Greetings and welcome to our blog. Critically Minded Podcast is a thirteen-episode podcast series that aims to teach basic critical thinking skills. It is intended for those studying English as a second language but anybody is welcome.

 This sixth episode of Critically Minded finds Nick and Dave discussing of two additional kinds of premises: hidden premises and hypothetical premises. The episode ends with a quiz about different ways to express hypothetical premises.

 SCRIPT:
Dave: You’re back again with Critically Minded (Critical Thinking for 2nd Language Learners) the podcast for students of English who want to improve their critical thinking skills.
Nick: Last time as you’ll remember, we discussed the answers to the quiz two weeks ago—the quiz over major and minor premises. This week we’re discussing a third kind of premise—the hidden premise.
Dave: To hide something means to put it in a place where no one can see it. A hidden premise is hiding by not being spoken or written.
Nick: It’s hiding in the background of our common assumptions. [...]

 In the fifth episode of Critically Minded, Nick and Dave continue their discussion of major and minor podcasts. Questions from the previous episode’s quiz are answered. The mysterious “hidden premise” is introduced and will be more fully explained in the sixth episode.

 SCRIPT:
Dave: You are listening to Critically Minded Language Lab.
Nick: The podcast for English learners who want to become better critical thinkers.
Dave: In our last episode, we were looking at premises.
Nick: Specifically, we were looking at major and minor premises. We left you last time with a four-problem quiz. And in this episode we’re going to open with the answers to that quiz.
Dave: Then, after that we can move into the main topic of today’s episode, Hidden Premises.
Nick: So to the quiz questions! You’ll recall that [...]

In their fourth episode, Nick and Dave focus on major and minor premises. They explain the difference between major and minor premises and how readers and listeners can learn to distinguish one from the other. They explain why knowing the difference is important to evaluating the strength of an argument. Click here to listen.

 SCRIPT: Nick: You’re back with the Critical Thinking 101 for English Language Learners and we’re your hosts, Nick,
Dave: And David. We’re glad you’ve decided to continue this course. We’re confident that this course will make you into better thinkers and more effective decision makers.
Dave: We ended Episode 4 last week by looking at several examples of short arguments.
Nick: And we discussed the position of the reason or premise and the conclusion in each of those arguments.
Dave: We described the arguments as conclusion-first and conclusion-last. We also finished the show with a quiz.
Nick: We asked you to evaluate the argument. [...]

In this third episode, Nick and Dave continue their discussion of the basic structure of an argument. They discuss how to distinguish between reasons (premises) and conclusions. They talk about premise indicators (like “because”) and conclusion indicators (like “so,” “therefore,” and “thus”). They also talk about conclusion-first and conclusion-last arguments. Click here to listen.

SCRIPT:
Nick: Welcome back to Critically Minded (Critical Thinking For 2nd Language Learners). I’m Nick.
Dave: And I’m David.
Nick: As you may remember, last time we were discussing how arguments are organized. We noted that informally speaking an argument has reasons and a conclusion.
Dave: And we said that when we speak formally, that is when we make an argument, we use the word premise for reason.
Nick: And the word therefore for so.
Dave: So last week we asked you to come up with other possible conclusions to this argument: My bicycle tire is flat. There is no air in it. Therefore, I must have ridden over a piece of glass. [...]

In this episode, Nick and Dave introduce the concept of an argument as a logical progression from premises to a conclusion. They discuss classical syllogisms and suggest challenging one’s own conclusion with alternate arguments.

SCRIPT:
Dave: Welcome once again to Critically Minded (Critical Thinking For 2nd Language Learners). I’m the host, David and this is my co-host Nick. So are you going to tell the listeners what we are going to talk about today?
Nick: Yep, I thought we should talk about argument.
Dave: Arguing? Like when a husband and wife fight over things?
Nick: Maybe? It depends on how they argue and how emotional they get. [...]

In this first episode Nick and Dave introduce themselves and explain why they are producing this podcast series. They tell how they think their listeners can benefit from the podcast. They speak briefly about what critical thinking is, what it isn’t, and why it’s a skill set worth acquiring.

 SCRIPT:
Dave: Greetings everyone. You’re listening to Critically Minded (Critical Thinking For 2nd Language Learners). I’m David –.
Nick: And I’m Nick. Thank you for downloading our first podcast.
Dave: This is the first in a series of several episodes we’re planning to present on Critical Thinking for English language learners. [...]