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Critical Thinking
By Elie Levy
Critical thinking is a self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, corrective thinking
process that illuminates and deepens one’s understanding of self and the world. It
develops disciplined habits of the mind by using standards of excellence. It uses
language to avoid self-deception, effective problem solving and a commitment to uncover
and modify our conditioned biases and counterproductive assumptions.
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Critical Thinking includes the following characteristics:
Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing,
applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated
by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and
action.
Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest
level of quality in a fair-minded way.
People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically.
Critical thinkers are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when left
unchecked.
Critical thinkers work diligently to develop the intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity,
intellectual humility, intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and
confidence in reason.
Critical thinkers strive to improve the world in whatever ways they can and contribute to a more
rational, civilized society. At the same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in
doing so.
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Definition of Critical Thinking:
• Awareness of a set of interrelated critical questions
• The systematic evaluation or formulation of beliefs or statements
derived from rational standards.
• Forming logical inferences; applying logic and reasoning
• It is a purposeful mental activity that you control.
• Thinking means producing your own ideas and evaluating them for
accuracy and reliability; analyzing, synthesizing.
• Common impediments to critical thinking
• Hindrances that arise from how we think
• Hindrances that occur because of what we think
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You’re a critical thinker if you:
• Question things and are curious
• Want to know more about why things happen the way they do
• Are interested in examining your conditioned beliefs, biases,
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assumptions and opinions
Are interested in examining your cultural program and how it has
influenced your development and thinking
Want to evaluate the generalizations and stereotypes you’ve created
Are able to suspend judgment until you gather all the facts
Search for strong evidence to support your ideas and assumptions.
Are honest with yourself
Base you conclusions on strong evidence
Are courageous enough to ask difficult questions
Resist being manipulated
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Why Critical Thinking is Important
•Success in life depends on how and what you think about.
•Critical thinking is a reliable path to: Approximating certainty or truth
•The quality of your life and how you live depends on the quality of your thinking.
•Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life.
•Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.
•Facts vs. Opinions
• Facts are realities and opinions are beliefs
• Critical thinkers understand it’s easy to be mistaken so they form opinions
carefully.
• A preference doesn’t need to be defended as long as you say it’s a
preference.
Three Types of Errors in Critical Thinking
• Errors of Perception
• Errors of Judgment
• Errors of Reaction
• Errors of Perception: faulty ways of seeing our reality; my thinking is
better than your thinking; pretending to know; being resistant to
change; either/or thinking (creating binaries)
• Errors of Judgment: overgeneralizing or stereotyping; making hasty
conclusions; unwarranted assumptions (if it’s in print it must be true);
failure to make distinctions; distinguishing between the person and the
idea (if a celebrity or expert says it – it must be true)
• Errors in Reaction: don’t attack the person making the assertion – just
evaluate their idea; if you can’t defend your assertion – don’t shift the
burden on the person challenging you to prove their point
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Self-Interested Thinking
• Accepting a claim solely on the grounds that it advances or coincides
with your interests (self-gain)
• Overcoming Self-Interested Thinking
• Look for opposing evidence.
• Do not accept what you read or hear as self-evident truths.
• Do not accept things uncritically.
• Beware of your tendency to distort your thinking to take shortcuts.
• Language of Critical Thinking:
• Get accustomed to saying: it’s less or more likely to …
• You can expect this outcome to the extent that …..
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What Are The Alternative Thinking Styles?
• Sponge Approach
• Panning-for-Gold Approach
(Preferred Method)
• Consists
of
absorbing
information—it is a “passive”
approach
• You can know lots about the
world this way; but it is
passive and requires little
mental effort
• It is quick and easy; but the
problem here is that it does
not advise you about which
information to reject or
believe
• Where
you ask questions
about what you read and hear
• It is an “interactive” approach;
you
interact
and
are
challenged with the material
presented to you
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The Myth of The Right Answer
•Scientific questions about the physical world are the most likely to have
answers reasonable people will accept because the physical world is in
certain ways more dependable or predictable than the social world
• Questions about human behavior are different—since the causes of
human behavior are complex and varied.
• So we rely on probabilistic answers—like theories that will explain
what unfolds most of the time
• Also—we bring our baggage to how we think about issues and
decisions we make—the baggage refers to dreams, values,
socialization experiences, gender, culture, race, etc.
• Remember—emotional involvement should not be the basis for
accepting or rejecting a position
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Critical Thinking Types
• Weak Sense
• Is
about using critical
thinking to defend your
position or beliefs
• Strong Sense
• Is
about
challenging
ourselves to think differently,
to help protect against selfdeception and conformity
• It is simply about being rigid
and not progressive in
thinking where you can
grow by engaging in
enlightened thought
• You need to be courageous to
do strong
thinking
sense
critical
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What Is An Issue?
• An issue is a question or controversy responsible for the discussion
• Descriptive Issues
• Raise questions about the accuracy of descriptions of the past, present, or
future
• Descriptive Example
• Do families who own pets have fewer arguments with one another?
• This statement demands an answer attempting to describe the way the
world is, was, or is going to be; for example, In general, families with pets
have fewer arguments with one another.
• List another example of a descriptive issue:
• How much will college cost in the year 2010?
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What Is An Issue? (cont.)
• Prescriptive Issues
• Raise questions about what we should do
• These issues are ethical or moral issues; they raise questions about
what is right or wrong, desirable or undesirable, good or bad
• It is about the way the world ought to be—so the responses include
language such as “should…, what ought to be done…, and must…”
• Prescriptive Example
• What ought to be done about social security?
• This statement demands an answer suggesting the way the world
ought to be; for example, “We ought to increase social security
benefits.”
• List another example of a prescriptive issue:
• Should capital punishment be abolished?
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What Are The Reasons?
• Reasons are explanations or rationales for why we should believe a
particular conclusion, which include:
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Beliefs
Evidence
Metaphors
Analogies
Statements offered to support or justify a conclusion
• You cannot determine the worth of a conclusion until you identify the
reasons
• Reasons present evidence to prove a point that may include:
• Statistics, facts, research findings, appeals to experts and authorities,
personal testimonials, and examples from real life