CRITICAL THINKING
Objective:

At the end of this topic, the student is expected to:
1.
2.
3.
understand the meaning of correct and critical
thinking.
appreciate the importance of critical thinking.
be aware of the hindrances to his own critical
thinking processes.
Is there such thing as Correct
Thinking?

Truth as conformity to reality

The traditional definition of truth rests on the
conformity of the human mind to what exists in
reality
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Thus, there is such a thing as a correct thinking if
we mean by it a kind of thinking that has certain
practical and beneficial result/s for a person. If it
has the opposite effects, we would call it “wrong
thinking.”
What is Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking is a process by which we
achieve correct thinking. It is a kind of thinking
that helps us avoid the pitfalls of incorrect
thinking and ensures the cognitive consistency
among our various thoughts

Robert Ennis (1987) “Critical thinking is
reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused
on deciding what to believe or do.”
Some Definitions

John Dewey (1933) “[Critical thinking] is the active,
persistent, and careful consideration of any belief
or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the
grounds that support it and further conclusions to
which it tends constitutes reflective thought.”

Matthew Lipman (1995) “Critical thinking is
skillful, responsible thinking that is conducive to
good judgment because it is sensitive to
context, relies on criteria, and is selfcorrecting.”

Gerald Nosich (2005) “Critical thinking is
different from just thinking. It is
metacognitive—it involves thinking about your
thinking.”

Barry Parker and Richard Parker (2012) “Critical
thinking on a very basic level is thinking about how
we think...[and] abides by the criteria of good
sense and logic and involves an evaluation of the
quality and effectiveness of the thinking process.”
Cognitive consistency

Cognitive consistency refers to a harmony among our various
thoughts, and to a harmony between our thoughts and
behaviors. Human beings strive for cognitive consistency because
holding onto thoughts that are inconsistent can create an
unpleasant state called cognitive dissonance (discord) when the
inconsistency cannot be justified. This state of dissonance may
lead to psychological tension and uncomfortable feelings. When
we find ourselves in a state of cognitive dissonance we will often
try to change our thought or our behaviours to achieve harmony
and thereby reduce the tension.

A choice is considered as ‘reasonable’ or
‘intelligent’ when it is directed towards
achieving the maximum benefit for the person
and probably, for those around her.
Elements of Critical Thinking

There are three basic elements in critical thinking:
claim, issue, and argument (C-I-A). The student who
wants to be adept at critical thinking must
familiarize himself with identifying them so that he
can immediately and easily spot correct thinking
from faulty ones.

1. Claim. Claims are statements that are either true or
false. It is also sometimes called the thesis, the point or
the proposition. They are the ones that need to be
examined and evaluated by the critical thinker. Often, it
is best that they are expressed in the present indicative
form of sentences or in terms of the Subject-CopulaPredicate structure (S c P). They may be either true,
false, or problematic.
True claim:
All College students are high
school graduates.
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False claim:

Condoms do not have holes.
Contestable claim:

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Education students are the best in this year’s batch of
freshmen college students.


The soul survives after death.
“DDS means Retarded Duterte
Supporters.”
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2. Issue.

An issue refers to the question arising from a
specific claim. Or, it is a claim that has been called
into question. It exists once a claim that is
presented is problematic or when a particular
truth-claim can be subjected to doubt. Often, this is
expressed in the interrogative mode.

For instance,
“Is President Duterte an immoral
president?”; “Is Naga City (in Camarines
Sur) really a first-class city?”
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An issue is something that is settled or answered
definitively as our intellectual energies would allow
it. The point always in raising an issue is to clarify
the truth or non-truth of a particular thing. “Does
cigarette smoke really contain seven thousand
(7,000) harmful chemicals?”
3. Argument.

An argument provides the reason why a given claim is true
or false. It demonstrates the conditions for the truth or
falsity of a claim of proposition. When we say, for
example, that “Ateneo is a good school to send students
because their graduates are immediately hired at call
centers,” we are providing a reason or condition for the
claim that “Ateneo is a good school.”

Making sound and correct arguments is at the heart of
critical thinking. The important thing to consider in making
arguments is the necessary connection that should exist
between the claim (thesis or conclusion) and the support
for the claim (premises).


Lester is an intelligent student because he always gets high
scores in tests and quizzes.
Steps in Critical Thinking
1. Awareness. The first step in critical thinking is to
become aware that you make assumptions.
 Can you identify at least one assumption you have
made and continue to make on a regular basis?
 Without a clearly discernable reason, each
succeeding generation continued the practice without
question.

