Critical Thinking Chapter 1 PDF

Critical Thinking Chapter 1 Daniele Mezzadri Brent Madison Simon Langford Chapter 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking 1. What is Critical Thinking p. 2 2. Critical Thinking Skills p. 5 3. The Critical Attitude p. 11 4. Barriers to Critical Thin...

Critical Thinking Chapter 1 Daniele Mezzadri Brent Madison Simon Langford Chapter 1 Introduction to Critical Thinking 1. What is Critical Thinking p. 2 2. Critical Thinking Skills p. 5 3. The Critical Attitude p. 11 4. Barriers to Critical Thinking p. 14 S ECTION 1 What is Critical Thinking? Definitions of Critical Thinking: Exercise 1 Active, persistent and careful considera- Students in groups. Spend 15 minutes, in your group, dis- tion of a belief or supposed form of cussing what ‘critical thinking’ means, by doing some knowledge in the light of the grounds which support it and the further conclu- brainstorming, even if you have little or no idea about it. sions to which it tends (J. Dewey, How By discussing this with other members of your group, pro- We Think, D.C. Heath and Co, 1909) duce your definition of critical thinking. These will be briefly discussed as a class. Critical thinking is the ability to engage ? ? in reflective and independent thinking, and being able to think clearly and ra- tionally. (J. Lau, A Mini Guide to Criti- cal Thinking, HKU, 2009) Critical Thinking Notice here the use of adjectives such as ‘active’, and ‘independent’; by claiming that critical thinking is an ? active process, the stress is on the difference with the ? kind of thinking in which one simply passively receives information from someone else; on the contrary, when engaged in critical thinking one actively thinks about 2 things ‘independently’, that is, by thinking them through for himself/herself, raising questions himself/ Critical thinking is reasonable, reflec- herself, finding relevant information himself/herself tive thinking that is focused on decid- ing what to believe or do (S. Norris, R. etc. Ennis, Evaluating Critical Thinking, Pacific Grove, 1989) Secondly, by claiming that critical thinking is ‘persis- tent’, ‘careful’ ‘reflective’ etc., one wants to stress a Critical thinking involves the careful ex- difference with the kind of thinking in which, for exam- amination and evaluation of beliefs and ple, we ‘jump to conclusions’, or endorse a statement actions. It requires paying attention to unreflectively, or take a decision without thinking the process of reasoning, not just the product. (E. Gambrill, L. Gibbs, Critical much about it. Thinking for Helping Professionals, Ox- ford University Press, 2009). On the contrary, when engaged in critical thinking, we take into consideration and evaluate the reasons that support some given belief or statement, and also the In these two definitions we find a characteristic of criti- consequences that a given belief or statement has (this cal thinking we already see above, that is, the idea that is what is meant in Dewey’s definition that critical critical thinking is ‘reflective’, ‘careful’, as opposed to thinking is consideration of a belief ‘in the light of the unreflective and superficial thinking; critical thinking grounds [i.e. reasons] which support it and the further involves careful examination and evaluation of a belief conclusions [i.e. consequences] to which it tends’). or statement. What is new in these two definition, how- ever, is the emphasis on thinking about what ‘we do’, about our ‘actions’. That is, critical thinking is not sim- ply used to evaluate statements, claims, or beliefs. It can be used to investigate and evaluate actions, and can be used not only to decide what one should believe, 3 but also what one should do. Critical thinking thus also also find the view that critical thinking involves or im- has an important practical dimension. plies some knowledge of the ‘methods of logical en- quiry’, which, typically, amounts to know how to con- sider and evaluate the reasons supporting a given belief [Critical Thinking is] (1) an attitude of being or statement, and also the consequences that a belief or disposed to consider in a thoughtful way the statement has (as highlighted by the first definition con- problems and subjects that come within the range of one’s experience; (2) knowledge of sidered, the one by Dewey). the methods of logical enquiry and reasoning; and (3) some skill in applying those methods. (E. Glaser, An Experiment in the Develop- There is something more in this definition, though, ment of Critical Thinking, Columbia Univer- sity, 1941) namely the idea that critical thinking implies applying certain skills. Which skills? Think about it. In the next section we will consider what kind of skills critical thinking helps one develop. Again, in this definition we find one of the features of critical thinking considered