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)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