Module 1: What is Critical Thinking? - C168

Second-order thinking (critical thinking)

First-order thinking that is consciously realized (i.e., analyzed, assessed, and reconstructed)

Intellectual Humility

Recognition that one does not—and cannot—know everything Consciousness of one's biases and prejudices

critical thinker traits and their opposites

intellectual humility - Intellectual arrogance Intellectual Courage - Intellectual cowardice Intellectual Empathy - Intellectual self-centeredness Intellectual Integrity - Intellectual dishonesty Intellectual Perseverance - Intellectual laziness Confidence in Reason - Intellectual distrust of reason Intellectual Autonomy - Intellectual conformity

First-order thinking (ordinary thinking)

- Spontaneous and non-reflective - Contains insight, prejudice, good and bad reasoning - Indiscriminately combined

Critical thinking

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. Values Depth of thought over speed of thought

Intellectual Courage

Confronting ideas, viewpoints, or beliefs with fairness, even when doing so is painful Examining fairly beliefs which one has strong negative feelings and toward which one has previously been dismissive Challenging popular belief

wanting

Drives us to act as we do goals desires purposes agendas values motives allocates energy into action. It does so consistently with how we define what is desirable and possible. Continually tells us what is (or is not) worth seeking or getting

intellectual unfairness

Feel no responsibility to represent viewpoints with which they disagree fairly and accurately

Intellectual Integrity

Holding oneself to the same rigorous intellectual standards that one expects others to meet Practicing daily what we preach to others Admitting flaws and inconsistencies in our own thinking

weak-sense critical thinking

Ignore the flaws in their own thinking, Often seek to win an argument through intellectual trickery or deceit.

Intellectual Empathy

Inhabiting the perspectives of others in order to genuinely understand them Requirements Ability to reconstruct other people's viewpoints and reasoning Ability to reason from premises, assumptions, and ideas not one's own

Thinking

Makes sense of the world judging perceiving analyzing clarifying determining comparing synthesizing creates meaning. It sorts events in our lives into categories. It finds patterns in the world around us. Informs us what is going on.

Confidence in Reason

Proceeds from the belief that both the individual's and society's higher interests are best served by unfettered reason Encourages people to arrive at their own conclusions through their own powers of rational thinking Faith that we can learn to: think for ourselves reach well-informed viewpoints draw reasonable conclusions

Feeling

Tells us how we are doing happy sad depressed anxious stressed calm worried excited monitors the meanings created by thinking. It evaluates the degree to which life's events are either positive or negative, given the meaning we assign to them. This function continually informs us how we should respond emotionally to what is happening in our lives.

fair-mindedness

The commitment to consider all relevant opinions equally without regard to one's own sentiments or selfish interests.

Minds 3 Basic Functions

Thinking Feeling Wanting

Intellectual Autonomy

Thinking for oneself while adhering to standards of rationality Hallmarks Reasoning through issues on one's own rather than uncritically accept others' viewpoints Relying on one's own reasoning when deciding what to or what not to believe

strong-sense critical thinking

Thinking that uses critical thinking skills to evaluate all beliefs, especially one's own, and that pursues what is intellectually fair and just.

Intellectual Perseverance

Working one's way through intellectual complexities despite frustrations inherent in doing so Not giving up when confronted by complicated problems that don't lend themselves to easy solutions Hallmarks

sociocentrism

or the assumption that one's own social group is inherently superior to all others

Egocentrism

or the tendency to view everything in relationship to oneself

Critical thinking is characteristically

self-directed self-disciplined self-monitored self-corrective