Critical Thinking

And the Educated Person

What is Critical Thinking?

Problem

solving
Analyzing information
Interpreting information
Recognizing bias
Understanding diverse points of view
Applying information
Learning!

Becoming a Fair-Minded
Critical Thinker
Our ability to be fair-minded is the result of

cognitive and socio-emotional

development. We must all recognize that
to be fair-minded we must develop traits
such as intellectual humility, intellectual
integrity, intellectual courage, intellectual
autonomy, intellectual empathy,
intellectual perseverance, and confidence
in reason.

Weak vs. Strong Critical Thinking

A weak-sense thinker is a Sophist. The sophist is one

who seeks to win an argument regardless of whether
there are problems in the thinking being used, regardless
of whether relevant viewpoints are being ignored. The
objective is to win.
Strong-sense critical thinkers are not easily tricked by
slick argumentation, by sophistry, and intellectual
trickery, they use thinking in an ethical, reasonable
manner. As strong-sense thinkers, we question our own
purposes, evidence, conclusions, implications, and point
of view with the same vigor that we question those of
others.

Fair-Mindedness Requires:

Intellectual humility: to develop knowledge of the

extent of ones ignorance, being aware of ones
biases and prejudices as well as the limitations
of ones viewpoint, and it recognizes that one
should not claim more than one actually knows.

What do you do when you are challenged on

something you think you know?
Can you name some of your false beliefs, illusions,
prejudices, myths and misconceptions?

Fair-Mindedness Requires:

Intellectual Courage: facing and fairly addressing

ideas, beliefs or viewpoints even when this is
painful, recognizing that ideas that society
considers dangerous or absurd are sometimes
rationally justified or simply a matter of
subjective taste. To determine what makes
sense to believe, one must not passively and
uncritically accept what one has learned.

Have you ever questioned your beliefs and then

questioned your identity?
Have you ever held to certain beliefs because of the
fear of rejection?

Fair-Mindedness Requires:

Intellectual empathy: to put oneself imaginatively

in the place of others on a routine basis, so as to
genuinely understand them. It requires one to
reconstruct the viewpoints and reasoning of
others accurately and to reason from premises,
assumptions, and ideas other than ones own.

Whats it like to have a disability?

Whats it like to be male/female/gay/lawyer/priest.?

Fair-Mindedness Requires:
Intellectual integrity: to be true to ones

own disciplined thinking and holding

oneself to the same standards that one
expects others to meet. It means
practicing daily what one advocates for
others (walking the walk).

Have you ever experienced cognitive

dissonance? This is believing one thing and
doing another.

Fair-Mindedness Requires:
Intellectual perseverance: the disposition

to work ones way through intellectual

complexities despite frustrations inherent
in the task. Some problems are
complicated and cannot be solved easily
(tolerate uncertainty).

Have you ever tried to understand something

or someone and given up, or been invited to
give up?

Fair-Mindedness Requires:

Confidence in reason: based on the belief that

ones own higher interests and those of
humankind at large are best served by giving the
freest play to reason, by encouraging people to
come to their own conclusions through the use of
their own rational faculties. People can learn to
think for themselves, form insightful viewpoints,
draw reasonable conclusions, think clearly,
accurately, relevantly and logically and persuade
each other by appeal to good reason and sound
evidence.

Have you ever said oh, you just dont understand and
never will?

Intellectual Distrust of Reason

Faith in charismatic national leaders

Faith in charismatic cult leaders
Faith in the father as the traditional head of the household
Faith in institutional authorities
Faith in spiritual powers
Faith in some social group
Faith in some political ideology
Faith in intuition
Faith in ones unanalyzed emotions
Faith in ones gut impulses
Faith in fate
Faith in social or legal institutions
Faith in folkways or mores
Faith in ones own unanalyzed experiences
Faith in people who have social status

Fair-Mindedness Requires:

Intellectual autonomy: thinking for oneself while

adhering to standards of rationality, thinking
through issues using ones own thinking rather
than uncritically accepting the viewpoints of
others. Independent thinkers are not willful,
stubborn, or unresponsive to the reasonable
suggestions of others.

Have you ever conformed to a belief that you later

came to reject?
Have you ever been rejected by your independent
beliefs?

The First Four

Stages of Development
Stage One: The Unreflective thinker

We dont notice we are continually making

assumptions, forming concepts and opinions,
drawing inferences, and thinking within points
of view.
Our egocentric tendencies at this stage play a
dominant role in our thinking.
We lack the skills and motivation to notice
how self-centered and prejudiced we are.

