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Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is defined as "the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action" (Scriven and Paul). It is based on a set of universal intellectual values that transcend the subject matter divisions, such as "clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness."

Critical thinking involves examining the elements of thought that are implicit in a reasoning, which include such things as the purpose, the problem, the concepts involved, empirical data, implications and complications of the end result, and consideration of objections from alternative viewpoints (Scriven and Paul). Critical thinking incorporates interwoven modes of thinking, including scientific thinking, mathematical thinking, historical thinking, moral thinking and philosophical thinking.

There are two basic components to critical thinking: information and belief generating and processing skills, and the intellectual commitment to using these skills to guide behavior (Scriven and Paul). It is more than just the mere acquisition and retention of information because of the ways in which the information is gathered and treated once found. It involves the continuous use of a set of skills to deal with this information in a meaningful way. It involves more than simply using ones skills in these areas to gather information and use this information to guide behavior, but also involves the acceptance of the results of the process.

Critical thinking varies with the motives for using such skills. It is often applied to the manipulation of ideas to serve one's own or one's group's vested interests, in which case it is often flawed because it is biased towards the desired results,...

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Critical Thinking. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 09:49, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1704346.html