CHAPTER FOUR

BASIC CONCEPTS OF CRITICAL THINKING

Meaning of Critical Thinking
Critical means involving or exercising skilled judgment or
observation.
In this sense, critical thinking means thinking clearly and
intelligently(in a knowledgeable).
More precisely, critical thinking is the general term given to a
wide range of cognitive skills and intellectual dispositions
needed to effectively identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments
and truth claims.
Cognitive skills are the core skill that our brain uses to pay
attention, read, think, learn, remember and reason.
Intellectual dispositions refers to the desire(tendency) to know
more about the world.
Conti…
Critical thinking is sometimes referred to as
‘criticocreative’ thinking. This word is the combination
of two words: critical and creative. There are two
related reasons for this.
The first is that the term ‘critical thinking’ is sometimes
thought( opinion produced by thinking) to sound rather
negative, as though one’s only interest is in adversely
criticizing other people’s arguments and ideas.
 Critical thinking is to think
 Clearly (Understandably)
 Actively (deliberately)
 Persistent fairly
 Rationally
 Objectively
 Independently etc..
Conti…

The following are definitions of C.Thinking by d/t

scholars:
 According to john Dewey
o Critical thinking is active, persistent, careful consideration of
issues/belief in different grounds.
For Robert Ennis:
o Critical thinking is reasonable, and reflective thinking fo-
cusing on decide what you believe or to do (decision mak-
ing)
For Richard Paul:
o critical thinking is model of thinking which focus in
reflecting on thoughts
having ability of thinking about one’s thinking
and consciously(purposively) aim to improve it.
Conti…

Critical thinking helps us to:

Discovers & overcomes personal preconcep-
tions or prejudice (an idea or opinion formed
beforehand) or biased(influence)
Formulate & provide convincing reason and
justifications to make reasonable/rational
decision about what we believe .
Impartially investigate data and facts not
swayed(influenced) by emotion.
Arrive at well-reasoned, sound and justifiable
conclusion.
Conti…
Standards of Critical Thinking
 Critical thinking is a disciplined thinking governed
by clear intellectual standards. But, not every
thinking is critical.
 To identify a critical thinking from the uncritical,
we refer to some standards.
 There is a consensus among philosophers that for
thinking to be critical, it has to meet certain
standards.
 Standard of critical thinking refers a conditions or
a level that critical thinking should meet to be
considered as normal and acceptable.
Conti…
 CT is normal and acceptable if it fulfills the following
standards
 Clarity( the quality of being coherent)
 Precision(the quality, condition or fact of being exact &
accurate)
 Accuracy( the quality or state of being correct or precise)
 Relevance( the quality or state of being closely connected
or appropriate)
 Consistency ( has the same attitude towards people or
things)
 Logical Correctness
 Completeness(we engage in deep & through think-
ing& evaluation and
 Fairness
Conti…
Clarity refers to:
Clear understanding of concepts
Expression should free of vagueness (not clearly expressed) and ambigu-
ity (being open to more than one meaning)

CT strive both for clarity of language & thought

Precision refers to:

A matter of being exact, accurate and careful

reducing vague and obscures(unknown) thoughts

Provide precise answer to precise questions of life

Accuracy refers to:

About Having correct and genuine information

CT value truth, accurate and timely information

Every decision should be made based on true information

If the input is false information, decision will not be sound
Conti…
Relevance refers to:
The question of relevance is a question of con-
nections. When there is a discussion or debate, it
should focus on relevant ideas and information
It’s an issue of connection
focus on Significant ideas logical to the issue at
hand
focus should be given to the issue at hand
Consistency refers to:
 about the Quality of always behaving in the
same way
 following same standards in decisions making
Conti…
 There are two kinds of inconsistency that we
should avoid. These are as follows:
o Logical inconsistency
o Practical inconsistency
Logical inconsistency
 logical inconsistency, which involves saying or
believing inconsistent things (i.e., things that
cannot both or all be true) about a particular
matter.
Practical inconsistency
 The other is practical inconsistency, which
involves saying one thing and doing another.
Conti…
Logical Correctness refers to:
 To think logically is to reason correctly; that is, to draw
well-founded conclusions from the beliefs held.
 To think critically, we need accurate and well supported
beliefs.
 Conclusions should logically follow believes/ideas or evi-
dence.
Completeness refers to:
 In most contexts, we rightly prefer deep and
complete thinking to shallow and superficial
thinking.
 Of course, there are times when it is impossible
or inappropriate to discuss an issue in depth; no
one would expect.
Conti…
 No one would expect, for example, a thorough
and wide-ranging discussion of the ethics of the
right to self- determination in a short
newspaper editorial.
 However, thinking is better when it is deep
rather than shallow(of little depth or superficial
or partial ), thorough (complete with regard to
every detail rather than superficial.
Conti…
Fairness refers to:
 Critical thinking demands that our thinking be
fair - that is, open minded, impartial, and free of
distorting biases and preconceptions.
Thinking should be based on:
 fair
 open mindedness,
 Impartiality and
Thinking should be free
 distortion
 Biasedness
 Preconceptions
 Inclinations( tendency)
 Personal interests
Conti…
 Codes of Intellectual Conduct for Effective
Discussion
The basic codes of intellectual conduct, especially
the common principles of a good argument as well
as that of a critical thinking
Principle of good argument
The following are some of the principle of good arguments
 The Structural Principle
 The Relevance Principle
 The Acceptability Principle
 The Sufficiency Principle
 The Rebuttal(opposing argument) Principle
Conti…
The Structural Principle
 An argument must look and works like an
argument.
 In other words, it should be formed in such a
way that the conclusion either follows
necessarily from its premises, in the case of
deductive arguments, or follows probably from
its premises, in the case of inductive arguments.
 A good argument should also provide us with
reasons to believe that the conclusion deserves
our acceptance.
Conti…
 The structural principle of a good argument requires
that one who argues for or against a position should
use an argument that meets the fundamental
structural requirements of a well-formed argument.
 Use arguments that meet fundamental structural
requirement .
valid form is the First requirement for argument
to be good (deductive)
• don’t use reason that contradict to each other
(avoid invalid inference)
• conclusion should follow the premise with strict
necessity
Conti…
Good argument refers to:
o structurally good form(valid)
o Premises must be compatible to each other
(compatibility principle)
o conclusion should not contradict with the
premises
o (non contradiction principle)
Conti…
The Relevance Principle
 This is the second principle of a good argument that
requires that one who presents an argument for or against
a position should set forth only reasons whose truth
provides some evidence for the truth of the conclusion.
 The premises of a good argument must be relevant to the
truth or merit of the conclusion
 A premise is relevant if its acceptance provides some
reason to believe, counts in favor of, or has some bearing
on the truth or merit of the conclusion.
 A premise is irrelevant if its acceptance has no bearing on,
provides no evidence for, or has no connection to the truth
or merit of the conclusion.
Conti…
Acceptability principle
 The third principle of a good argument is the
acceptability principle.
 This principle requires that one who presents an
argument for or against a position should
provide reasons that are likely to be accepted by
a mature, rational person and that meet
standard criteria of acceptability
 A reason is acceptable if it is the kind of claim
that a rational person would accept in the face of
all the relevant evidence available.
Conti…
The Sufficiency Principle
 The four principle of a good argument is the
sufficiency principle, which requires that one who
presents an argument for or against a
position should attempt to provide relevant and
acceptable reasons of the right kind, that together
are sufficient in number and weight to justify the
acceptance of the conclusion.
 Questions to test sufficiency of evidence
 Are the available reasons enough to drive someone to
conclusion?
 Are key or crucial evidence missing from the
argument ?
Conti…