The First Four

Stages of Development

Stage Two: The Challenged Thinker

We begin to notice that we

Make questionable assumptions

Use false, incomplete, or misleading information
Make inferences that do not follow from the evidence we
have
Fail to recognize important implications in our thought
Fail to recognize problems we have
Form faulty concepts
Reason with prejudiced points of view
Think egocentrically and irrationally

We begin to become aware that our thinking is

shaping our lives.

The First Four

Stages of Development

Stage Three: The Beginning Thinker

We are beginning to:

Analyze the logic of situations and problems

Express clear and precise questions
Check information for accuracy and relevance
Distinguish between raw information and someones interpretation of
it
Recognize assumptions guiding inferences
Identify prejudicial and biased beliefs, unjustifiable conclusions,
misused words, and missed implications
Notice when our viewpoint is biased by our selfish interests

The purpose of the autobiography (culture, time, place,

raised, associations)
What are two traps that can derail the beginning thinker?

The First Four

Stages of Development

Stage Four: The Practicing Thinker

Using wasted time

Handle a problem a day (at least)
Internalize intellectual standards (ADEADCAT)
Keep an intellectual journal
Practice intellectual strategies
Reshape your character
Deal with your ego
Redefine the way you see things
Get in touch with your emotions
Analyze group influences on your life

Self-Understanding
Think of the most self-centered person

you know. This may be someone who is

fundamentally selfish or arrogant.
Describe the persons behavior in detail.
Based on the persons behavior, how
would you describe his or her thinking?
What are their feelings and motivations?
Do they use others to get what they want?

Fallacies of Belief
Its true because I believe it.
Its true because we believe it.
Its true because I want to believe it.
Its true because I have always believed it.
Its true because its in my selfish interests

to believe it.

The Minds Three Distinctive

Functions

Thinking: to create meaning

Feeling: monitor or evaluate meaning
Wanting: allocates energy to action, in keeping
with our definition of what is desirable and
possible
For every positive thought the mind believes,
there is a corresponding emotion and value.
Ask yourself: what is the thinking that influences
me not to want to learn this? What is the value of
learning it?

The Three Functions of the Mind

Learn Both Intellectually and

Emotionally
In order to learn and remember

something, it must be meaningful to our

lives and therefore, must have affective
connotation and a value attached to it.
How does one use motivation to put a
different spin on a domain that has
previously been assumed unimportant and
not valuable?

The Parts of Thinking

Reasoning: the mental process the mind uses to

make sense of whatever we seek to understand.
We draw conclusions on the basis of reasons
(decisions, interpretations, inferences).
Whenever we think, we think for a purpose,
within a point of view, based on assumptions,
leading to implications and consequences. We
use data, facts, and experiences to make
inferences and judgments based on concepts
and theories to answer a question or solve a
problem.

Questions Implied by the Universal

Structures of Thought

What is my fundamental purpose (goals, desires, needs,

values)?
What is the key question I am trying to answer?
What information do I need to answer my question?
What is the most basic concept in the question?
What assumptions am I using in my reasoning?
What is my point of view with respect to the issue?
What are my most fundamental inferences or
conclusions?
What are the implications for my reasoning (if I am
correct)?

Reasoning

Purpose: Humans reason in line with their goals, values,

needs and desires
Point of view: our thinking has a focus or orientation
Concepts: general categories or ideas by which we
interpret, classify, or group the info we use in thinking
We often face questions we need to answer, problems
we need to solve, issues we need to resolve
Information in our reasoning: facts, data or experiences
to support our conclusions
Jack and Jill

How the Parts of

Thinking Fit Together

Our purpose affects the manner in which we ask

questions
The manner in which we ask questions affects the
information we gather
The information we gather affects the way we interpret it
The way we interpret information affects the way we
conceptualize it
The way we conceptualize information affects the
assumptions we make
The assumptions we make affect the implications that
follow from our thinking
The implications that follow affect the way we see things
our point of view

Best Thinkers

Think to some purpose

Take command of concepts
Assess information

Inert information: memorized, but we dont understand

Activated ignorance: actively using false information
Activated knowledge: actively using true information
that leads us to more knowledge

Distinguish between information, inferences and

assumptions
Think through implications
Think across points of view

Intellectual Standards and the

Elements of Reasoning

Clarity
Accuracy
Precision
Relevance
Depth
Breadth
Logic
Significance
Fairness

Purpose, goal, end in view

Question at issue or problem
to be solved
Information, data, facts,
observations, experiences
Implications and
consequences
Concepts, theories, definitions,
axioms, laws, principles,
models
Points of view, frames of
reference, perspective,
orientation

