Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter 1
Introduction to Critical
Thinking
Critical Thinking, 1
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Critical Thinking, 2
Clarity
• Critical thinkers strive for clarity of language and thought
Precision
• Critical thinkers understand that it is necessary to insist
on precise answers to precise questions by cutting
through the confusions and uncertainties
• Example: “Is abortion wrong?” is vague. “Should abortion
be legal?” and “Is having an abortion ever moral?” are
more specific questions.
Accuracy
• Critical thinkers have a passion for accurate, timely
information
• One can’t reason correctly with false information
© 2019 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved. 1-4
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Relevance
• Irrelevance can distract people from the point but never
helps to truly prove the point
• See Lincoln’s example on page 4
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Consistency
• Critical thinking avoids:
• Practical inconsistency: Saying one thing and doing another
• Logical inconsistency: Believing two things that can’t be
simultaneously true
Logical correctness
• Sound reasoning or making valid inferences
• Deriving that, and only that, which can be justifiably
derived from statements or premises
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Completeness
• Thinking is better when it is deep rather than shallow,
thorough rather than superficial
Fairness
• Critical thinking demands that our thinking be open-
minded, impartial, and free of distorting biases and
preconceptions
• One must not dismiss something just because it’s new or
it’s contrary to something one already believes
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EXERCISE
I. Break into groups of four or five. Choose one member of your group to
take notes and be the group reporter. Discuss your education up to this point.
To what extent has your education prepared you to think clearly, precisely,
accurately, logically, and so forth? Have you ever known a person (e.g., a teacher
or a parent) who strongly modeled the critical thinking standards discussed in
this section? If so, how did he or she do that?
II. Have you ever been guilty of either practical inconsistency (saying one thing
and doing another) or logical inconsistency (believing inconsistent things about a
particular topic or issue)? In small groups think of examples either from your
own experience or from that of someone you know. Be prepared to share your
examples with the class as a whole.
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• Solve problems
• Think creatively
• Gather and analyze information
• Draw appropriate conclusions from data
• Communicate his/her ideas clearly and effectively
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Group-centered thinking
Ways in which sociocentrism distorts critical thinking
• Group bias: The tendency to see one’s own group
(example, nation) as being inherently better than all
others
• Tribalism: Strong feelings of loyalty to, and identification
with, one’s tribe or social group
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Relativistic Thinking, 1
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Relativistic Thinking, 2
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Wishful Thinking
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