CRITICAL THINKING

Course content:-
1. INTRODUCING PHILOSOPHY
I. Meaning and Nature of Philosophy
II. Basic Features of Philosophy
III. Metaphysics and Epistemology
IV. Axiology and Logic
V. Importance of Learning Philosophy
2. BASIC CONCEPTS OF LOGIC
VI. Arguments, Premises and Conclusions
VII. Techniques of Recognizing Arguments
VIII. Types of Arguments: Deduction and Induction
IX. Evaluating Arguments
3. LOGIC AND LANGUAGE
X. Philosophy of Language: An overview
XI. Logic and Meaning
XII. Meaning, Types, and Purposes of Definitions
XIII. Techniques of Definition
XIV. Criteria for Lexical Definitions

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 Cont…
4. BASIC CONCEPTS OF CRITICAL THINKING
I. Meaning of Critical Thinking
II. Standards of Critical Thinking
III. Codes of Intellectual Conduct for Effective Discussion
IV. Characteristics of Critical Thinking
V. Barriers to Critical Thinking
VI. Benefits of Critical Thinking
5. INFORMAL FALLACIES
VII. Fallacy in General
VIII. Fallacies of Relevance
IX. Fallacies of Weak Induction
X. Fallacies of Presumption
XI. Fallacies of Ambiguity and Grammatical Analogy
6. CATEGORICAL PROPOSITIONS
XII. General Introduction
XIII. Attributes of Categorical Propositions: Quality, Quantity, and Distribution
XIV. Venn Diagrams and the Modern Square of Opposition
XV. Evaluating Immediate Inferences: Using Venn Diagrams and Square of
Oppositions

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 CHAPTER FOUR
BASIC CONCEPTS OF CRITICAL THINKING
 As Martin Luther King Jr rightly puts it as ―The function

of education is to teach one to think intensively and to

think critically‖.
 The main goal of teaching Critical Thinking is therefore,

to teach students how to think; that is, how to become

independent, self-directed thinkers and learners.
 It is about the personal empowerment and enrichment

that result from learning to use your mind to its fullest

potential.
 In short, it is about critical thinking.
 In this chapter, we deal with the Meaning, Standards,

Principles, Characteristics, Barriers, and Benefits of

critical thinking,

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Lesson 1: Meaning of Critical Thinking
 Critical thinking can be defined as a wide range of cognitive skills and intellectual
dispositions needed to effectively identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments and
truth claims.
 Critical means involving or exercising skilled judgment or observation.

 In this sense, critical thinking means thinking clearly and intelligently.

 More precisely, critical thinking is the general term given to a wide range of cognitive

skills and intellectual dispositions needed to effectively identify, analyze, and

evaluate arguments and truth claims.
 Moreover, it helps to discover and overcome personal preconceptions and biases; to

formulate and present convincing reasons in support of conclusions; and to make

reasonable, intelligent decisions about what to believe and what to do.
 However, it does not automatically follow that being intelligent means being able

think critically or reason about information in a useful, effective and efficient

manner. Being smart and intelligent is not sufficient.
 Critical thinking is a process or journey that helps us to arrive at the most useful,

helpful, and most likely destinations when evaluating claims for scientific truth.
 Critical thinking, thus, is thinking clearly, thinking fairly, thinking rationally, thinking

objectively, and thinking independently.

 It is a process that hopefully leads to an impartial investigation of the data and facts

that remains not swayed by irrelevant emotions.

 Therefore, the aim of critical thinking is to arrive at well-reasoned, considered, and

justifiable conclusions.

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 Cont…
 The American philosopher, John Dewey, has defined critical thinking as an
active, persistent, and careful consideration of a belief or supposed form of
knowledge in the light of the grounds, which support it and the further
conclusions to which it tends.
 In this definition, there are three main points that we should focus on: active,

persistent and grounds.

 The first point is that critical thinking is an ‗active‘ process.
 By defining critical thinking as an ‗active‘ process, Dewey is contrasting it with

the kind of thinking in which you just receive ideas and information from other
people – what you might reasonably call a ‗passive‘ process.
 For Dewey, critical thinking is essentially an active process – one in which you

think things through for yourself, raise questions yourself, find relevant
information yourself and so on, rather than learning in a largely passive way
from someone else.
 The second point is that critical thinking is persistent and careful

consideration.
 Here, Dewey is contrasting critical thinking with the kind of unreflective

thinking we all sometimes engage in.