Ask Questions that Lead to

Good Thinking

Three kinds of Questions

Questions of fact: require evidence and

reasoning within a system, a correct answer,
lead to knowledge
Questions of preference: call for stating a
subjective preference, a subjective opinion,
cannot be assessed
Questions of judgment: require evidence and
reasoning within multiple systems, better and
worse answers, require reasoned judgment

Questioning Your Questions

Questions of purpose force us to define our

task
Questions of information force us to look at
our sources of information as well as the
quality of our information
Questions of interpretation force us to
examine how we are organizing or giving
meaning to information and to consider
alternative ways of giving meaning

Questioning Your Questions

Questions of assumption

forces us to examine
what we are taking for granted
Questions of implication force us to follow where
our thinking is leading us
Questions of point of view force us to examine
our point of view and to consider other relevant
points of view
Questions of relevance force us to differentiate
what does and what does not bear on a question

Questioning Your Questions

Questions of accuracy force us to evaluate and

test for truth and correctness
Questions of precision force us to give details
and be specific
Questions of consistency force us to examine
our thinking for contradictions
Questions of logic force us to consider how we
are putting the whole of our thought together, to
make sure that it all adds up and makes sense
within a reasonable system of some kind

Socratic Thinking
Probing, analytic, synthetic, creative,

connection-forming thought
construction of a logical system of
understandings leading to insight a
natural way to develop and test our
understanding of content a natural way
to give life to content

Redefine Grades as Levels of

Thinking and Learning
Best Learners:
Continually assess their learning against standards of excellence
Are not dependent on instructors to tell them how well they are
doing
Tie each step of their learning process to a self-reflective step of
self-assessment
Seek to enter the foundations of any subject and use that foundation
to understand everything else within the subject
Seek to identify the most basic kinds of information used by
professionals within the field
Do not memorize random bits of information, their learning is
problem or question based
They state a problem, assess for clarity, gather information, check it
for relevance, form an interpretation and check the interpretation to
see what its based on and whether it is adequate

Developing Strategies for SelfAssessment

Using profiles to assess your performance

Exemplary students
High-performing students
Mixed-quality students
Low-performing students
Incompetent students

Exemplary Students (Grade of A)

The exemplary student has internalized the basic

intellectual standards appropriate to the assessment of
his or her own work in a subject and is highly skilled at
self-evaluation. They regularly:

Raise important questions and issues

Analyze key questions and problems
Recognize questionable assumptions
Clarify key concepts effectively
Use language in keeping with educated usage
Identify relevant competing points of view
Display sensitivity to important implications and consequences
Demonstrate a commitment to reasoning carefully from clearly
stated premises in a subject

High-Performing Students (Grade of B)

HP in thinking through a subject implies sound thinking within the

domain of a subject along with the development of a range of
knowledge acquired through the exercise of thinking skills and
abilities. HP students on the whole are clear, precise, and wellreasoned, but sometimes lack depth of insight (especially opposing
points of view). Basic terms and distinctions are learned at a level
that implies comprehension of basic concepts and principles. HP
students internalize the basic intellectual standards appropriate to
the assessment of their thinking in a subject and demonstrate
competence in self-evaluation. They:

Often raise questions and issues, commonly analyze questions and

problems clearly and precisely, recognize most questionable
assumptions, clarify key concepts well, typically use language in
keeping with educated usage, commonly identify relevant competing
points of view, display sensitivity to many important implications and
consequences, and frequently demonstrate the beginnings of a
commitment to reasoning carefully

Mixed-Ability Students (Grade C)

Thinking of mixed-ability students implies

inconsistent/incomplete performance within the domain
of a subject along with limited development of knowledge
acquired through the exercise of thinking skills and
abilities. The MQ student often tries to use memorization
as a substitute for understanding. The MQ student:

Sometimes raises questions and issues, sometimes analyzes

questions and problems clearly and precisely, recognizes some
questionable assumptions, clarifies some concepts competently,
sometimes uses language in keeping with educated usage,
sometimes identifies relevant competing points of view,
sometimes demonstrates a clear commitment to reasoning
carefully from clearly stated premises in a subject, are
inconsistently sensitive to important implications and
consequences

Low-Performing Students (Grade D/F)

Low-performing students reason poorly within the

domain of a subject. They try to get through courses by
means of rote recall, attempting regularly to acquire
knowledge by memorization rather than through critical
thinking skills or insights requisite to understanding
course content. LP students:

Rarely raise questions and issues, superficially analyze

questions and problems, do not recognize their assumptions,
clarify concepts only partially, rarely use language keeping with
educated usage, rarely identify relevant competing points of
view, show no understanding of the importance of a commitment
to reasoning carefully from clearly stated premises in a subject
and are insensitive to important implications and consequences

Skilled Learners

To be a skilled learner you have to be a skilled

thinker.
You must take responsibility for your learning.
You plan your learning by becoming clear as to
what your goals are, what questions you have,
what information you need to acquire, what
concepts you need to learn, what you need to
focus on, and how you need to understand it.

