LA-CT-6A

Critical Thinking
What is it?
Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective
thinking. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities.

What to use it for

Useful to use when you:
 need to raise vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely
 are gathering and assessing relevant information
 are required to interpret information
 need to test information against relevant criteria and standards
 are figuring out solutions to complex problems

Points to remember
Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content or problem – in
which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skilfully taking charge of
the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them.
(Scriven & Paul, 1987)

Critical thinking involves an intellectually disciplined but active process whereby one uses
skilful conceptualisation in the process of analysing and evaluating information that has
been determined through experiences, reflection, reasoning, communication or
observation and then using that information to guide one’s actions.

Critical thinking
Critical thinking enables us to recognise a wide range of subjective analyses of otherwise
objective data, and to evaluate how well each analysis might meet our needs. Facts may be
facts, but how we interpret them may vary. Understanding one’s own bias is an important
element for effective critical thinking.
Most people think that it is in our nature to undertake critical thinking; however, much of
our thinking is seeped in bias. It can easily become distorted, partial, uninformed or
downright prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make or
build, depends precisely on the quality of our thought.
In essence, critical thinking can be seen as having two components:
 a set of information and belief-generating and processing skills
 the habit, based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide
behaviour
Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When grounded in selfish
motives, it is often manifested in the skilful manipulation of ideas in service of one’s own,

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Critical Thinking

or one’s groups’, vested interest. As such it is typically intellectually flawed, however

pragmatically successful it might be.
Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone is subject to
episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought. No one is a critical thinker through and
through.
It is possible to become more effective in your critical thinking by:
 itemising opinion(s) from all relevant sides of an issue and collecting logical
argument(s) supporting each
 breaking the arguments into their constituent statements and drawing out various
additional implication(s) from these statements
 examining these statements and implications for internal contradictions
 locating opposing claims between the various arguments and assigning relative
weightings to these opposing claims
Having undertaken this process you can then increase the weighting when the claims have
strong support, especially distinct chains of reasoning or different and relevant sources,
and then decreasing the weighting when the claims have contradictions.
Critical thinking does not assure that one will reach either the truth or correct conclusions.
First, one may not have all the relevant information; indeed, important information may
remain undiscovered, or it may not even be possible to know the information. Second,
one’s bias(es) may prevent effective gathering and evaluation of the available information.
Critical thinking may be distinguished, but not separated, from feeling. Refusal to recognise
their interaction in real life leads to various forms of self-deception, individually and
socially.
In order to explore and evaluate arguments in depth, one could adopt what is known as
the Socratic method to evaluate an argument. Basically this requires you to ask a range of
open questions, for example:
 What do you mean by _______________?
 How did you come to that conclusion?
 Why do you believe that you are right?
 What is the source of your information?
 What assumption has led you to that conclusion?
 What happens if you are wrong?
 Can you give me two sources that disagree with you and explain why?
 Why is this significant?
 How do I know you are telling me the truth?
 What is an alternative explanation for this phenomenon?

Reference
Scriven, M & Paul, R (1987) Defining Critical Thinking. [Accessed 3 Oct 2011]
www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766

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Bibliography
Hindery, R (2001) Indoctrination and Self-deception or Free and Critical Thought. Edwin
Mellen Press
Paul, R W (1993) Critical Thinking: What Every Person Needs to Survive in a Rapidly Changing
World, 3rd ed. Foundation for Critical Thinking

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