The Rebuttal Principle

 The last principle of a good argument is the
rebuttal principle.
 Since an argument is usually presented against
the background that there is another side to the
issue, a good argument must meet that other
side directly.
 An argument cannot be a good one if it does not
anticipate and effectively refute or
blunt(disprove) the force of the most serious
criticisms against it and the position that it
supports.
Conti…
 This principle requires that one who presents an
argument for or against a position should include
in the argument an effective rebuttal to all
anticipated serious criticisms of the argument
that may be brought against it or against the
position it supports
 A complete argument might even refute the
arguments mustered(to get support) in behalf of
alternate positions on the issue in question.
Conti…
One must ask and answer several questions in applying the
rebuttal principle to an argument.
 First, what are the strongest arguments against the position
being defended?
 Second, does the argument address the counterarguments
effectively?
 Third, what potentially serious weaknesses in the argument
for the position might be recognized by an opponent?
 Fourth, does the argument itself recognize and address
those possible weaknesses?
 Finally, does the argument show why arguments for
alternative positions on the issue are flawed or
unsuccessful?
Conti…
principle of Critical thinking
 The following are some of the principle of critical
thinking.
The Fallibility Principle
 The first principle of a critical thinking is the
fallibility principle.
 This principle requires that each participant in a
discussion of a disputed issue should be willing to
accept the fact that he or she is fallible, which
means that one must acknowledge that one’s own
initial view may not be the most defensible
position on the question.
Conti…
 If you refuse to accept your own fallibility, you are,
in effect, saying that you are not willing to change
your mind, even if you hear a better argument
 An admission of fallibility, however, is a positive
sign that you are genuinely interested in the kind
of honest inquiry that may lead to a fair resolution
of the issue
 Given the great number of issues that divide us
and the large number of different positions on each
of those issues, it is more likely that a person
would turn out to be wrong on more issues than
right.
Conti…
The Truth Seeking Principle
 The second principle of a critical thinking is the
truth seeking principle.
 This principle requires that each participant
should be committed to the task of earnestly
searching for the truth or at least the most
defensible position on the issue at stake
 Participant should be committed to search truth
 One should be willing to :
o Examine alternative positions seriously
o look for insights and positions of others
o Allow others to present arguments for or against
issue.
Conti…
 The search for truth is lifelong endeavor and
can be attained if
o We discuss and entertain the ideas and ar-
guments of fellow
o We listen arguments for positions and
o Have Willingness to look at all available
options
o We encourage criticisms of our own views
 So, everyone should have the Willingness to
look at all available options
Conti…
The Clarity Principle
 Formulations of all positions, defenses, and
attacks should be free of any kind of linguistic
confusion
 Discussion is successful if it carried on in
language that all the parties involved can
understand
 Expressing in confusing, vague, ambiguous, or
contradictory language will not help reach the
desired goal.
Conti…
The Burden of Proof Principle
Just as a person is generally held accountable for his or her
own actions, one who makes a positive or negative claim
about something has what is called the burden of proof.
 Burden of proof rests on the participant who sets forth the
position or argument
 Participant is logically obligated to produce reasons in favor
of his claim
 The arguer is Obliged to give logical answer to the why/how
questions
 Exception: if claim in question is well established or uncon-
troversial, burden to proof rests on the opponents who stands
against original argument
 But Requesting others to accept your idea without proof/
blaming(disapproval) burden to proof to other- ignorance.
Conti…
The Principle of Charity
 If the participant ‘s argument is reformulated by an
opponent, it should be carefully expressed in its
strongest possible version (intension of the original
argument)
 Opponent has an obligation of interpreting a
speaker's statements in the most rational way, con-
sidering its best strongest possible interpreta-
tion of original argument
 But If we deliberately create and then attack a weak
version-uncharitable version- of the original argu-
ment, we will fail to achieve the desirable goal of the
discussion .
Conti…
 Good discussion imposes an ethical requirement
on their participants and there is practical
reason for being fair with one another ‘s
arguments.
 The Suspension of Judgment Principle
 Suspend judgment about the issue if:
o No position is defended by good argument, or
o two or more positions seem to be defended with
equal strength
o One has no good basis (evidence) for making a de-
cision
 To make decision: relative benefits or harm of (conse-
quence) should also take in to consideration
Conti…
The Resolution Principle
 Issue should be considered resolved if the:
o Argument for one of the alternative
positions is a structurally good
o Argument provides relevant and
acceptable ,sufficient reasons to justify the
conclusion
o Argument provides effective rebuttal to all
serious criticisms of position it supports
Conti…
Why are issues not resolved?
o When One or more of the parties to the
dispute:
has a blind spot: not objective about the is-
sue at hand and rational but not psychologi-
cally convinced by the discussion
have been rationally careless
has a hidden agenda
not being honest with themselves
o are in deep disagreement of underlying as-
sumptions
Conti…
Characteristics of Critical Thinking
Basic Traits(characterstics) of Critical Thinkers
 There are some dispositions and attitudes, skills
and abilities, habits and values that every critical
person should manifest.
 Critical thinkers:
 Are honest with themselves, acknowledging what
they don't know, recognizing their limitations, and
being watchful of their own errors.
