Title: Critical thinking - Wikipedia
Headings: Critical thinking
Critical thinking
Contents
History
Etymology and origin of critical thinking
Definitions
Logic and rationality
Deduction, abduction and induction
Deduction
Induction
Abduction
Critical thinking and rationality
Functions
Habits or traits of the mind
Research in critical thinking
Education
Effectiveness
Importance in academics
Online communication
See also
References
Further reading
Books
Articles
External links

Content: Its details vary amongst those who define it. According to Barry K. Beyer (1995), critical thinking means making clear, reasoned judgments. During the process of critical thinking, ideas should be reasoned, well thought out, and judged. The U.S. National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking defines critical thinking as the "intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action." Etymology and origin of critical thinking
In the term critical thinking, the word critical, (Grk. κριτικός = kritikos = "critic") derives from the word critic and implies a critique; it identifies the intellectual capacity and the means "of judging", "of judgement", "for judging", and of being "able to discern". The intellectual roots of critical thinking are as ancient as its etymology, traceable, ultimately, to the teaching practice and vision of Socrates 2,500 years ago who discovered by a method of probing questioning that people could not rationally justify their confident claims to knowledge . Definitions
Traditionally, critical thinking has been variously defined as follows: "The process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion"
"Disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence"
"Purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based"
"Includes a commitment to using reason in the formulation of our beliefs"
The skill and propensity to engage in an activity with reflective scepticism (McPeck, 1981)
Thinking about one's thinking in a manner designed to organize and clarify, raise the efficiency of, and recognize errors and biases in one's own thinking.