CRITICAL THINKING

Critical thinking consists of mental processes of discernment, analysis and evaluation. It includes all possible
processes of reflecting upon a tangible or intangible item in order to form a solid judgment that reconciles
scientific evidence with common sense.
Critical thinkers gather information from all senses, verbal and/or written expressions, reflection, observation,
experience and reasoning. Critical thinking has its basis in intellectual criteria that go beyond subject-matter
divisions and which include: clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic,
significance and fairness.
Contents
1 Overview
2 What is and is not universal in critical thinking
3 The uses of critical thinking
4 The affective dimension of critical thinking
5 Overcoming bias
6 Critical thinking in the classroom
7 Measuring or Assessing Critical Thinking
8 Reaching a conclusion
9 Quotations
10 See also
11 References
12 External links
Overview
Fundamentally, critical thinking is a form of judgment, specifically purposeful and reflective judgment. Using
critical thinking one makes a decision or solves the problem of judging what to believe or what to do, but does
so in a reflective way. That is by giving due consideration to the evidence, the context of judgement, the
relevant criteria for making that judgment well, the applicable methods or techniques for forming that judgment,
and the applicable theoretical and constructs for understanding the nature of the problem and the question at
hand. These elements also happen to be the key defining characteristics of professional fields and academic
disciplines. This is why critical thinking can occur within a given subject field (by reference to its specific set of
permissible questions, evidence sources, criteria, etc.) and across subject fields in all those spaces where human
beings need to interact and make decisions, solve problems, and figure out what to believe and what to do. A
useful, brief, and higly readable explanation of the concept of critical thinking, its skills and dispositional
dimensions, its relationship to cognitive science, and its practical value in life and learning can be found in the
free
on-line
resource:
"Critical
Thinking:
What
It
is
and
Why
It
Counts"
[
http://www.insightassessment.com/articles.html].
Within the framework of scientific skepticism, the process of critical thinking involves acquiring information
and evaluating it to reach a well-justified conclusion or answer. Part of critical thinking comprises informal
logic. However, a large part of critical thinking goes beyond informal logic and includes assessment of beliefs
and identification of prejudice, bias, propaganda, self-deception, distortion, misinformation, etc. Given research
in cognitive psychology, some educators believe that schools should focus more on teaching their students
critical thinking skills, intellectual standards, and cultivating intellectual traits (such as intellectual humility,
intellectual empathy, intellectual integrity, and fair-mindedness) than on memorizing facts by rote learning. As
defined in A Greek-English Lexicon the verb krino- means to choose, decide or judge. Hence a krites is a
discerner, judge or arbiter. Those who are kritikos have the ability to discern or decide.
The word krino- also means to separate (winnow) the wheat from the chaff or that which has worth from that
which does not.
Critical thinking is a pervasive human process, evident in children and adults. It is important, because it enables
one to analyze, evaluate, explain, and restructure our thinking, decreasing thereby the risk of acting on, or
thinking with, a false premise.