 Regard problems and controversial issues as
exciting challenges.
Conti…
 Strive for understanding, keep curiosity alive,
remain patient with complexity, and are ready to
invest time to overcome confusion.
 Base judgments on evidence rather than
personal preferences, deferring(delay) judgment
whenever evidence is insufficient.
 They revise judgments when new evidence
reveals error.
 Are interested in other people's ideas and so are
willing to read and listen attentively, even when
they tend to disagree with the other person etc…
Conti…
Basic Traits of Uncritical Thinkers
 The following are some traits of uncritical thinkers.
These are :-
Uncritical thinkers:
 Pretend(make believe) they know more than they
do, ignore their limitations, and assume their
views are error-free.
 Regard problems and controversial issues as
nuisances or threats to their ego.
 Are inpatient with complexity and thus would
rather remain confused than make the effort to
understand etc…
Conti…
Barriers to Critical Thinking
 There are a number of factors that
impede(hinder) a critical thinking.
 Some of the most common barriers to critical
thinking are:
 Egocentrism
 Socio-centrism
 Unwarranted assumptions
 Relativistic thinking, and
 Wishful thinking
Conti…
 Egocentrism
 One of the most powerful barriers to critical thinking
is egocentrism.
 Even highly educated and intelligent people are prey
to egocentrism.
 Egocentrism is the tendency to see reality as centered
on oneself.
 Egocentrics are selfish, self-absorbed people who
view their interests, ideas, and values as superior to
everyone else’s.
 Egocentrism can manifest itself in a variety of ways.
Two common forms this are self-interested thinking
and the superiority bias.
Conti…
Socio-centrism
 The second powerful barrier that paralyze the critical
thinking ability of most people including intellectuals is
socio-centrism.
 It is group-centered thinking. Just as egocentrism can
hinder rational thinking by focusing excessively on the self,
so socio-centrism can hinder rational thinking by focusing
excessively on the group.
 Socio-centrism can distort critical thinking in many ways.
 Two of the most important are group bias and
conformism.
 Group bias is the tendency to see one’s own group (nation,
tribe, sect, peer group, and the like) as being inherently
better than others
Conti…
Unwarranted Assumptions and Stereotypes
 The third factor that impedes critical thinking is unwarranted
assumptions and stereotype.
 An assumption is something we take for granted something
we believe to be true without any proof or conclusive
evidence
 Almost everything we think and do is based on assumptions. If
the weather report calls for rain, we take an umbrella because
we assume that the meteorologist is not lying, that the report
is based on a scientific analysis of weather patterns, that the
instruments are accurate, and so forth.
 Typically, stereotypes are arrived at through a process known
as hasty generalization, in which one draws a conclusion about
a large class of things(in this case, people) from a small
sample.
Conti…
Relativistic Thinking
 One of the strongest challenges to critical thinking
is relativistic thinking.
 Relativism is the view that truth is a matter of
opinion.
 There are two popular forms of relativism:
subjectivism and cultural relativism.
 Subjectivism is the view that truth is a matter of
individual opinion.
 For example, suppose Abdella believes that
abortion is wrong and Obang believes that
abortion is not always wrong.
Conti…
 According to subjectivism, abortion is always
wrong for Abdella and not always wrong for
Obang. Both beliefs are true – for them. And
truth for one individual or another is the only
kind of truth there is.
 Cultural relativism
 Cultural relativism is the view that what is true
for person A is what person A’s culture or society
believes is true.
 Drinking wine, for example, is widely considered
to be wrong in Iran but is not generally
considered to be wrong in France.
Conti…
Wishful Thinking
 Wishful thinking refers to a state of believing
something not because you had good evidence
for it but simply because you wished it were
true.
Benefits of Critical Thinking
 The following are the major benefits of critical
thinking.
 Critical Thinking: Skills and Dispositions
 Critical Thinking in the Classroom
 Critical Thinking in Life
Conti…
 Critical Thinking: Skills and Dispositions
 Critical thinking teaches you how to raise and identify
fundamental questions and problems in the community.
 It will teach you to reformulate these problems clearly
and precisely.
 It will teach you how to gather and assess relevant
information, develop reasoned conclusions and
solutions, testing them against relevant criterion and
standards.
 It teaches you how to be open minded to alternative
system of thought, recognize and assess your own
assumptions, implications and practical consequences
 It teaches how to communicate effectively with others.
Conti…
 Critical Thinking: Skills and Dispositions
o Critical thinking is what university is all about.
o University is not only about teaching students
with facts. It’s about teaching students to think-
think critically.
 Critical thinking teaches you how to raise and
identify fundamental questions and problems in
the community.
 It will teach you to reformulate these problems
clearly and precisely.
Conti…
Critical Thinking in the Classroom
 Students learn a variety of skills that can greatly
improve their classroom performance. These
skills include:
 Understanding the arguments and beliefs of
others
 Critically evaluating those arguments and beliefs
 Developing and defending one’s own well-
supported arguments and beliefs.
Conti…
Critical Thinking in Life
 Critical thinking is valuable in many contexts outside the
classroom.
 Let us look briefly at three ways in which this is the case
 First, Critical thinking can help us avoid such mistakes by
teaching us to think about important life decisions more
carefully, clearly, and logically.
 Second, critical thinking plays a vital role in promoting
democratic processes
 Third, critical thinking is worth(significance) studying for its
own sake, simply for the personal enrichment it can bring
to our lives.
 One of the most basic truths of the human condition is that
most people, most of the time, believe what they are told.
End of Chapter Four