above, the idea that critical thinking is consideration of problems or questions in a ‘thoughtful’ way, that is, it is active, careful, independ- ent. Also, we find the idea that critical thinking applies to ‘problems and subjects that come within the range of one’s experience’, problems and subjects which may be both theoretical and practical, thus concerning both what we should believe and what we should do. We 4 S ECTION 2 Critical Thinking Skills Some examples of Critical Thinking skills: Recall Glaser’s definition of Critical Thinking consid- Analyse, clarify and interpret expressions, ideas, state- ered in the previous section. ments, problems when presented with a reasoned case. Critical Thinking is (1) an attitude of being dis- Identify the elements, or steps, in a reasoned case, es- posed to consider in a thoughtful way the prob- lems and subjects that come within the range of pecially reasons (or assumptions) and conclusions. one’s experience; (2) knowledge of the methods Identify and evaluate assumptions and reasons, to see of logical enquiry and reasoning; and (3) some skill in applying those methods. (E. Glaser, An whether they support the conclusion of a reasoned Experiment in the Development of Critical case. Thinking, Columbia University, 1941) Distinguish relevant from irrelevant data, claims, rea- sons (or assumptions) in a reasoned case. Consider and judge the acceptability, justifiability, ac- Notice here the emphasis on the fact that critical think- curacy of reasoned cases. ing involves some skills, in order to evaluate beliefs or actions (in this respect, critical thinking is a ‘skilled’ ac- tivity). What kind of skills does critical thinking in- And also: volve? Reflect on issues or problems in a structured and clear way. 5  Present a reasoned case in a clear, structured and ability to apply the skills in the first group; that is, in or- sound way. der to apply the skills in the second group you must also possess and apply the skills in the first group). Raise and pursue relevant and significant questions and points in discussion or debate. Act and take decisions based on good and relevant As one can see, critical thinking skills are, so to speak, reasons. topic neutral. They are not limited to any specific field of knowledge or enquiry (say, science, politics, econom- ics, or philosophy), but can be applied in thinking The list above is by no means exhaustive. There are about any subject, when presented with any kind of rea- many other critical thinking skills (for other lists, on soned case, regardless of its subject matter. They can which I have drawn freely in compiling the list above, thus be used in any discipline, in (almost) any profes- see S. Norris, R. Ennis, Evaluating Critical Thinking, sional context and in many everyday situations. Pacific Grove, 1989, Fisher A., Critical Thinking. An In- troduction, Cambridge University Press 2001, pp. 7-8, Gambrill E., Gibbs L., Critical Thinking for Helping Professionals, OUP, 2009, p. 15, Cottrell S., Critical Thinking Skills, Palgrave-Macmillan 2005, p. 2). The skills presented above can be divided into two groups: evaluative skills (first group) and produc- tive skills. By applying the former we evaluate and as- sess reasoned cases, by applying the latter we produce good reasoned cases of our own (of course, the applica- tion of the skills in the second group presupposes the 6 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Do the following activities involve or require critical thinking and thus critical thinking skills? If yes, why? If Consider the following case: not, why not? You are reading a novel for pleasure. You are doing some calculations to determine your monthly expenses. You are a salesman and have to convince somebody to buy your products. You are chatting with your friends. You want to form an informed opinion about global A guy warming and thus plan on reading what experts say called Ah- about it. med is You are babysitting your 8 year old nephew. standing beside a You are reading or writing a poem. used car You are a member of the jury in a murder case. in Sanaiya trying to decide whether to buy it or not. Ah- You are writing a presentation for one of your classes. med does not have much money and he does not know much about cars, but he has just been offered a job that requires him to have a reliable car. A salesperson has told Ahmed all the advantages of the car in question. 