Thinking Skills: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

306 Unit 7 Critical reasoning: Advanced Level

DOC 4

Activity

You have been asked to speak in a debate on

the future of the Olympic Games to an

audience of athletes, business people,

sports fans and others who are concerned

that the Games are falling into disrepute and

straying from their original ideals. The

previous speaker in the debate was Janet

Sender: your job is either to support or to

oppose her proposal.

Go through all the items again, including

Janet Sender’s article, and note down, or

highlight, any points that you feel to be

relevant to the argument you will be

constructing. There is no need to sort or

organise it at this stage: just compile a rough

list of points that you could make, and others

that you may need to respond to.

Commentary

Selection

Before you can begin to select and organise

relevant material from sources like these, you

need to be very clear what you are doing it

for – the task or assignment that has led you

to the documents in the first place.

There are some parts of the texts that are of

obvious significance, and some that are just as

obviously irrelevant. For instance, if you are

going to take up Janet Sender’s argument that

the interests of western Europe and the USA

have been served much better than those of

other nations, especially in the developing

world, the table of host cities would clearly be

useful evidence. Even if you decide to oppose

the previous speaker, you would need to

anticipate the accusation that the West has had

the lion’s share of the Olympic cake. Hence the

data in the table is relevant whether it will

strengthen your conclusion or challenge it.

The list of points you select will usually be a

mixture of fact and opinion, and it is important

not to confuse them. Generally speaking, facts

are neutral, unlike opinions or judgements. A

footprint in the snow is just that, an outline of

a foot, unless or until some significance is

attached to it. If it turns out to have the same

pattern as the boots owned by a defendant in a

murder trial, the footprint becomes a piece of

evidence. Similarly, the fact that the Olympic

Games were held in Atlanta in 1996 is a neutral

THE OLYMPIC CHARTER

Rights over the Olympic Games and Olympic properties

The Olympic Games are the exclusive property of the IOC (International Olympic Committee)

which owns all rights and data relating thereto, in particular, and without limitation, all rights

relating to their organisation, exploitation, broadcasting, recording, representation, reproduction,

access and dissemination in any form and by any means or mechanism whatsoever, whether now

existing or developed in the future.

The IOC

The IOC is an international non-governmental not-for-profit organisation. Members of the IOC

represent and promote the interests of the IOC and of the Olympic Movement in their countries

and in the organisations of the Olympic Movement in which they serve.