Critical Thinking Unit 1 Question B Burning Times
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Transcript of Critical Thinking Unit 1 Question B Burning Times
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Encouraging Critical Thinking Online
Unit 1
Checking Facts and
Gathering Opinions
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When and what were the ‘Burning Times’? How many
people died as a result?• Find a selection of websites that
address this question
• Record your search strategy and what you find on the worksheet
• Comment on any notable features of the sites or answers you discover
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When and what were the ‘Burning Times’?
• The phrase refers to the persecution of people accused of witchcraft in the early modern period (ca. 1450-1700)– A Google search for define:“Burning
Times” produces a range of definitions, including this glossary
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When and what were the ‘Burning Times’?
• However:– In England and America, most people
convicted of witchcraft were hanged– In Scotland and on the continent,
burning was more common, but victims were rarely burnt alive – they were usually executed by other means first
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When and what were the ‘Burning Times’?
• Many academics prefer to avoid the term– Instead, more neutral terms such as
‘early modern persecution of witches’ or ‘witch hunts’ are preferred
– But the term is still in frequent use in the neo-Pagan community
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How many people died as a result?
• Some popular estimates are as high as nine million
• Most scholarly investigations put the figure at a few tens of thousands– Many websites reflect the scholarly
research, but there are also sites which still give inflated figures
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Example websites giving high estimates
• The website Witch Prickers suggests “a maximum estimate of 13 million dead and a minimum estimate of 4 million”
• Wiccan Terms and Definitions and the Wiccan Dictionary both suggest nine million
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Example websites giving lower estimates
• Religious Tolerance.org suggests between 50,000 and 100,000
• The article ‘Falsehoods of the Burning Times’ suggests 60,000
• Wicca: For the Rest of Us suggests between 40,000 and 100,000
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Compare and contrast
• Look at the example sites and consider:– Other than in the figures they give,
how do these sites differ?– Who wrote these sites? What are their
credentials?– Are sources/references given?
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Compare and contrast
• There is a significant difference in tone– Articles quoting higher numbers often
use more emotive language– Those giving lower numbers are
frequently couched as attempts to set the record straight
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Compare and contrast
• There may also be a marked difference in the picture painted– Sites giving higher numbers are more
likely to identify the victims as Pagans or followers of ‘the Old Religion’
– The Catholic Church is more likely to be blamed
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Compare and contrast
• However, sites giving lower estimates are not immune from error– For example, Religious Tolerance.org
implies that alleged witches were routinely burned alive
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Compare and contrast
• Sites with lower estimates more frequently give information about the author– From Religious Tolerance.org– From Wicca: For the Rest of Us
• But this isn’t universally the case
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Compare and contrast
• Sites on this topic are frequently written by people with a keen personal interest rather than an academic background in the area
• The occasional source is listed, but full references are rarely given
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Alternative search strategies
• Search using terms favoured by academics – Phrases like “witch hunt” and “witch craze
” produce slightly different results– Some more academic sites – e.g.
The Witch Hunts, by Prof. Brian A. Pavlac – but still a fairly high proportion of non-scholarly material
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Alternative search strategies
• Use more specific search terms– Phrases like “witch hunt scholarship”
or “witch hunt scholarly research” produce some useful hits
– But not all the material is helpful: some is irrelevant, some only suited to in-depth research, and some requires subscription
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Alternative search strategies
• Consult a gateway– An academic gateway site such as
Intute offers hand-selected resources– Searches give fewer results, but
they’re more likely to be what you’re looking for
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Alternative search strategies
• Searching Intute for “Burning Times”, ‘witch hunt’, or ‘witch craze’ gives a small number of (mostly) relevant results
• A description of each site aids the process of determining what’s most useful
• Also offered are additional features such as Limelight articles
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Alternative search strategies
• The hits include Jenny Gibbons’s informative essay ‘Recent Developments in the Study of the Great European Witch Hunt’
• Gives the author’s credentials and mentions her sources (though still lacks detailed references)
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Summary - key things to note
• Popular and scholarly answers may vary widely
• It’s useful to consult a variety of sources
• Checking where the information given is drawn from is also wise
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Why might we find conflicting answers to a question?
• There may be real uncertainty about the answer
• Authorities may disagree
• There may be multiple ways of interpreting a question
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Why might we find conflicting answers to a question?
• Some sources may be more up to date than others
• Answers may vary in precision
• Some sources may simply be wrong
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Questions to ask when assessing sources
• Who is the author?– An individual or an institution?– What are the author’s credentials?
• Is this a scholarly resource, or a more informal one?
• How up to date is this source?
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Questions to ask when assessing sources
• Are there reasons to doubt the reliability of this source?– Does it include information I know to
be false?– Does it contradict itself or use poor
reasoning?– Is it biased towards a particular view?
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Questions to ask when assessing sources
• Is the information provided confirmed by other sources?– Are references provided?– Do other websites agree? (A major
advantage of the Web is that many sources can be compared quickly and easily.)
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Remember the three Ws
• WHO wrote this site? – Is the author a trustworthy source?
• WHEN was it written? – Is it up to date?
• WHY was it written?– Does the author have an axe to grind?
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This slideshow is part of
Encouraging Critical Thinking Online,a set of free teaching resources
designed to develop students’ analytic abilities,
using the Web as source material.
For the full set, please visit Intute Training:
http://www.intute.ac.uk/training/