1.

Definitions of Critical thinking

i. John Dewey

Active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of

knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to

which it tends.

ii. Richard Paul

Critical thinking is the mode of thinking about any subject, content or problem in

which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking

charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards

upon them.

2. Eight Characteristics of Critical thinking

3. Eight Components of Critical thinking

i. Perception

o The way we receive and translate our experience

o Also a significant filtering system

o How we perceive defines how we think

ii. Assumptions
 o Central to Critical Thinking

o Implied, not conscious of them

o Not always bad

o Rest on notion some ideas are obvious

o Make us comfortable with present beliefs and shut out alternatives

iii. Emotion

o Trying to “leave emotion out of it” is impossible

o Part of everything we do and think

o Personal barriers are given

o Critical thinker don’t ignore or deny emotion, accept and manage them

iv. Language

o Thinking can’t be separated from three primary purposes:

Inform, Persuade, Explain

o Language denotes and connotes metaphors

o Metaphors are powerful language tools which influence how we think and

problem solve

v. Argument
 o Claim, used to persuade that something is(or not) true or should (or not) be done

o Contains three basic elements :Issues, One or more reasons(premises), One or

more conclusions.

o Can be valid or invalid based on the structure

o Only premises and conclusions true or false

o Goal of Critical Thinking is sound arguments

o Valid ( proper structure)

o With true premises

o Sound argument has both, so the conclusion must be true

o There in the beauty and usefulness of logic

vi. Fallacy

o Reasoning that doesn’t meet criteria for sound arguments is fallacious

o Valid

o True premises

o Complete( all relevant information)

o Fallacy is incorrect pattern of reasoning

 o Does not always mean conclusion is false

o Ads and editorials

vii. Logic

o Two methods of reasoning:

a) Deductive : Facts, certainty, syllogisms, validity, truth of premises sound

arguments and conclusions.

b) Inductive : Diverse facts, probability, generalizations, hypotheses, analogies

inductive strength

viii. Problem Solving

o Techniques :

- Understand the problem, read and heed

- ID unknowns and knowns

- Relationships between these (visual aids)

- Generate strategy from step above

- Apply and solve

- Repeat if necessary
4. Six Core Critical Thinking skills

1. Interpretation

Comprehend and express meaning or significance of wide variety of experiences,

situations, data, events, judgements, conventions, beliefs, rules, procedures, or

criteria.

2. Analysis

Identify the intended and actual inferential relationships among statements, questions,

concepts, descriptions, or other forms of representation intended to express belief,

judgement, experiences, reasons, information, or opinion.

3. Evaluation

Assess the credibility of statements or other representations which are accountd or

descriptions of a person’s perception, experience, situation, judgement, belief, or

opinion and to assess the logical strength of the actual or intended inferential

relationships among statements, descriptions, questions, or other forms of

representation.

4. Inference

Identify and secure elements needed to draw reasonable conclusions, to form

conjectures and hypotheses, to consider relevant information and to reduce the

 consequences flowing from data, statements, principles, evidence, questions, or other

forms of representation.

5. Explanation

State the results of one’s reasoning, justify that reasoning in terms of evidential,

conceptual, methodological, criteriological, and contextual considerations upon which

one’s reasoning in the form of cogent arguments.

6. Self-regulation

Self consciously to monitor one’s cognitive activities, the elements used in those

activities, and the results educed, particularly by applying skills in analysis and

evaluation to one’s own inferential judgements with a view toward questions,

confirming, validation, or correcting either one’s reasoning or results.

5. Five Importance of Critical Thinking

- All actions, decisions and judgements spring from assumption, if they are

unchecked or inappropriate, we will make poor decisions and wrong

judgements.
 - In personal relationships we learn to keep our lines of communications open,

we avoid uncritically reproducing patterns of the modeled interactions we

learned from our parental interaction.

- In the workplace, we avoid stagnation and atrophy and we are willing to

challenge the current paradigms, which are uncritically accepted and may

have come down in the workplace from a time and thinking which is no

longer releve

6. Contributions of the following Philosophers

i. Socrates

ii. Plato

iii. Al-Kindi

iv. Ibn. Sina (Avicenna)

7. Five Definitions of A Good Thinker

8. Dispositions of a Critical Thinker

9. Three Valid Arguments

10. Three Invalid Arguments