WGU - CRITICAL THINKING & LOGIC STUDY
GUIDE 2023 COMPLETE TERM 3
IMPEDIMENTS/BAD HABITS TO SOUND THINKING:
- Making generalizations unsupported by evidence
- Letting stereotypes 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
EGOCENTRISM:
the tendency to view everything in relationship to oneself.
SOCIOCENTRISM:
the assumption that one's own social group is inherently superior to all others.
CRITICAL THINKING IS CHARACTERISTICALLY:
self-directed; self-disciplined; self-monitored;
self-corrective; requires practicing good intellectual habits; "thinking about thinking".
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).
FAIR-MINDEDNESS:
to consider all relevant opinions equally without regard to one's own sentiments or selfish
interests; to bring an unbiased and unprejudiced perspective to all viewpoints relevant to a
situation. Involves adherence to Intellectual Standards along with requiring the critical thinker to
simultaneously embody certain key Intellectual Traits.
INTELLECTUAL UNFAIRNESS (opposite of fair-mindedness):
to always see yourself as right and just; nearly always involves an element of self-deception.
, TRAITS/VIRTUES of a CRITICAL THINKER:
*terms used by Paul & Elder
(all relate fundamentally to fair-mindedness)
-INTELLECTUAL AUTONOMY=thinking for oneself while adhering to standards of
rationality.
-INTELLECTUAL COURAGE=to develop the courage to challenge popular beliefs;
confronting ideas, views, beliefs with fairness, even when painful; examine beliefs that one has
negative feelings toward and has been dismissive of.
-INTELLECTUAL EMPATHY=to routinely inhabit the perspectives of others in order to
genuinely understand them.
-INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY=commitment to discovering the extent of one's own ignorance.
Recognition that one does not/cannot know everything. To be conscious of one's biases and
prejudices.
-INTELLECTUAL INTEGRITY=striving to be true to one's own disciplined thinking and
holding oneself to the same standards that one expects others to meet.
-INTELLECTUAL PERSEVERANCE= the act of working one's way through intellectual
complexities despite frustrations inherent in doing so.
-CONFIDENCE IN REASON=encourages people to come to their own conclusions through the
use of their own rational faculties; to use good reasoning as the fundamental criterion by which
to judge whether to accept or reject any belief or position.
STRONG-SENSE CRITICAL THINKERS:
to behave in ways that do not exploit or otherwise harm others; work to empathize with the
viewpoints of others; consistent pursuit of fair and just; willing to listen to arguments they do not
necessarily hold; change their views when faced with better reasoning. Rather than using their
thinking to manipulate others and to hide from the truth (in a weak-sense way), they use thinking
in an ethical, reasonable manner.
WEAK-SENSE CRITICAL THINKERS:
fail to consider, in good faith, viewpoints that contradict its own viewpoint; lacks fair-
mindedness.
Sophistry
GUIDE 2023 COMPLETE TERM 3
IMPEDIMENTS/BAD HABITS TO SOUND THINKING:
- Making generalizations unsupported by evidence
- Letting stereotypes 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
EGOCENTRISM:
the tendency to view everything in relationship to oneself.
SOCIOCENTRISM:
the assumption that one's own social group is inherently superior to all others.
CRITICAL THINKING IS CHARACTERISTICALLY:
self-directed; self-disciplined; self-monitored;
self-corrective; requires practicing good intellectual habits; "thinking about thinking".
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).
FAIR-MINDEDNESS:
to consider all relevant opinions equally without regard to one's own sentiments or selfish
interests; to bring an unbiased and unprejudiced perspective to all viewpoints relevant to a
situation. Involves adherence to Intellectual Standards along with requiring the critical thinker to
simultaneously embody certain key Intellectual Traits.
INTELLECTUAL UNFAIRNESS (opposite of fair-mindedness):
to always see yourself as right and just; nearly always involves an element of self-deception.
, TRAITS/VIRTUES of a CRITICAL THINKER:
*terms used by Paul & Elder
(all relate fundamentally to fair-mindedness)
-INTELLECTUAL AUTONOMY=thinking for oneself while adhering to standards of
rationality.
-INTELLECTUAL COURAGE=to develop the courage to challenge popular beliefs;
confronting ideas, views, beliefs with fairness, even when painful; examine beliefs that one has
negative feelings toward and has been dismissive of.
-INTELLECTUAL EMPATHY=to routinely inhabit the perspectives of others in order to
genuinely understand them.
-INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY=commitment to discovering the extent of one's own ignorance.
Recognition that one does not/cannot know everything. To be conscious of one's biases and
prejudices.
-INTELLECTUAL INTEGRITY=striving to be true to one's own disciplined thinking and
holding oneself to the same standards that one expects others to meet.
-INTELLECTUAL PERSEVERANCE= the act of working one's way through intellectual
complexities despite frustrations inherent in doing so.
-CONFIDENCE IN REASON=encourages people to come to their own conclusions through the
use of their own rational faculties; to use good reasoning as the fundamental criterion by which
to judge whether to accept or reject any belief or position.
STRONG-SENSE CRITICAL THINKERS:
to behave in ways that do not exploit or otherwise harm others; work to empathize with the
viewpoints of others; consistent pursuit of fair and just; willing to listen to arguments they do not
necessarily hold; change their views when faced with better reasoning. Rather than using their
thinking to manipulate others and to hide from the truth (in a weak-sense way), they use thinking
in an ethical, reasonable manner.
WEAK-SENSE CRITICAL THINKERS:
fail to consider, in good faith, viewpoints that contradict its own viewpoint; lacks fair-
mindedness.
Sophistry