7  Case 2: Case 1: Ahmed comes to like the salesper- Ahmed comes to like and son because he is friendly, he looks trust the salesperson in the smart and professional, and seems course of talking about the car, be- very competent. However, he treats cause he is friendly, he looks smart what the salesman says with cau- and professional, and seems very com- tion, gets an expert (independent) petent. They have never met before mechanic to check the vehicle over, though, and Ahmed knows nothing checks prices of comparable vehicles about the company for which the sales- in used car price guide, and gets a person works. Ahmed thinks that if the knowledgeable friend to advise on salesperson looks so smart, profes- negotiating a price. sional, and competent, what he says about the car must be true; besides, Ahmed likes the ‘look’ of the car, so he decides to buy it. (Adapted from Fisher A., Critical Thinking. An Introduction, Cambridge University Press 2001, p. 9) In which case has Ahmed applied critical thinking skills? Which of the thinking skills listed above has Ah- med applied? 8 Benefits of Developing Critical Thinking Skills This is to say that getting skilled in critical thinking is useful in any situation; by developing critical thinking skills one improves their own capacity to think rigor- Skills in critical thinking bring precision ously, precisely and efficiently, regardless of the par- to the way you think and work. You will find that practice in critical thinking helps ticular field or discipline one is concentrating on. Criti- you to be more accurate and specific in cal thinking, therefore, is not simply a self-contained noting what is relevant and what is not. academic topic which you have to study to pass your […] [Critical thinking is] useful to exam, but something that you can fruitfully apply in a problem-solving and to project manage- wide range of contexts and situations. ment, bringing greater precision and accu- racy to different parts of a task”. (S. Cot- trell, Critical Thinking Skills, Palgrave- Macmillan 2005, p. 4) Critical thinking […] is useful for all sorts of ca- reers and professions. Clear and systematic thinking can improve the comprehension and expression of ideas, so good critical thinking can also enhance language and presentation skills”. (J. Lau, A Mini Guide to Critical Think- ing, HKU, 2009) 9  Exercise 4 Consider, however, the following objections to the use- Do you think these objections are justified? Motivate fulness of critical thinking: your answer. We often have to make deci- Objection 1 sions very quickly without a lot of time for us to think. So critical thinking is not really that useful. Many people do not like to be criticized. So critical thinking is not very useful when it comes to dealing with these people. Objection 2 Objection 3 Emotions are very important in our lives but they are not rational. It is not worth giving up our emotions order to be a good critical thinker. Taken from Critical Thinking Web (http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/) 10 S ECTION 3 To be open-minded also means accepting that someone else might have thought of something we’ve overlooked The Critical Attitude or that we could be in error ourselves. Critical thinking is not just a matter of being able to apply a number of skills. After all, one might posses these skills and never apply them. Critical thinking skills are not so much the origin of critical thinking than the result of a particular kind of attitude, which we might call the “critical attitude”, or the “critical spirit” or the “critical habit”. One component of the critical attitude is open- mindedness. To be skillful and fair in evaluating and actions, we need to seek out various views and po- sitions on the issues we intend to judge. Being open- minded means being will- ing to examine issues from as many sides as possible, looking for the good and bad points of the various sides exam- ined. It also means not to rule out a priori points of view or positions just because they seem im- plausible, controversial, or minoritarian. 11 Another component of the critical attitude is scepti- claim seems wise or smart, or because the majority of cism, namely the attitude of being ready to raise people believes them to be true. doubts about claims or beliefs, and to seek for the justi- Furthermore, some fication offered for them, before committing ourselves kind of intellec- to them. Too much scepticism leads to doubting every- tual humility (or thing and committing oneself to nothing; too little scep- m o d e s t y ) i s r e- ticism leads to dogmatism, that is, the habit of accept- quired in order to ing claims and beliefs even when they are unfounded. develop a critical at- We need not be so demanding that we will commit our- titude. Whatever selves to a belief or action only if we can be absolutely we come to believe certain we are right. On the other hand, we should not must be adhered to accept claims simply because the person making the tentatively. We must always be ready to examine new evidence and arguments, and revise our beliefs ac- cordingly, even if our examination leads us to discover that a cherished belief of ours is in error. In short, arro- gance and blind dogmatism do not befit the critical thinker. Critical thinking skills are skills by means of which one can develop and implement the critical attitude, namely the habit of being sceptic, open-minded, and in- tellectually modest. Adapted from R. Carroll, Becoming a Critical Thinker, Pearson, 2004. 