Critical thinking

Critical thinking is a disciplined mental process used to analyze facts, evidence, and arguments. The primary goal is to reach sound conclusions or make informed choices. It involves more than just gathering information; it requires recognizing underlying assumptions. A thinker must provide justifications for ideas and then evaluate those justifications. This evaluation happens by comparing ideas against different perspectives to assess their rationality. By using skeptical and unbiased analysis, a person can form a fair judgment.

To practice critical thinking effectively, one must adopt specific habits of the mind. These include being self-directed, self-disciplined, and self-monitored. A successful thinker must also be self-corrective to fix errors in their own reasoning. This process is not a natural occurrence for most people. Instead, it must be induced through active ownership of the reasoning process. It also requires a commitment to overcoming egocentrism and sociocentrism. Egocentrism is focusing only on one's own view, while sociocentrism is focusing only on a group's view. Overcoming these allows for better communication and more effective problem solving.

The roots of Western critical reasoning are found in Ancient Greece. The philosopher Socrates, who lived from 470 to 399 BC, is a central figure. His student, Plato, lived from 428 to 347 BC, and he recorded Socrates' teachings. In one dialogue, Plato described Socrates debating the ethics of escaping from prison. Socrates concluded that escaping would violate the laws of Athens and his own guiding voice. This demonstrated his belief that authority figures do not always possess accurate knowledge. He argued that a good life requires an "interrogative soul." This means a person must seek evidence and examine the implications of every statement.

The terminology of the field has evolved significantly over many centuries. The word "critical" comes from the Greek word "kritikos," which means "critic" or "able to discern." While the roots are ancient, the specific phrase "critical thinking" first appeared in 1815. It was used in a British literary journal called The Critical Review. Later, the pragmatist philosopher John Dewey used the term "reflective thinking." In his book, *How We Think*, he helped define the concept based on an individual's knowledge base. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it became known as a general thinking skill.

Modern definitions have become increasingly detailed and specialized. In 1987, the U.S. National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking provided a formal definition. They described it as an intellectually disciplined process of conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, and evaluating information. This information can come from observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication. Contemporary scholars have even expanded these ideas further. They now include qualities like creativity, imagination, empathy, and even the concept of ambiguity. Some thinkers, like Richard W. Paul, argue that these competencies can be learned or trained through practice.

Logic plays a fundamental role in the structure of critical thinking. Logic is the study of argumentation and the correctness of those arguments. In the field of epistemology, critical thinking is viewed as logically correct thinking. This allows people to tell the difference between true and false statements. There are two main historical approaches to this. The "first wave" focused on a logocentric mode, which emphasizes being objective and abstract. This approach often assumes that good thinking is the same as logical thinking. The "second wave" of critical thinking has moved away from this exclusive focus on logic.

There are three distinct types of logical reasoning used to reach conclusions. The first is deduction, which draws a conclusion from the structure of premises. For example, if all humans have faces and X is human, then X has a face. The second is induction, which involves drawing conclusions from patterns. An example is noting that the sum of even integers is always even. The third type is abduction, which uses a heuristic to make a likely conclusion. If you see white sheep in a field, you might conclude sheep are white. This is a likely guess, but it is not as certain as a deductive statement.