Critical thinker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
strong-sense critical thinkers Those who are characterized predominantly by the following traits:
- an ability to question deeply one’s own framework of thought;
- an ability to reconstruct sympathetically and imaginatively the strongest versions of points of view and frameworks of thought opposed to one’s own; and
- an ability to reason dialectically (multilogically) in such a way as to determine when one’s own point of view is at its weakest and when an opposing point of view is at its strongest.
Strong-sense critical thinkers are not routinely blinded by their own viewpoints. They know they have points of view and therefore recognize the framework of assumptions and ideas upon which their own thinking is based. They realize the necessity of putting their own assumptions and ideas to the test of the strongest objections that can be leveled against them.
Teaching for critical thinking in the strong sense is teaching so that students explicate, understand, and critique their own deepest prejudices, biases, and misconceptions, thereby discovering and contesting their own egocentric and sociocentric tendencies. Only if we contest our inevitable egocentric and sociocentric habits of thought can we hope to think in a genuinely rational fashion. Only dialogical thinking about basic issues that genuinely matter to the individual provides the kind of practice and skill essential to strong-sense critical thinking.
People need to develop critical-thinking skills in dialogical settings to achieve genuine fair-mindedness. If critical thinking is taught simply as atomic skills separate from the empathic practice of entering into points of view that students are fearful of or hostile toward, they will simply find additional means of rationalizing prejudices and preconceptions, or convincing people that their point of view is the correct one. They will be transformed from vulgar to sophisticated (but not to strong-sense) critical thinkers. Opposite is weak-sense critical thinkers.
weak-sense critical thinkers
- Those who do not hold themselves or those with whom they ego-identify to the same intellectual standards to which they hold opponents;
- those who have not learned how to reason empathically within points of view or frames of reference with which they disagree; # those who tend to think monologically (within one narrow perspective);
- those who do not genuinely accept, though they may verbally espouse, the values of critical thinking;
- those who use the intellectual skills of critical thinking selectively and self-deceptively to foster and serve their selfish interests at the expense of truth;
- those who use critical-thinking skills to identify flaws in the reasoning of others and sophisticated arguments to refute others’ arguments before giving those arguments due consideration;
- those who are able to justify their irrational thinking with highly skilled rationalizations. Opposite is strong-sense critical thinkers.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Richard Paul and Linda Elder 2002. Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life. Published by Financial Times Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-064760-8.