Critical Thinking and Logic

Critical Thinking and Logic Define Critical Thinking is the art of thinking about thinking while thinking in order to make thinking better. Richard Paul and Linda Elder in Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life Critical thinking comprises which three interlinking dimensions: 1 Analyzing one's own thinking- breaking it down into its component parts. 2 Evaluating one's own thinking- identifying its weaknesses while recognizing its strengths. 3 Improving one's own thinking- reconstructing it to make it better. Impediments to sound thinking include Making generalizations unsupported by evidence. Letting a stereotype* shape our thinking. Viewing the world from one fixed vantage point. Forming false beliefs. Dismissing or attacking viewpoints that conflict with our own. Thinking deceptively about our own experiences. Critical thinking is characteristically: self-directed self-disciplined self-monitored self-corrective egocentrism the tendency to view everything in relationship to oneself sociocentrism or the assumption that one's own social group is inherently superior to all others First-order thinking (ordinary thinking) Spontaneous and non-reflective Contains insight, prejudice, good and bad reasoning Indiscriminately combined Second-order thinking (critical thinking) First-order thinking that is consciously realized (i.e., analyzed, assessed, and reconstructed) Weak Sense Critical Thinking