12 Exercise 5 Who of the following people has a critical attitude and who does not? Why? Jack always rejects Tasneem will believe what- new ideas without ex- ever people tell her. amining their validity. Saif is willing to accept new information even when he has formed an opinion about it. Mario is unwilling to accept new evidence that opposes his opinions. 13 S ECTION 4 Ignorance Barriers to Critical Thinking Perhaps the greatest hindrance to thinking critically is ignorance: the lack of essential background knowledge on the subject at hand. Ignorance is not the same as stu- pidity, which has to do with lack of, or incompetent ap- plication of, intelligence. Ignorance has to do with lack of knowledge or information. Without a firm under- standing of the basic principles and accepted beliefs in a particular field, it is impossible to judge the truth, rele- vance, or sufficiency of evidence put forth to support po- sitions in that field. Without adequate background knowledge of a subject, one can’t tell whether claims are clear enough or whether relevant material has been omitted. In short, one can be a master of critical thinking skills, but with- out knowledge those skills won’t do you much good. It is always advisable, then, before setting to examine and evaluate beliefs, arguments, positions etc. to get at least some background knowledge of the subject under con- sideration. 14 Wishful Thinking and Self-Deception we see only what we want to see and believe only what we want to believe. This, however, is a very uncritical form of interpreting and evaluating things, because it does not rely on the evidence we have for concluding something, but on what we would like it to be the case. Wishful thinking is interpreting facts, reports, events, perceptions, according to what one would like to be the case rather than according to the actual evidence. Self- deception is the process or fact of misleading ourselves to accept as true what is false. Self-deception, in short, is a way we justify false beliefs to ourselves. We often believe things not because we have good evidence for them but because we want to believe them. We tend to Tendency to Conform construe things in our own favor, to look for evidence that fits with what we already believe or want to be- If we have a strong inclination to conform, then we lieve. Too often, we are easily deceived when it suits would tend to desire agreement rather than disagree- our purposes. We allow loyalty or hostility to control ment with others. Desiring agreement with others, we how we think about those we love and hate. Too often, would be less likely to challenge them than if we had a stronger inclination to get at the truth. The natural and 15 usually beneficial tendency to conform can, when misdi- stereotypes and slogans. Pride, too, plays a part in hin- rected or unreflectively applied, lead us to accept un- dering us from thinking critically. Most of us want to critically the ideas of friends, colleagues and relatives. appear knowledgeable and right, rather than ignorant or wrong, so we don’t object to or challenge claims made by others, especially authorities. We pretend we understand things for fear of appearing foolish. Confirmation Bias Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and look for what con- firms one’s beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or under- value the relevance of what contradicts one’s beliefs. By ignoring contrary evidence or by making no effort to find such evidence, one can convince oneself of almost anything. Laziness and Pride Laziness plays a role in encouraging us to conform to Communal Reinforcement authorities. Combined Communal reinforcement is the process by which a with the common de- claim becomes a strong belief through repeated asser- sire for quick results tion by members of a community. The process is inde- and simplicity, lazi- pendent of whether or not the claim has been properly ness also leads us to researched or is supported by empirical data signifi- think in terms of cant enough to warrant belief by reasonable people. So, 16 communal reinforcement is the uncritical attitude of be- lieving a claim just because it has been repeated many times. However, the fact that a claim is repeated end- lessly does not make it true. In order to judge whether a claim is true we must judge the evidence one has for supporting that claim, not how many times that claim gets repeated. Adapted from R. Carroll, Becoming a Critical Thinker, Pearson, 2004. Notes Exercise 6 Can you think of other barriers to critical thinking? Here you can add your notes on Chapter 1 17