 For example, we sometimes jump to a conclusion or make a quick decision

without thinking about it.

 Of course, sometimes, we may have to do this because we need to decide

quickly or the issue is not important enough to warrant careful thought, but we
often do it when we ought to stop and think – when we ought to persist a bit.
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 Cont…
 However, the most important point in Dewey‘s definition lies in what he said about
the ‗grounds which support‘ a belief and the ‗further conclusions to which it tends‘.
 What Dewey is saying, to express it in a more familiar language, is that what matters

are the reasons we have for believing something and the implications of our beliefs.
 Dewey‘s definition, though it is important, misses some important features of critical

thinking.
 Let us now see the other definition given by Edward Glaser.

 Edward Glaser defined critical thinking as:

(1) an attitude of being disposed to consider in a thoughtful way the problems and
subjects that come within the range of one‟s experience;
(2) knowledge of the methods of logical enquiry and reasoning; and
(3) some skill in applying those methods.
 If we closely observe Glaser‘s definition, it is immediately obvious that this definition

owes a lot to Dewey‘s original definition.

 Glaser uses the term ‗evidence‘ in place of ‗grounds‘ but otherwise the second

sentence is much the same.

 But there are two points which stands out in this definition.
 The first sentence speaks about an attitude or disposition to be thoughtful about

problems and recognizes that you can apply what he calls ‗the methods of logical
enquiry and reasoning‘ with more or less ‗skill‘.
 The tradition has picked up on both these elements, recognizing that critical

thinking is partly a matter of having certain thinking skills.

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 Cont…
 The other most famous contributors to the development of the critical thinking
tradition is Robert Ennis. He defined critical thinking as reasonable, reflective
thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do.
 Notice that the emphasis on being ‗reasonable‘ and ‗reflective‘ in this definition

is similar with the above two definitions.

 But notice also that Ennis speaks of ‗deciding what to . . . do‘, which was not

explicitly mentioned in the above definitions.

 So decision-making is an important part of critical thinking in Ennis‘s

conception.
 What we learn from Ennis‘ definition is that when we make a decision, we should

be serious about it.

 The decision may be about purchasing a phone, or it may be about choosing a

department, or any other issues.

 But we should employ critical thinking to make a decision.

 Here is another important definition of critical thinking is given by Richard Paul:

 Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content or

problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by
skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing
intellectual standards upon them.
 It draws attention to a feature of critical thinking on which scholars in the field

seem to be largely agreed - that the only realistic way to develop one‘s critical
thinking ability is through ‗thinking about one‘s thinking‘ (often called ‗meta-
cognition‘), and consciously aiming to improve it by reference to some model of
good thinking in that domain.
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 Cont…
 Michael Scriven has defined critical thinking as skilled and active interpretation and
evaluation of observations and communications, information and
 He argued that critical thinking is an academic competency akin to reading and writing

and is of similarly fundamental importance.

 It is worth unpacking Scriven‘s definition a little.
 He defines critical thinking as a ‗skilled‘ activity for reasons similar to those mentioned

above.
 He points out that thinking does not count as critical merely because it is intended to

be, any more than thinking counts as scientific simply because it aims to be.
 To be critical, thinking has to meet certain standards, (clarity, relevance, reasonableness

and so on), and one may be more or less skilled at this.

 He includes ‗interpretation‘ of because ‗liktexts, speech, film, graphics, actions and

even body language, e explanation, interpretation typically involves constructing and

selecting the best of several alternatives, and it is a crucial preliminary to drawing
conclusions about complex claims‘.
 Critical thinking is sometimes referred to as ‗criticocreative‘ thinking.
 This word is the combination of two words: critical and creative.
 The first is that the term ‗critical thinking‘ is sometimes thought to sound rather

negative, as though one‘s only interest is in adversely criticizing other people‘s

arguments and ideas.
 to be good at evaluating arguments and ideas, one often has to be very imaginative and

creative about other possibilities, alternative considerations, different options and so on.
 To be a good judge of issues, it is not enough to see faults in what other people say.
 In short, critical thinking is a kind of evaluative thinking – which involves both criticism

and creative thinking – and which is particularly concerned with the quality of reasoning
or argument that is presented in support of a belief, or a course of action.
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 Lesson 2: Standards of Critical Thinking
 To identify a critical thinking from the uncritical, we refer
to some standards.
 There is a consensus among philosophers that for

thinking to be critical, it has to meet certain standards.

