English Department Vision
Our goal is to encourage critical thinking!
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CRITICAL THINKING
Acknowledgement: This guide is a compilation of a paper by Greg R. Haskins who himself borrowed from Robert Todd Carroll, Ph.D. Becoming a Critical Thinker and The Skeptic’s Dictionary.
Thinking critically is not thinking negatively with a predisposition to find fault or flaws. It is a neutral and unbiased process for evaluating claims or opinions, either someone else’s or our own.
Attitudes of the Critical Thinker:
• Open-mindedness
• Healthy scepticism
• Intellectual humility
• Free thinking
• High motivation
The first two characteristics require us to investigate viewpoints different from our own but at the same time recognize when to doubt claims that do not merit such investigation. A critical thinker must be neither dogmatic (I’m right and you’re wrong), nor gullible (easily persuaded into believing anything). Being both open-minded and sceptical means seeking out the facts, information sources, and reasoning to support issues we intend to judge; examining issues from as many sides as possible; rationally looking for the good and bad points of the various sides examined; accepting the fact that we may be in error ourselves; and maintaining the goal of getting at the truth (or as close to the truth as possible), rather than trying to please others or find fault with their views.
Having intellectual humility means being prepared to examine new evidence and arguments even if such examination leads one to discover flaws in one’s own cherished beliefs; to stop thinking that complex issues can be reduced to matters of “right and wrong” or “black and white,” and to begin thinking in terms of “degrees of certainty” or “shades of grey.”
A critical thinker must also have an independent mind, i.e., to be a free thinker. To think freely, one must restrain one’s desire to believe because of social pressures to conform. One must be willing to ask if conformity is motivating one’s belief or opinion, and if so, have the strength and courage to at least temporarily abandon one’s position until one can complete a more objective and thorough evaluation.
Finally, a critical thinker must have a natural curiosity to further one’s understanding and be highly motivated to put in the necessary work sufficient to evaluate the multiple sides of issues. The only way one can overcome the lack of essential knowledge on a subject is to do the necessary studying to reach a sufficient level of understanding before making judgements. This may require the critical thinker to ask many questions, which can be unsettling to those asked to respond. A critical thinker cannot be lazy.
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CRITICAL THINKING
Acknowledgement: This guide is a compilation of a paper by Greg R. Haskins who himself borrowed from Robert Todd Carroll, Ph.D. Becoming a Critical Thinker and The Skeptic’s Dictionary.
Thinking critically is not thinking negatively with a predisposition to find fault or flaws. It is a neutral and unbiased process for evaluating claims or opinions, either someone else’s or our own.
Attitudes of the Critical Thinker:
• Open-mindedness
• Healthy scepticism
• Intellectual humility
• Free thinking
• High motivation
The first two characteristics require us to investigate viewpoints different from our own but at the same time recognize when to doubt claims that do not merit such investigation. A critical thinker must be neither dogmatic (I’m right and you’re wrong), nor gullible (easily persuaded into believing anything). Being both open-minded and sceptical means seeking out the facts, information sources, and reasoning to support issues we intend to judge; examining issues from as many sides as possible; rationally looking for the good and bad points of the various sides examined; accepting the fact that we may be in error ourselves; and maintaining the goal of getting at the truth (or as close to the truth as possible), rather than trying to please others or find fault with their views.
Having intellectual humility means being prepared to examine new evidence and arguments even if such examination leads one to discover flaws in one’s own cherished beliefs; to stop thinking that complex issues can be reduced to matters of “right and wrong” or “black and white,” and to begin thinking in terms of “degrees of certainty” or “shades of grey.”
A critical thinker must also have an independent mind, i.e., to be a free thinker. To think freely, one must restrain one’s desire to believe because of social pressures to conform. One must be willing to ask if conformity is motivating one’s belief or opinion, and if so, have the strength and courage to at least temporarily abandon one’s position until one can complete a more objective and thorough evaluation.
Finally, a critical thinker must have a natural curiosity to further one’s understanding and be highly motivated to put in the necessary work sufficient to evaluate the multiple sides of issues. The only way one can overcome the lack of essential knowledge on a subject is to do the necessary studying to reach a sufficient level of understanding before making judgements. This may require the critical thinker to ask many questions, which can be unsettling to those asked to respond. A critical thinker cannot be lazy.