However, even with the use of critical thinking skills, mistakes can happen due to a thinker's egocentrism or
sociocentrism or failure to be in possession of the full facts. In addition, there is always the possibility of
inadvertent human error.
Universal concepts and principles of critical thinking can be applied to any context or case but only by
reflecting upon the nature of that application. Critical thinking forms, therefore, a system of related, and
overlapping, modes of thought such as anthropological thinking, sociological thinking, historical thinking,
political thinking, psychological thinking, philosophical thinking, mathematical thinking, chemical thinking,
biological thinking, ecological thinking, legal thinking, ethical thinking, musical thinking, thinking like a
painter, sculptor, engineer, business person, etc. In other words, though critical thinking principles are universal,
their application to disciplines requires a process of reflective contextualization.
One can regard critical thinking as involving two aspects:
a set of cognitive skills, intellectual standards, and traits of mind
the disposition or intellectual commitment to use those structures to improve thinking and guide
behavior.
Critical thinking does not include simply the acquisition and retention of information, or the possession of a
skill-set which one does not use regularly; nor does critical thinking merely exercise skills without acceptance
of the results.
What is and is not universal in critical thinking.
Critical thinking is based on concepts and principles, not on hard and fast, or step-by-step, procedures. Critical
thinking does not assure that one will reach either the truth or correct conclusions. First, one may not have all
the relevant information; indeed, important information may remain undiscovered, or the information may not
even be knowable. Furthermore, one may make unjustified inferences, use inappropriate concepts, fail to notice
important implications, use a narrow or unfair point of view. One may be a victim of self-delusion, egocentricity
or sociocentricity, or closed-mindedness. One's thinking may be unclear, inaccurate, imprecise, irrelevant,
narrow, shallow, illogical, or trivial. One may be intellectually arrogant, intellectually lazy, or intellectually
hypocritical. These are some of the ways that human thinking can be flawed. Further information can be found
in the Thinker's Guide series by Richard Paul and Linda Elder.
Human thinking left to itself often leads to various forms of self-deception, individually and socially; and at the
left, right, and mainstream of economic, political, and religious issues. Further analysis and resources about this
interaction may be found in Roderick Hindery (2001): Indoctrination and Self-deception or Free and Critical
Thought.
The uses of critical thinking
Critical thinking is useful only in those situations where human beings need to solve problems, make decisions,
or decide in a reasonable and reflective way what to believe or what to do. That is, just about everywhere and all
the time. Critical thinking is important wherever the quality of human thinking significantly impacts the quality
of life (of any sentient creature). For example, success in human life is tied to success in learning. At the same
time, every phase in the learning process is tied to critical thinking. Thus, reading, writing, speaking, and
listening can all be done critically or uncritically. Critical thinking is crucial to becoming a close reader and a
substantive writer. Expressed most generally, critical thinking is a way of taking up the problems of life.
(William Graham Sumner, Folkways, 1906)
Irrespective of the sphere of thought, a well cultivated critical thinker":
raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;
gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively
comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;
thinks open-mindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their
assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and
communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.
(Paul, R. and Elder, 2006)
[edit] The affective dimension of critical thinking
Critical thinking is about being both willing and able to think. Ideally one developes critical thinking skills and
at the same time the disposition to use those skills to solve problems and form good judgments. The
dispositional dimension of critical thinking is characterological. Its focus in developing the habitual intention to

be truth-seeking, open-minded, systematic, analytical, inquisitive, confident in reasoning, and prudent in

making judgments. Those who are ambivalent on one or more of these aspects of the disposition toward critical
thinking, or who have the opposite disposition [biased, intolerant, disorganized, heedless of consequences,
indifferent toward new information, mistrustful of reasoning, imprudence]are less likely to engage problems
using their critical thinking skills. The relationship between critical thinking skills and critical thinking
dispositions is an empirical question. Some have both in abundance, some have skills but not the disposition to
use them, some are disposed but lack strong skills and some have neither. Two measures of critical thinking
dispositions are the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory [1]and the CM3 [2].
Critical thinking may be distinguished, but not separated, from emotions, desires, and traits of mind. Failure to
recognize the relationship between thinking, feeling, wanting, and traits of mind can easily lead to various
forms of self-deception, both individually and collectively. When persons possess intellectual skills alone,
without the intellectual traits of mind, weak sense critical thinking results. Fair-minded or strong sense critical
thinking requires intellectual humility, empathy, integrity, perseverance, courage, autonomy, confidence in
reason, and other intellectual traits. Thus, critical thinking without essential intellectual traits often results in
clever, but manipulative, often unethical, thought. In short, the sophist, the con artist, the manipulator often uses
an intellectually defective but effective form of thought---serving unethical purposes. However, whereas critical
thinking yields itself to analytical consideration readily and may be considered largely "objective", the notions
of socially-based mores and taboos are largely relative and "subjective".
Further analysis and resources about the interaction between thought, desires, and emotions may be found in
Roderick Hindery (2001): Indoctrination and Self-deception or Free and Critical Thought and in Paul and Elder
(2004): The Human Mind.
Overcoming bias
There is no simple way to reduce one's bias. There are, however, ways that one can begin to do so. The most
important require developing one's intellectual empathy and intellectual humility. The first requires extensive
experience in entering and accurately constructing points of view toward which one has negative feelings. The
second requires extensive experience in identifying the extent of one's own ignorance in a wide variety of
subjects (ignorance whose admission leads one to say, "I thought I knew, but I merely believed"). One becomes
less biased and more broad-minded when one becomes more intellectually empathic and intellectually humble,
and that involves time, deliberate practice and commitment. It involves considerable personal and intellectual
development.
To develop one's critical thinking abilities, one should learn the art of suspending judgment (for example, when
reading a novel, watching a movie, engaging in dialogical or dialectical reasoning). Ways of doing this include
adopting a perceptive rather than judgmental orientation; that is, avoiding moving from perception to judgment
as one applies critical thinking to an issue.
One should become aware of one's own fallibility by:
accepting that everyone has subconscious biases, and accordingly questioning any reflexive judgments.
adopting an ego-sensitive and, indeed, intellectually humble stance
recalling previous beliefs that one once held strongly but now rejects
realizing one still has numerous blind spots, despite the foregoing
An integration of insights from the critical thinking literature and cognitive psychology literature is the "Method
of Argument and Heuristic Analysis." This technique illustrates the influeces of heuristics and biases on human
decision making along with the influences of thinking critically about reasons and claims. Thinking and
Reasoning in Human Decision Making
Critical thinking in the classroom
The key to seeing the significance of critical thinking in the classroom is in understanding the significance of
critical thinking in learning. To learn is to think. To think poorly is to learn poorly. To think well is to learn well.
All content, to be learned, must be intellectually constructed. To learn the content of history, I must engage
myself in the process of thinking historically.
There are two phases to the learning of content. The first occurs when learners (for the first time) construct in
their minds the basic ideas, principles, theories that are inherent in content. This is a process of internalization.
The second occurs when learners effectively use those ideas, principles, and theories as they become relevant in
learners lives. This is a process of application. Good teachers cultivate critical thinking (intellectually engaged