 Standard of critical thinking refers a conditions or a level

that critical thinking should meet to be considered as

normal and acceptable.
 Among the most important of these intellectual standards

are clarity, precision, accuracy, relevance, consistency,

logical correctness, completeness, and fairness.
 It is critical thinking is a disciplined thinking governed by

clear intellectual standards that can be used to identify a

critical thinking from the uncritical.
 Clarity, precision, accuracy, relevance, consistency, logical

correctness, completeness, and fairness are some of the

most important intellectual standards of critical thinking.

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 1) Clarity
 Clarity refers to clear understanding of concepts and clearly expressing them in
a language that is free of obscurity and vagueness.
 When we construct argument, we should take into consideration or pay close

attention to clarity.
 Before we can effectively evaluate a person‘s argument or claim, we need to

understand clearly what the person is saying.

 Unfortunately, that can be difficult because people often fail to express

themselves clearly.
 But clarity is a gateway standard.

 If a statement is unclear, we cannot determine whether it is accurate or relevant.

 In fact, we cannot tell anything about it because we do not yet know what it is

saying.
 Sometimes lack of clarity is due to laziness, carelessness, or a lack of skill.

 At other times, it results from a misguided effort to appear clever, learned, or

profound.
 Critical thinkers, however, not only strive for clarity of language but also seek

maximum clarity of thought.

 To achieve our personal goals in life, we need a clear conception of our goals

and priorities, a realistic grasp of our abilities, and a clear understanding of the
problems and opportunities we face.
 Such self-understanding can be achieved only if we value and pursue clarity of

thought.

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 2) Precision
  Precision is a matter of being exact, accurate and careful.
 Most ideas are vague and obscures though we think we

have precise understanding of them.

 When we try to meticulous these ideas, we will find that they

are imprecise.
 To get precise understanding, we should pay close attention

to details.
 Everyone recognizes the importance of precision in

specialized fields such as medicine, mathematics,

architecture, and engineering.
 Critical thinkers also understand the importance of precise

thinking in different contexts.

 They understand that to cut through the confusions and

uncertainties that surround many everyday problems and

issues, it is often necessary to insist on precise answers to
precise questions:  

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 3) Accuracy
  Accuracy is about correct information.
 Critical thinking should care a lot about genuine information.

 If the ideas and thoughts one processes are not real, then once

decision based on wrong and false information will likely to result

in distorting realities.
 John Rawls, in his book entitled as ‗ A Theory of Justice‟ argued

that truth is the first virtue of systems of thought.

 A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or

revised if it is untrue.
 Whether an idea is attractive or sophisticated should be

abandoned if it is based on false information.

 Accuracy is about having and getting true information.

 There is a well-known saying about computers: ―Garbage in,

garbage out.
 ‖Simply put, this means that if you put bad information into a

computer, bad information is exactly what you will get out of it.
 As consumers, citizens, workers, and parents, they strive to make

decisions and this decision should be based on true information.

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 4) Relevance
  The question of relevance is a question of connections.
 When there is a discussion or debate, it should focus on

relevant ideas and information.

 That is, only those points that bear on the issue should

be raised.
 A favorite debaters‘ trick is to try to distract an

audience‘s attention by raising an irrelevant issue.

 Critical thinkers do not collect any information; they

focus and carefully choose only the information that has

logical relation with the ideas at hands.
 Issues raised should have logical connection with the

question at hand.
 Two ideas are relevant when they have logical

connection.
 A critical thinker should be relevant in his ideas and

thoughts.
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 5) Consistency
  Consistency is about the quality of always behaving in the same way or
of having the same opinions or standards.
 It is easy to see why consistency is essential to critical thinking.
 Logic tells us that if a person holds inconsistent beliefs, at least one of

those beliefs must be false.

 Critical thinkers prize truth and so are constantly on the lookout for

inconsistencies, both in their own thinking and in the arguments and

assertions of others.
 There are two kinds of inconsistency that should be avoided.
 One is logical inconsistency, which involves saying or believing

inconsistent things (i.e., things that cannot both or all be true) about a
particular matter.
 The other is practical inconsistency, which involves saying one thing

and doing another. Sometimes people are fully aware that their words
conflict with their deeds; in short people sometime are hypocrites.
 From a critical thinking point of view, such personality is not especially

interesting.
 As a rule, they involve failures of character to a greater degree than

they do failures of critical reasoning.

