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