of the world is bad. We do it all the time and it is a powerful tool. We have maps, news programs, books, electronic communications, the Internet and so on. We just need to be careful and treat these sources as simulacra and not as the real thing.

I agree with you more now that I put all these little things together. The representation was a little sleazy, but that in itself does not necessarily negate his points or deem him incorrect. Still, it's good fodder for critical thinking and discussion.   \o/

[Volki]

lol

This is some guy's personal project to get money.

By the way, he's giving names to phenomena that already have names. Pick up a first year psychology textbook. You'll see what I mean.

[Rigwyn]

Care to give an example?

[Volki]

heuristics