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Content: 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.[10] The U.S. National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking[11]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." [ 12]
Etymology and origin of critical thinking[edit]
In the term critical thinking, the word critical, (Grk. κριτικός = kritikos= "critic") derives from the word criticand implies a critique; it identifies the intellectual capacity and the means "of judging", "of judgement", "for judging", and of being "able to discern".[13] The intellectual roots of critical[14]thinking are as ancient as its etymology, traceable, ultimately, to the teachingpractice and vision of Socrates[15]2,500 years ago who discovered by a method of probing questioning that people could not rationally justify their confident claims to knowledge. Definitions[edit]
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"[16]
"Disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence"[16]
"Purposeful, self-regulatoryjudgment 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"[17]
"Includes a commitment to using reason in the formulation of our beliefs"[18]
The skill and propensity to engage in an activity with reflective scepticism (McPeck, 1981)[19]
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. Critical thinking is not 'hard' thinking nor is it directed at solving problems (other than 'improving' one's own thinking). Critical thinking is inward-directed with the intent of maximizing the rationalityof the thinker. One does not use critical thinking to solve problems—one uses critical thinking to improve one's process of thinking. [