2. Explication. The second step is to make
the assumption explicit so that you can
really evaluate it. Making explicit is
bringing the assumption at the forefront as
a problem so that we can focus our
attention on it.

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3. Assessment. Finally, you will assess the
assumption’s accuracy. To assess means that we set
off the assumption against a certain background
of certain value judgments. Assessment could be
done by trying to look into the motivations of
certain actions and judging by some objective
criteria.
Positive Process
Critical thinking is a positive process.
 Critical thinking is an important process to learn and
incorporate into our daily lives because we make
significant decisions on a daily basis. We make significant
decisions about our jobs, our families, and the world
around us. When we make these decisions, they often
affect many others around us –colleagues, families, and
others. You want to make the best decisions you can.

Open mind

An open mind is essential to critical thinking.
However, it is not easy to acquire it. One has to go
through to a lot before one can finally change one’s
convictions and remove one’s deeply seated biases
and prejudices. If one will look into the history of
thought, open-mindedness seems to be almost an
article of faith in philosophy.

In the modern times, Rene Descartes, doubted everything
and looked for the only principle within himself that
cannot be doubted – Cogito, ergo sum. Following the
Cartesian spirit, Edmund Husserl, the father of
phenomenology, advocated a rigorous demand for the
exclusion of all of one’s practical and theoretical biases
(absolute Voraussetzungslosigkeit) in order to establish
science and phenomenology on a new and secure basis.
Example Situation: The Garden of Eden

In the Bible story about the Fall of Man (into
Original Sin), the woman named Eve succumbed to
the temptation of the snake to eat the forbidden
fruit. What do you think would have happened if
she employed more critical thinking in that
situation?
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

What do you think is the critical response to the snake’s question?
1. “Did God really tell you not to eat the fruit of the tree at the
middle of the garden?”
2. “Did you not know that if you eat the fruit, you will become LIKE
gods?”
Qualities of a Critical Thinker
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The ideal critical thinker is:
habitually inquisitive,
well- informed,
trustful of reason,
open-minded,
flexible,
fair-minded in evaluation,
honest in facing personal biases,
prudent in making judgments,
willing to reconsider,
• clear about issues,
• orderly in complex matters,
• diligent in seeking relevant
information,
• reasonable in the selection of
criteria,
• focused in inquiry and
• persistent in seeking results
which are as precise as the
subject and circumstances of
inquiry permit.”
Hindrances to critical thinking

Enculturation
is the process by which values and
preferences, religious, sexual mores and
work ethics are imbibed by an individual
through culture. It starts from our birth
and continues until now. To the extent we
are able to free ourselves from these
enculturated ideas, then we can be able
to practice critical thinking especially in
accepting the kinds of attitudes we should
have and behaviors which we should act.
Ego defenses

are psychological strategies to protect
ourselves from anxiety, guilt and other
bad feelings. These defenses distort
reality so that we can cope with
whatever undesirable situation we are
in. Examples of these are denial,
projection and rationalization.
Self-serving biases

refer to thinking and perception
that tend to protect and elevate
our sense of worth so that we can
maintain positive feelings about
ourselves.
This means that we
decide only what we need to see
and what they want to see. In
effect, this makes us blind to what
reality really is.
Expectations
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consist of the schemas or the patterns into which
we want to fit reality and the events that
happen around us. Once we have formed a
certain idea about a person or an event, we
tend to think that a certain person will always
think or behave in the same way if confronted
by the same situation, or that future events will
also underlined by the same reasons. This way,
our observation and experience are made to
fit into the existing patterns of our thought.
Ex: stereotyping
Emotional conditions

refer to the existence of
passions like anger, joy,
sorrow, which cloud our clear
thinking.
They confuse us
because of the impulsive
character that they give to our
actions and makes us unable
to carefully weigh the reasons
for our decisions.
Stress

is taxing demand on one’s personal
energy because of excessive physical or
psychological strain. It affects both
body and soul and makes us unable to
fully concentrate on our mental tasks,
cloud our judgment and critical thinking.
It also affects our memory and seriously
hinder with our ability to make
decisions. When we are under stress,
we are no longer able to perceive
alternative solutions to our problems.

These hindrances to thinking must be carefully brought to our attention
because the task of critical thinking is not an easy one. Critical thinking
demands that we follow the correct rules of thought so that we can
arrive at correct thinking. These rules of thought serve as the guide in
our reasoning processes and they are more properly studied in the
science of logic.