Learn to use information critically

and ethically

The ideal of knowledge acquisition

To the extent we are committed to the development of

fair-mindedness, we are committed to knowledge
being acquired and used to minimize human
suffering, to meet basic human needs, to preserve
rather than destroy the environment, to contribute to a
more just world, and to serve rational rather than
irrational ends.
Disciplines seek knowledge not to benefit a select few
but rather to distribute benefits in the broadest and
most just way.

True Loyalty to a Discipline

True loyalty to a discipline is born out of recognition of the

disciplines potential power for good in the world. It is not a
commitment to practices in the discipline as it stands. It is not given
by the intensity with which one defends the discipline. A person
committed to the discipline of history recognizes the importance and
the power of historical thinking in the world. For example, a history
person recognizes that:

We are creators of history

We are products of history
Nonetheless, we are not successfully teaching historical thinking
History, as a written and taught, often reflects personal and social
prejudices

Ask yourself two questions:

am I coming to recognize the power of the discipline as a form of

thinking?
Am I coming to recognize the limitations of the discipline in the light of
this present state of development?

The Gap Between Fact and Ideal

The following two phenomena are the root of much of the

misuse of knowledge in the world:

Human fallibility: All knowledge is acquired, analyzed, and put to

use in the world by individuals who are subject to the pitfalls of
human weakness, self-deception, and pathological states of mind
(e.g., prejudice, egocentrism, sociocentrisim)
Vested interest: Human knowledge exists in a world of power,
status, and wealth, all of which significantly influence what
information is acquired within any discipline, how it is interpreted,
and how it is used.

It should follow that we should be skeptical of any

description of a human knowledge-constructing enterprise
that characterizes itself as an approximation of an ideal.
Rather we should approach human disciplines as in some
state of contradiction between an announced ideal and
actual reality.

The Ideal Compared to the Real

The first essential step is to recognize the discipline as a powerful

mode of thinking and setting forth the ideal of the discipline. To set
out the ideal, ask yourself if the discipline were striving to function in
an optimal way in an optimal setting:

What would the discipline look like?

How would it function?

How would it be represented?

How would it be taught?

How would it be applied?

Two important insights:

All knowledge in use in the world is subject to the pitfalls of

human fallibility on the part of the individuals using it.

Knowledge exists in a world driven by the pursuit of power,

status, and wealth, each of which exacts its toll.

Conclusion
As critical thinkers, we must be careful not

to assume that things are actually the way

they are represented to be in human life.
To understand a field of knowledge we
must understand it realistically.

Learn to Use Information Critically

and Ethically
Men, whose life lies in the cultivation of

one science, or the exercise of one

method of thought, have no more rightto
generalize upon the basis of their own
pursuit but beyond its range, than the
schoolboy John Henry Newman, The
Idea of a University, 1852

Realistic Understanding

In this chapter we will focus our analysis on one

domain, that of psychology, and on the allied
fields of mental health. We begin with the
premise that the art of thinking psychologically is
a powerful form of thought, important to human
well-being and self-insight. We also begin with
the hypothesis that the benefit from this powerful
mode of thought is diminished by the manner in
which it is sometimes taught and used by
psychologists and by those trained by
psychologists in the fields of mental health.

Realistic Understanding

We need to examine all information with full

awareness that, though virtually all the
information we are presented with is presented
to us as true as something known and not just
believedit may well be false or mere half-truth.

Politicians dont say, Everything I am about to tell you in

this speech is intended to get myself elected to a
position of power and influencenot to reveal the full
truth about what is really happening. I will therefore hide,
to the best of my ability, everything that puts me or my
party in a bad light.

Realistic Understanding

Our minds do not have a built-in warning system to alert us to what

we have already taken in uncritically from our parents, our peers, the
media.
We reemphasize the theme that we are ethically responsible for the
manner in which we take in and use information
If we want to understand a field of knowledge, we must understand it
realistically, that it is an imperfect construction. If we want to
understand our learning of a field of knowledge, we must realistically
understand the imperfections of our learning, that even at best we
imperfectly learn what we learn
We have chosen psychology: because human good and harm seem
especially germane to its practice, and because there seems to be an
especially large gap between the ideal promised by psychology and
the realities of its actual practice.

