1.3 Critical Thinking. Some Definitions and a Short history

Welcome back! In this unit I will try to define what Critical Thinking is, and then to go through a short history of Critical Thinking.

Every day we make a lot of decisions: to act in a certain manner, like to donate blood, or to believe something, like the zero gravity hoax, to buy something, maybe advertised by Ozzy, or to vote for someone. Or even to admit its your turn to do the dishes. Critical thinking distinguishes which option actually offers good reasons for us to choose it.

Now lets define critical thinking. The most complete and academic definition is, in my opinion, this one:

Critical Thinking is the process of independently analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information as a guide to behavior and beliefs.

Thats a good, complete definition.

Another, more playful definition, has to do with the use of critical thinking in disputes and debates:

Critical Thinking is the art of being right.

Short and powerful.

But my favorite is

Critical thinking is the skill to search for the truth.

I think this is the ultimate definition, because whether we have an argument with someone or even with ourselves, the ultimate goal is not to win, but to find the truth.

These are the three definitions that I like, and I hope they offer a complete picture of what critical thinking means. But in order to have a clearer understanding, I must also talk about the word critical. In the expression critical thinking, its meaning is not at all to criticize, to tell bad things about something . In our case, critical means crucial, highly important, and also able to discern. So it means to take everything under serious consideration, but not under negative consideration. To avoid taking things for granted. But not to lose faith in others. Becoming critical thinkers can very well go hand in hand with you being good hearted human beings.

Ok. Next I will go through a very short history of critical thinking. I apologize for my euro centrism, but this will only look at the western world.

In the beginning, humans acted based on impulses and maybe tradition. Beliefs were anchored in myths. But then a rational light was lit in the ancient Greece. Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle were the main philosophers that studied thinking and reasoning.

Lets start with Socrates. Although he is the most quoted Greek philosopher, he actually didnt write anything himself. We know about his thinking mainly from his disciple, Plato, who recounted in his books the most important discussions of Socrates. From Plato we know about the Socratic questioning, which still is the best known critical thinking strategy today, after two and a half millennia. Socrates set the basic principles for critical thinking: to always question common beliefs and assumptions, to seek logical ground for statements, to question authority as source for knowledge. He even argued logically in favor of his own death. Socrates was sentenced to death, and although his disciples and friends came to visit him in prison with escape plans, he demonstrated that his death is the only logical decision. Its a lovely read; its called The Apology, again, by Plato.Plato didnt just write about Socrates. He had some major contributions to thinking. For instance, he defined knowledge as justified true belief. If you analyze this expression you can see its depth. Knowledge is not just a belief. Its a true belief. And you need a proof that its true, so its justified true belief. Cool.

Aristotle, the third major Greek philosopher, was a disciple of Plato, and also the teacher of Alexander the Great. He is considered the father of logic. His views influenced all major thinkers throughout history. And he is the one that invented what we now call the scientific method.

Lets make a time leap forward, to the Renaissance. Some argue that sciences, as we know them today, are a result of the rediscovery, in the early Renaissance, of the scientific method, and that this is what made the difference in the knowledge advancement in all domains: Newton in Physics, Descartes in Philosophy, and even Machiavelli in Politics. This building of knowledge based on critical thinking principles continued in the following centuries, until today. Thinkers apply critical thinking tools in order to explain the world with scientific theories. Let me give you some examples of famous theories: Adam Smiths theory of the invisible hand, in The Wealth of Nations, Darwins theory of evolution, or even the Big Bang theory about the birth of the Universe.

What about teaching Critical Thinking? I know that in England, some decades ago, there was a sign in classrooms, above the blackboard, that said Your teacher might be wrong. Learn to think for yourself! I love this saying, and I think this is the way we should educate our children. This is critical thinking at its best. Later on I found out that the guy who came up with the quote lived in China 2600 years ago. His name is Lao Tze and he wrote the famous Tao Te Ching, a book I recommend with all my heart.

Critical thinking is studied in high schools and universities in a lot of countries. Sadly, not in all countries. There still are some education systems that deliver knowledge like meatballs, to be swallowed whole, without much analysis. I believe that students who have Critical Thinking in their curricula, as a stand-alone subject, or imbedded in other subjects like Literature or History, are better prepared for life.

Let me walk you through some recent Romanian history that shows some changes in mentality: in 1990, less than a year after the communism was overthrown, there were some violent movements in Bucharest. A big pro-democracy demonstration, endorsed by prominent intellectual figures, was dispersed using force by workers and miners who invaded the center of Bucharest. They chanted a slogan Noi muncim/ Nu gandim! that is We work/ We dont think!. Really! They took pride in the fact that they didnt think. They hated intellectuals, they hated students, they hated people with glasses or with beards and they shouted We work/ We dont think. I think we have come a long way since then in this part of the world, because in 2009 there was a different kind of protest in Bucharest. Some 200 students gathered in front of the Ministry for Education in protest against the removal of Logic from high school curricula. That is quite a change and Im proud of it!

Critical thinking is also a major tool for assessment. For instance, Cambridge selects its students for all its colleges using, along with school results and interviews, something called the TSA, that is Thinking Skills Assessment. There is a link here below with one such TSA test, please check it out and, for fun, maybe you can even try to solve it.

I would like to end by quoting a study that shows very good results after teaching critical thinking to even younger kids. Maybe this is the future. The link to the article can also be found below.

This is all for this chapter. I hope I made a good case for you studying critical thinking, so see you next chapter!