Critical Thinking: Bringing Reasoning to a New Level
Jan 06, 2018
Critical Thinking:Bringing Reasoning to a New Level
The goals of my research
• Gain/provide deeper insight into what is Critical Thinking and how it can be used
• Describe the methods C. T. consists of• Evaluate the influence of C. T. on people’s
lives and society• Gather up and represent yielded empirical
results
Why in need of a new method of thinking?
• The dangers we deal with in the modern world are latent and increasingly complex
• Effective thinking is ever more required in every single area of life
• Flawed immediate solutions are largely the rule of the day
What is Critical Thinking?
• Method of thinking that encourages purposeful reflective judgment concerning what to believe or what to do
William Graham Sumner (1906)
• [Critical thinkers] cannot be stampeded … are slow to believe … can hold things as
possible or probable in all degrees, without certainty and without pain … can wait for evidence and weigh evidence … can resist
appeals to their dearest prejudices….
The Challenge of Becoming a Critical Thinker
• Dealing with irrationality and egocentrism of people around
• Fate or Freedom: Which do you choose?
• “Weak-sense” Critical Thinkers
Three distinctive functions of mind
Parts of Thinking
Intellectual Standards
Clarity
• Could you elaborate?• Could you illustrate what you mean?• Could you give me an example?
Accuracy
• How could we check on that?• How could we find out if that is true?• How could we verify or test that?
Precision
• Could you be more specific?• Could you give me more details?• Could you be more exact?
Depth
• What factors make this a difficult problem?• What are some of the complexities of this
question?• What are some of the difficulties we need to
deal with?
Relevance
• How does that relate to the problem?• How does that bear on the question?• How does that help us with the issue?
Significance
• Is this the most important problem to consider?
• Is this the central idea to focus on?• Which of these facts are the most important?
Logicalness
• Does all of this make sense together?• Does your first paragraph fit in with your last?• Does what you say follow from the evidence?
Breadth
• Do we need to look at this from another perspective?
• Do we need to consider another point of view?
• Do we need to look at this in other ways?
Fairness
• Is my thinking justifiable in context?• Are my assumptions supported by evidence?• Is my purpose fair given the situation?• Am I using my concepts in keeping with
educated usage or am I distorting them to get what I want?
Intellectual Traits
Applied Critical Thinking
• Concept-based Thinking in Education
• Critical Thinking as universal problem-solving tool in everyday life
• High-Level Thinking Skills
• Implementation of Intellectual Standards
Conclusion
• Thinking is everywhere in human life• Our thinking determines our emotions and
desires, and therefore – our actions• Critical Thinking skills are necessary in every
aspect of human life• Acquiring these skills is a hard work and
requires conscious practice• Opposed to egocentric thinking, C. T. aims at
long-term gain and entails ethical reasoning