thinking) at every stage of learning, including initial learning. This process of intellectual engagement is at the
heart of the Oxford and Cambridge tutorials. The tutor questions the students, often in a Socratic manner. Here
are some typical Socratic questions:
What do you mean by_______________?
How did you come to that conclusion?
What was said in the text?
What is the source of your information?
What is the source of information in the report?
What assumption has led you to that conclusion?
Suppose you are wrong. What are the implications?
Why did you make that inference? Is another one more consistent with the data?
Why is this issue significant?
How do I know that what you are saying is true?
What is an alternate explanation for this phenomenon?
Of course, there are many other possible Socratic questions. The key is that the teacher who fosters critical
thinking fosters reflectiveness in students by asking questions that stimulate thinking essential to the
construction of knowledge.
As emphasized above, each discipline adapts its use of critical thinking concepts and principles. The core
concepts are always there, but they are embedded in subject specific content. For students to learn content,
intellectual engagement is crucial. All students must do their own thinking, their own construction of
knowledge. Good teachers recognize this and therefore focus on the questions, readings, activities that stimulate
the mind to take ownership of key concepts and principles underlying the subject.
In the UK school system, the syllabus offers Critical thinking as a subject which 16-18 year olds can take as an
A-Level. Under the OCR exam board, students can sit two exam papers: "Credibility of Evidence" and
"Assessing/Developing Argument". The exam tests candidates not on particular information they have learned
during the course, but on their ability to think critically about, and analyze, arguments on their deductive or
inductive validity. The full advanced GCE is now available and, though very challenging, is extremely useful
for degree courses in politics, philosophy, history or theology (to name but a few), providing the skills required
for critical analysis that are useful, for example, in biblical study.
Measuring or Assessing Critical Thinking
Several well-researched tools are available to measure critical thinking skills and critical thinking dispositions.
Some are designed for younger students, others for college students and adults. While most are developed for
use in a general education or every day context, some are tailored for the interests of people in different
professional fields. In addition to tests, other tools for assessing critical thinking include rubrics and
performance rating forms. For examples and more detailed discussion, and for free materials including the
Holisitic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric, visit Insight Assessment. [4]
Reaching a conclusion
Given the nature of the process, critical thinking is never final. One arrives at a tentative conclusion, given the
evidence and based on an evaluation. However, the conclusion must always remain subject to further evaluation
if new information comes to hand.
Quotations
William Graham Sumner offers a useful summary of critical thinking:
The critical habit of thought, if usual in society, will pervade all its mores, because it is a way of taking up the
problems of life. Men educated in it cannot be stampeded by stump orators ... They are slow to believe. They
can hold things as possible or probable in all degrees, without certainty and without pain. They can wait for
evidence and weigh evidence, uninfluenced by the emphasis or confidence with which assertions are made on
one side or the other. They can resist appeals to their dearest prejudices and all kinds of cajolery. Education in
the critical faculty is the only education of which it can be truly said that it makes good citizens.
Martin Luther King said:
The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically . . . The complete
education gives one not only power of concentration but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.