Philosophy: when told to criticaly asses something,?

Question:in this case (Dualism, Materialism, Idealism)
what does that mean exactly? what do I have to do? give my opinion and say what I think is wrong? say what I would do different? what exactly? I don't understand.

if may share example from any area, I would appriciate. thanks!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: in this case (Dualism, Materialism, Idealism)
what does that mean exactly? what do I have to do? give my opinion and say what I think is wrong? say what I would do different? what exactly? I don't understand.

if may share example from any area, I would appriciate. thanks!

Several things:

Is it self-consistent? Or does it say something in one place and something else in another place?

What are its implications? If this is true, what else wold follow?

Does it match with common sense or is it counterintuitive?

Does it match with normal moral expectations, or does it lead to repellent conclusions?

Does it conflict with any scientifically established facts?

When I critically asses something - Is not to destroy it but to fine tune it - make it something better than what was already done.

The missing "s" in the word "assess" is very important if those of you who misspelled it don't with to make asses of yourselves.

Butt... (I mean "But") to answer your question, yes, basically what you said. State the view and the argument and evaluate whether you think it is correct and why. If you do not think it is correct, then it would be good to offer an alternative, but that's usually not necessary and shouldn't be the focus of a critical assessment.

critically asses sing something can make you and it less then it is or more then it is, right? you have to ask who, what, where, why, when, and how? is it nice, is it true, will it help make anything better?

Here is an excerpt from guidelines from one of my university philosophy courses (he uses the term critically assess, but there is an explanation of what that means following it):

"Whichever kind of paper you are asked to write, it should be philosophical. That means that you must state a thesis and defend it with reasoned arguments. In doing this you should critically assess claims made for and against your topic.Think of your paper as a conversation between you and someone who disagrees with you. The worst conversations (and papers) end with people yelling at each other, asserting their beliefs without supporting them, and without demonstrating that they are right. The best conversation (and paper) will present reasons why the other person is wrong about the issue, while noting where they are right (no one is always wrong), and will demonstrate with clear, well thought-out and relevant ideas how you are right."

Hope that helps!