What is one common mistake we do

that results to poor decision making?

 Critical Thinking
“Critical Thinking towards Taking Action”
 Critical Thinking & Decision Making (Freely & Steinberg, 2008)

• It requires that the decider make a

choice.
• Life demands decision making.
• We make countless individual decisions
every day.
• To make some of those decisions, we
work hard to employ care and
consideration; others seem to just
happen.
 Critical Thinking & Decision Making (Freely & Steinberg, 2008)

• The ability of every decision maker to make

good, reasoned, and ethical decisions relies
heavily upon their ability to think critically.
• Critical thinking enables one to break
argumentation down to its component parts
in order to evaluate its relative validity and
strength.
• Critical thinkers are better users of
information, as well as better advocates.
 Critical Thinking & Debate (Freely & Steinberg, 2008)

• The impact of public communication

training on the critical thinking ability of
the participants is demonstrably positive.
• A summary of existing research
reaffirms what many ex-debaters and
others in forensics, public speaking,
mock trial, or argumentation would
support: participation improves the
thinking of those involved.
 Debate, Rhetoric, & Argumentation (Freely & Steinberg, 2008)

• Debate is the process of inquiry and

advocacy, a way of arriving at a reasoned
judgment on a proposition, in order to reach
a decision in people’s own minds.
• Rhetoric is a universal art of winning the
mind by arguments.
• Argumentation is reason-giving in
communicative situations by people whose
purpose is the justification of acts, beliefs,
attitudes, and values.
 What Good Reasons Are (Freely & Steinberg, 2008)

• Good reasons are psychologically

compelling for a given audience;
• Making further inquiry both
unnecessary and redundant;
• Hence, justifying a decision to affirm
or reject a proposition.
 Advantages of Debate (Freely & Steinberg, 2008)

• It prevents the triumph of fraud

and injustice
• method of instruction for the
public
• Makes us see both sides of a case
• Rhetoric is a means of defense
 Standard Agenda for Group Decision Making
(Freely & Steinberg, 2008)

1. Define and analyze the problem

2. Research the problem
3. Establish criteria
4. Generate solutions
5. Select best solution
6. Implement and monitor solution
 Steps of Ethical Decision Making
(Freely & Steinberg, 2008)

1. Recognize an ethical issue.

2. Get the facts.
3. Evaluate alternative actions from
various ethical perspectives.
4. Make a decision and test it.
5. Act, then reflect on the decision
later.
 Reference

Freeley, Austin J., and David L. Steinberg.

"Critical Thinking." Chap. 1 in
Argumentation and Debate: Critical
Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making,
by Austin J. Freeley, & David L. Steinberg.
Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning,
2008.
 Tasking

“Critical Thinking towards Taking Action”

1. 2 Teams.
2. One team is to apply the “Standard Agenda
for Group Decision Making” on the problem
of security (e.g. robbery or threats) among
the students in MSU campus.
3. Another team is to apply the “Steps of Ethical
Decision Making” on the problem of waste
management in MSU campus.
 Tasking

3. In PPT slides, write what your team plans to

do for each of the steps in your designated
method, including a list of your teammates’
names.
4. Reminder: include in the list only those who
helped or cooperated in your team.
5. Convert your PPT slides into PDF, and share
it in our GC for your team to use as visual
aid.
 Tasking

6. Each team is to present its output during our

class next meeting.
7. Presentation time is only 10 minutes at the
most, including questions and comments
from the rest of the class.
8. For Rating, Presentation Rubric is used with
an Over-all Score of 40 points.