 More interesting from a critical thinking standpoint are cases in which

people are not fully aware that their words conflict with their deeds.
 A critical thinker should be consistent logically
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 6) Logical Correctness
  To think logically is to reason correctly; that is, to draw
well-founded conclusions from the beliefs held.
 To think critically, we need accurate and well supported

beliefs.
 But, just as important, we need to be able to reason from

those beliefs to conclusions that logically follow from them.

 Unfortunately, illogical thinking is all too common in human

affairs.
 When we think, we bring a variety of thoughts together into

some order.
 When the combinations of thoughts are mutually supporting

and make sense in combination, the thinking is logical.

 When the combination is not mutually supporting, is

contradictory in some sense, or does not make sense the

combination, is not logical.

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 7) Completeness
 In most contexts, we rightly prefer deep and
complete thinking to shallow and superficial
thinking.
 Of course, there are times when it is

impossible or inappropriate to discuss an

issue in depth; no one would expect,
 for example, a thorough and wide-ranging

discussion of the ethics of the right to self-

determination in a short newspaper editorial.
 However, thinking is better when it is deep

rather than shallow, thorough rather than

superficial.

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 8) Fairness
 Critical thinking demands that our thinking be fair - that is, open
minded, impartial, and free of distorting biases and preconceptions.
 That can be very difficult to achieve.
 Even the most superficial acquaintance with history and the social

sciences tells us that people are often strongly disposed to resist

unfamiliar ideas, to prejudge issues, to stereotype outsiders, and to
identify truth with their own self-interest or the interests of their
nation or group.
 It is probably unrealistic to suppose that our thinking could ever be

completely free of biases and preconceptions; to some extent, we all

perceive reality in ways that are powerfully shaped by our individual
life experiences and cultural backgrounds.
 But as difficult as it may be to achieve, basic fair-mindedness is

clearly an essential attribute of a critical thinker.

 We naturally think from our own perspective, from a point of view,

which tends to privilege our position.

 Fairness implies the treating of all relevant viewpoints alike without

reference to one‘s own feelings or interests.

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Lesson 3: Codes of Intellectual Conduct for Effective Discussion

 But the question is that how can we measure

the goodness or badness of an argument?,
and how is that some thinking are critical,
and some are not.
 In this lesson, we will discuss the basic codes

of intellectual conduct, especially the

common principles of a good argument as
well as that of a critical thinking.

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 3.1 Principles of Good Argument
 In either case, one who wishes to construct the strongest possible
arguments for his or her views, and to do one‘s part in resolving
conflicts concerning issues that matter, should make each of the
following principles a part of his or her intellectual style:
1) The Structural Principle
 The structural principle of a good argument requires that one who

argues for or against a position should use an argument that meets

the fundamental structural requirements of a well-formed argument.
 Such an argument does not use reasons that contradict each other,

that contradict the conclusion, or that explicitly or implicitly assume

the truth of the conclusion.
 Neither does it draw any invalid deductive inferences.

 The first criterion used in determining whether an argument is a

good one is the requirement that it be structurally sound.

 An argument must look and works like an argument.

 In other words, it should be formed in such a way that the

conclusion either follows necessarily from its premises, in the case of

deductive arguments, or follows probably from its premises, in the
case of inductive arguments.

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 2) The Relevance Principle
 This is the second principle of a good argument that
requires that one who presents an argument for or
against a position should set forth only reasons whose
truth provides some evidence for the truth of the
conclusion.
  The premises of a good argument must be relevant to

the truth or merit of the conclusion.

 There is no reason to waste time assessing the truth or

acceptability of a premise if it is not even relevant to the

truth of the conclusion.
 A premise is relevant if its acceptance provides some

reason to believe, counts in favor of, or has some bearing

on the truth or merit of the conclusion.
 A premise is irrelevant if its acceptance has no bearing

on, provides no evidence for, or has no connection to the

truth or merit of the conclusion.

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 3) The Acceptability Principle
  The third principle of a good argument is the acceptability principle.
 This principle requires that one who presents an argument for or against a position

should provide reasons that are likely to be accepted by a mature, rational person and
that meet standard criteria of acceptability.
 The reasons set forth in support of a conclusion must be acceptable.

 A reason is acceptable if it is the kind of claim that a rational person would accept in the

face of all the relevant evidence available.

 Some people believe that the acceptability principle should be replaced by the truth

principle to connote the idea that premises should be true to be acceptable.

