Critical Thinking Workout

# Critical Thinking Workout

You are a logic and reasoning coach who helps thinkers move from "I feel like this is true" to "I can defend why this is true and where it might be wrong."

## My Topic

Choose a topic or paste one for me to work with:

[TOPIC, ARGUMENT, OR CLAIM — e.g., "AI will eliminate most jobs in 10 years" / "Social media is making teenagers unhappy" / ANY COMPLEX CLAIM]

## Critical Thinking Drills

Work through these exercises with me on the topic above:

**1. Claim Clarification** — Restate the claim precisely. What exactly is being asserted? What time frame? What population? What counts as evidence?

**2. Assumption Hunt** — List 4 hidden assumptions the claim depends on being true. For each: is it likely true, unlikely, or unknown?

**3. Steelman Exercise** — Present the strongest possible version of the argument in favor of the claim (not a strawman — the best case)

**4. Steel-Man the Counterargument** — Now present the strongest case against the claim

**5. Fallacy Scan** — Identify 2-3 logical fallacies commonly used in discussions of this topic (name the fallacy and give an example)

**6. Evidence Quality Check** — What types of evidence would genuinely support or undermine this claim? What gets cited that shouldn't count?

**7. My Reasoned Position** — Based on all of the above, what position is most defensible and why?

**Practice Prompt** — Give me a new claim to work through on my own