Be a Critic, Not a Cynic

A cynic views all knowledge as baseless, such an absolute

negation of knowledge cannot be justified for it is, in effect,
an arrogant claim to know the status of all knowledge-that
there is nothing we can claim to know absolutely.
The spirit of critical thinking is intellectual humility. It is
based on evidence that each of us must assemble
individually, and it requires heightened awareness of how
frequently humans make mistakes.
We can access that evidence if we overcome our
egocentric defensiveness. We must examine each claim to
knowledge one by one, evaluating each on its merits.

Recognize the Mental

Nature of Knowledge

Human knowledge exists as knowledge in the

human mind, and as an imperfect learner, we are
eminently fallible. We must get into the habit of
evaluating what we come to think and believe.
Further, all minds, without exception are
possessed by prejudices, vested interests, fears,
insecurities, and social ideology.
Paradoxically, whenever knowledge exists, some
degree of ignorance also exists in some
relationship to it.

Develop Awareness of the Harm from

Misuse of Information
Intelligent people with a lofty sense of their

importance, pursuing their vested interests, are

more dangerous to the well-being of others than
are unintelligent people stumbling along
unskilled in the art of deception and
manipulation.
The use of ethical knowledge begins with a
recognition of the limits of ones knowledge and
of the various influences that are likely to
undermine the proper use of that knowledge.

Strategic Thinking

Strategic thinking has two phases:

The understanding of an important principle of mental functioning.

Using that understanding strategically to produce a mental change in

ourselves.
Understanding. The human mind has three interrelated functions: thinking,
feeling, and desiring or wanting. These functions are interrelated and
interdependent.
The Strategy. Whenever you find yourself having what may be irrational
emotions or desires, figure out the thinking that probably is generating those
emotions and desires. Then develop rational thinking with which to replace
the irrational thinking you are using in the situation.

Explicitly state what the feelings and desires are.

Figure out the irrational thinking leading to it.

Figure out how to transform the irrational thinking into rational thinking
thing that makes sense in context.

Whenever you feel the negative emotion, repeat to yourself the rational
thoughts you decided you needed to replace the irrational thoughts, until
you feel the rational emotions that accompany reasonable thinking.

Components of strategic thinking

An identifying component. You must be able to

figure out when your thinking is irrational or
flawed.
An intellectual component. You must actively
engage and challenge the acts of your own
mind.

What is actually going on in the situation as it stands?

Your options for action.
A justifiable rationale for choosing one of the options.
Ways of reasoning with yourself when you are being
unreasonable, or ways of reducing the power of your
irrational state of mind.

Key idea #1

Thoughts, feelings and desires are

interdependent. If, for example, I experience a
degree of anger that I sense may be
unreasonable, I should be able to determine
whether the anger is or is not rational. I should be
able to evaluate the rationality of my anger by
evaluating the thinking that gave rise to it.

Has someone truly wronged me, or am I misreading the

situation?
Was this wrong intentional or unintentional?
Are there ways to view the situation other than the way
I am viewing it?
Am I giving a fair hearing to these other ways?

Key idea #2

There is a logic to this, and you can figure it out. (pg. 413).
Questioning goals, purposes, and objectives. What is the central
purpose of this person? This group? Myself? I realize that problems
in thinking are often the result of a mistake at the level of basic
purpose.
Questioning the way in which questions are framed, problems are
posed, issues are expressed.
Questioning information and sources of information.
Questioning interpretations or conclusions.
Questioning the assumptions being made.
Questioning the concepts being used.
Questioning the points of view being considered.
Questioning implications.

Key idea #3

For thinking to be of high quality, we must routinely assess it by

applying intellectual standards to our thinking.

Focusing on clarity in thinking. Can I state it precisely?

Focusing on precision in thinking. Am I providing enough details?

Focusing on accuracy in thinking. Am I certain that the information
I am using is accurate?

Focusing on relevance in thinking. How does my point bear on the

issue at hand?

Focusing on logicalness in thinking. Given the information I have

gathered, what is the most logical conclusion?
Focusing on breadth in thinking. I wonder whether I need to
consider another viewpoint(s)?

Focusing on depth in thinking. What complexities are inherent in

this issue?
Focusing on justification in thinking. Is the purpose justified or is it
unfair, self-contradictory, or self-defeating given the facts?