 However, the term ―acceptable‖ is preferable to the more traditional term ―true‖ for

several reasons.
 First, the notion of acceptability stems from the very nature of argumentative interchange.

 In most argumentative situations, the key to achieving agreement on the conclusion is

achieving acceptance of the premises.

 The arguer typically starts with premises that the sceptic is likely to accept or that a

rational person ought to accept.

 Upon acceptance of the premises, assuming that other criteria of a good argument are

satisfied, the opponent is logically led to the acceptance of the conclusion.

 Second, since it is notoriously difficult to establish the absolute truth of any statement, it

would be an impractical requirement of a good argument that its premises must be true
in any absolute sense.
 Third, an analysis of our language suggests that in many ordinary contexts, what we

typically mean by the word ―true‖ would be more appropriately expressed by the phrase
―accepted as true.‖
 Fourth, even if a premise were true in the absolute sense, it may be unacceptable to a

particular audience because that audience may not be in a position to determine its truth.
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 4) The Sufficiency Principle
 The four principle of a good argument is the sufficiency
principle, which requires that one who presents an argument for
or against a position should attempt to provide relevant and
acceptable reasons of the right kind, that together are sufficient
in number and weight to justify the acceptance of the
conclusion.
  The feature of the sufficiency principle that is most difficult to

apply is the assignment of weight to each piece of supporting

evidence.
 Indeed, disagreement over this issue probably causes most of

the problems in informal discussions.

 What one participant regards as the most important piece of

evidence, another may regard as trivial by comparison with

other possible evidence.
 It is not likely that we will come to closure in a dispute until we

come to some kind of agreement about the relative weight to

give to the kinds of relevant and acceptable evidence used in
support of a conclusion.

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3.2 Principles of Critical Thinking
 Having discussed the major principles of a good argument, let us now see the
principles of a critical thinking as parts of the codes of intellectual conduct.
1) The Fallibility Principle
  The first principle of a critical thinking is the fallibility principle.
 This principle requires that each participant in a discussion of a disputed issue

should be willing to accept the fact that he or she is fallible, which means that
one must acknowledge that one‘s own initial view may not be the most
defensible position on the question.
 To employ the fallibility principle in a discussion is consciously to accept the

fact that you are fallible, that is, that your present view may be wrong or not
the most defensible view on the matter in dispute.
 If you refuse to accept your own fallibility, you are, in effect, saying that you

are not willing to change your mind, even if you hear a better argument.
 This is pretty strong evidence that you do not intend to play fairly, and there is

no real point in continuing the discussion.

 An admission of fallibility, however, is a positive sign that you are genuinely

interested in the kind of honest inquiry that may lead to a fair resolution of the
issue.
 Given the great number of issues that divide us and the large number of

different positions on each of those issues, it is more likely that a person

would turn out to be wrong on more issues than right.

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 2) The Truth Seeking Principle
 The second principle of a critical thinking is the truth seeking principle.
 This principle requires that each participant should be committed to the

task of earnestly searching for the truth or at least the most defensible
position on the issue at stake.
 Therefore, one should be willing to examine alternative positions

seriously, look for insights in the positions of others, and allow other
participants to present arguments for or raise objections to any
position held on an issue.
 The search for truth is lifelong endeavor, which principally takes the

form of discussion, wherein we systematically entertain the ideas and

arguments of fellow seekers after truth, while at the same time
thoughtfully considering criticisms of our own views.
 If we really are interested in finding the truth, it is imperative not only

that we assume that we may not now have the truth, but that we listen
to the arguments for alternative positions and encourage criticism of
our own arguments.
 We probably all want to hold only those opinions that really are true,

but the satisfaction of that interest comes at a price - a willingness to

look at all available options and the arguments in support of them.

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 3) The Clarity Principle
 The clarity principle is the third principle of a critical
thinking.
 It requires that the formulations of all positions,

defences, and attacks should be free of any kind of

linguistic confusion and clearly separated from other
positions and issues.
 Any successful discussion of an issue must be carried on

in language that all the parties involved can understand.

 Even if what we have to say is perfectly clear to

ourselves, others may not be able to understand us.

 A position or a criticism of it that is expressed in

confusing, vague, ambiguous, or contradictory language

will not reach those toward whom it is directed, and it
will contribute little to resolving the issue at hand.


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4) The Burden of Proof Principle
 The fourth principle of a critical thinking is the burden of proof

principle.
 This principle requires that the burden of proof for any position

usually rests on the participant who sets forth the position.

 If, and when, an opponent asks, the proponent should provide

an argument for that position.

  Just as a person is generally held accountable for his or her

own actions, one who makes a positive or negative claim about

something has what is called the burden of proof.
 In many cases, of course, one does not have to supply such

proof, for we are not always challenged to defend our claims.

 In such a case, the burden of proof might rest on the one who

wishes to challenge that claim.

 One has the responsibility to provide evidence for one‘s

conclusion and for any questionable premise, if asked to do so.

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 5) The Principle of Charity
 This is the fifth principle of a critical thinking
that requires that if a participant‘s argument
is reformulated by an opponent, it should be
carefully expressed in its strongest possible
version that is consistent with what is
believed to be the original intention of the
arguer.
 If there is any question about that intention

or about any implicit part of the argument,

the arguer should be given the benefit of any
doubt in the reformulation and/or, when
possible, given the opportunity to amend it.

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Lesson 4: Characteristics of Critical Thinking
4.1 Basic Traits of Critical Thinkers
  A critical thinker simply is a person who exhibit some feature of critical

thinking.
 There are some dispositions and attitudes, skills and abilities, habits and

values that every critical person should manifest.

Critical thinkers:
  Are honest with themselves, acknowledging what they don't know,

recognizing their limitations, and being watchful of their own errors.

  Regard problems and controversial issues as exciting challenges.
 Strive for understanding, keep curiosity alive, remain patient with complexity,

and are ready to invest time to overcome confusion.

  Base judgments on evidence rather than personal preferences, deferring

judgment whenever evidence is insufficient. They revise judgments when new

evidence reveals error.
  Are interested in other people's ideas and so are willing to read and listen

attentively, even when they tend to disagree with the other person.
  Recognize that extreme views (whether conservative or liberal) are seldom

correct, so they avoid them, practice fair-mindedness, and seek a balance

view.
  Practice restraint, controlling their feelings rather than being controlled by

them, and thinking before acting.

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 4.2 Basic Traits of Uncritical Thinkers
 We have in the previous section that every critical person manifests
some dispositions and attitudes, skills and abilities, habits and values.
What about the uncritical thinker?
Uncritical thinkers:
 Pretend they know more than they do, ignore their limitations, and

assume their views are error-free.

  Regard problems and controversial issues as nuisances or threats to

their ego.
  Are inpatient with complexity and thus would rather remain confused

than make the effort to understand.

  Base judgments on first impressions and gut reactions. They are

unconcerned about the amount or quality of evidence and cling to their

views steadfastly.
  Are preoccupied with themselves and their own opinions, and so are

unwilling to pay attention to others' views. At the first sign of

disagreement, they tend to think, "How can I refute this?"
  Ignore the need for balance and give preference to views that support

their established views.

  Tend to follow their feelings and act impulsively.

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Lesson 5: Barriers to Critical Thinking
 Some of the most common barriers to critical thinking
are: Lack of relevant background information, poor
reading skills, bias, prejudice, superstition, egocentrism
(self-centered thinking), sociocentrism (group-centered
thinking), peer pressure, conformism, provincialism
(narrow, unsophisticated thinking), narrow-mindedness,
closed-mindedness, distrust in reason, relativistic
thinking, stereotyping, unwarranted assumptions,
scapegoating (blaming the innocent), rationalization
(inventing excuses to avoid facing our real motives).
 Let us examine in detail five of these impediments that

play an especially powerful role in hindering critical

thinking: egocentrism, sociocentrism, unwarranted
assumptions, relativistic thinking, and wishful thinking.

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 1) Egocentrism
  One of the most powerful barriers to critical thinking
is egocentrism.
 Even highly educated and intelligent people are prey

to egocentrism.
 Egocentrism is the tendency to see reality as

centered on oneself.
 Egocentrics are selfish, self-absorbed people who

view their interests, ideas, and values as superior to

everyone else‘s.
 All of us are affected to some degree by egocentric

biases.
 Egocentrism can manifest itself in a variety of ways.

 Two common forms this are self-interested thinking

and the superiority bias.

Prepared by Hinsene Begna (MBA) 02/19/2022 31

 2) Sociocentrism
  The second powerful barrier that paralyze the critical thinking
ability of most people including intellectuals is sociocentrism.
 It is group-centered thinking.

 Just as egocentrism can hinder rational thinking by focusing

excessively on the self, so sociocentrism can hinder rational

thinking by focusing excessively on the group.
 Sociocentrism can distort critical thinking in many ways.

 Two of the most important are group bias and conformism.

 Most people absorb group bias unconsciously, usually from

early childhood.
 It is common, for example, for people to grow up thinking that

their society‘s beliefs, institutions, and values are better than

those of other societies.
 Conformism refers to our tendency to follow the crowd - that

is, to conform (often unthinkingly) to authority or to group

standards of conduct and belief.

Prepared by Hinsene Begna (MBA) 02/19/2022 32

3) Unwarranted Assumptions and Stereotypes
 The third factor that impedes critical thinking is
unwarranted assumptions and stereotype.
 An assumption is something we take for granted -

something we believe to be true without any proof or

conclusive evidence.
 Almost everything we think and do is based on

assumptions.
 If the weather report calls for rain, we take an umbrella

because we assume that the meteorologist is not lying,

that the report is based on a scientific analysis of weather
patterns, that the instruments are accurate, and so forth.
 There may be no proof that any of this is true, but we

realize that it is wiser to take the umbrella than to insist

that the weather bureau provide exhaustive evidence to
justify its prediction.

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 4) Relativistic Thinking
 One of the strongest challenges to critical thinking is relativistic
thinking.
 Relativism is the view that truth is a matter of opinion.
 There are two popular forms of relativism: subjectivism and

cultural relativism.
 Subjectivism is the view that truth is a matter of individual

opinion.
 According to subjectivism, whatever an individual believes is true,

is true for that person, and there is no such thing as ―objective‖

or ―absolute‖ truth, i.e., truth that exists independent of what
anyone believes.
 The other common form of relativism is cultural relativism.

 This is the view that truth is a matter of social or cultural opinion.

 In other words, cultural relativism is the view that what is true for

person A is what person A‘s culture or society believes is true.

 Drinking wine, for example, is widely considered to be wrong in

Iran but is not generally considered to be wrong in France.

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 5) Wishful Thinking
  Wishful thinking refers to a state of believing something
not because you had good evidence for it but simply
because you wished it were true.
 Have you ever been guilty of wishful thinking? If so, you

are not alone.

 Throughout human history, reason has done battle with

wishful thinking and has usually come out the loser.

 People fear the unknown and invent comforting myths to

render the universe less hostile and more predictable.

 They fear death and listen credulously to stories of

healing crystals, quack cures, and communication with

the dead.
 They fantasize about possessing extraordinary personal

powers and accept uncritically accounts of psychic

prediction and levitation,

Prepared by Hinsene Begna (MBA) 02/19/2022 35

Lesson 6: Benefits of Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking: Skills and Dispositions
 Critical thinking teaches you how to raise and identify

fundamental questions and problems in the community.

 It will teach you to reformulate these problems clearly

and precisely.
 It will teach you how to gather and assess relevant

information, develop reasoned conclusions and

solutions, testing them against relevant criterion and
standards.
 It teaches you how to be open minded to alternative

system of thought, recognize and assess your own

assumptions, implications and practical consequences,
how to communicate effectively with others in figuring
out solutions to complex problems.

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Critical Thinking in the Classroom
  When they first enter university, students are
sometimes surprised to discover that university
education seem less interested in how beliefs are
acquired than they are in whether those beliefs can
withstand critical scrutiny.
 The question is not much about what you know, but

how you acquire what you know and whether your

ideas stands critical examination.
 In a critical thinking chapter, students learn a variety of

skills that can greatly improve their classroom

performance.
 Critical thinking is a transferable thinking skill.
 These skills will be taught in ways that expressly aim to

facilitate their transfer to other subjects and contexts.

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 Critical Thinking in Life
 Critical thinking is valuable in many contexts outside the
classroom.
 Let us look briefly at three ways in which this is the case.
 First, critical thinking can help us avoid making foolish

personal decisions.
 Second, critical thinking plays a vital role in promoting

democratic processes.
 In democracy, it is the people who have the ultimate say over

who governs and for what purposes.

 Third, critical thinking is worth studying for its own sake,

simply for the personal enrichment it can bring to our lives.

 One of the most basic truths of the human condition is that

most people, most of the time, believe what they are told.
 Throughout most of recorded history, people accepted

without question that the earth was the centre of the

universe, that demons cause disease that slavery was just,
and that women are inferior to men.
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