Critical Thinking

Asmita Ghimire
Some Basics on Critical Thinking
Tradition:
• Critical thinking is an academic competence akin to reading and
writing; and is of similarly fundamental importance.
• Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking,
left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right
prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce,
make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought.
Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life.
Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.
Some definitions:

• John Dewey and “ Reflective Thinking”

“Active, persistence, and careful consideration of the

belief and supposed form of knowledge in the light of
the ground which it support it and further conclusion to
which it tends”
Richard Paul and “thinking about your
thinking”

• critical thinking is that mode of thinking- about any

subject, content or problem-in which thinker improves
the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking
charge of the structures inherent in thinking and
imposing intellectual stander upon them
• Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-
monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent
to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of
their use. It entails effective communication and problem-
solving abilities, as well as a commitment to overcome our
native egocentricity and sociocentricity.
Michel Scriven on “ academic
competency”

• Critical thinking is skilled and active interpretation

and evaluation of observations and communication,
information and argument.
Thinking about “owns thinking”
• Thinking does not count critical merely because it is intended
to be, any more than thinking count as scientific because it
aims to be. To be critical thinking one has to meet certain
stander of clarity, relevance, reasonableness.
• Critical thinking is active process partly because it involves
questioning and partly because of the role played by
metacognition.
• Thus any subject/s (text, speech, film, graphics, action, body
language) can be the object of observation, explanation,
interpretation and evaluation.
• Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which
attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-
minded way.   People who think critically consistently attempt
to live rationally, reasonably, empathically.   The unexamined
life is not worth living , because they realize that many
unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust,
dangerous world.               ~ (Linda Elder, September, 2007)
Critico-Creative thinking:
• The term critical thinking often sound as negative, as though
one’s only interest is in adversely criticizing other people
argument and ideas.
• Critical thinking is a kind of evaluative thinking- criticism and
creative thinking- concern particularly with the quality of
reasoning or argument which is presented in support of belief
and course of action.
Why critical thinking is “Critical”

• Since, academic argument is clear record of writer’s

reasoning from question to answer, this movement
takes the help of way of thinking- Critical Thinking-
as a “mode” of thinking, “series of strategies”, and the
“method of reflecting” upon what one thinks.
Critical thinking and Logic

• Critical thinking deals with the informal form of logic and

other speculative capacity.
• Critical thinking in true sense is not “thinking outside the
box” instead “ thinking the box” itself.
• Thus, Critical thinking is “Remaining conscious of limitation
and potentialities of Owns own thinking”. ((Villas,Gina L 22).
Critical Thinking and Academic Writing:

• In academy, critical thinking is often misunderstood as making an

argument directly. However, it operates in the background of argument,
encouraging thinker to pay attention to the social, ideological,
epistemological and historical forces, often invisibly, all around us.

• Critical thinking question the “box” itself,- the forces that shape how
we understand such thing as other people, objects, issue, the world,
institution, language and ourselves.
Why critical thinking is important?

• The way we ask the question play essential part in designing

our thinking?
• finding an answer depend largely on how we ask question.
• Critical Thinking is about paying attention to the way we think
when we ask the question and get our answers, including what
we are taking for granted…it is a way to understand how our
discursive practices affect our view of significance of the
knowledge. People are not quality thinker just because they
find the answer; they are quality thinker because they are
mindful of the way they are asking the question.
• Critical thinking is an ongoing, self-corrective habit-
of-mind that helps academic writers to understand how
thinking is structured, the element that structured the
way we think, how those influences can bias our
thinking, how to guard against those biases, strength
and limitations of the language we use to express
those thoughts.
• Critical thinking raises the vital questions, formulate them in
language that is precise and clear, identify any assumption
made in asking the question, adjust valid points that
contradict expectations and remaining rigorously honest.
• Writer’s involved in academic writing tradition do all these
task on paper (sometime implicit). Thus, academic writing is
often referred to as “thinking on papers”.
The role of curiosity:
Avoiding cognitive bias:
Asking Plausible Question relevant to the
Issue
The (provisional) case against the prompts:
Speaking for others

Binary Thinking

Generalization

opinion

Projecting into the future

Reporting on existing Knowledge

Writing is a Risky business:

• Writing is committing words on paper

• Writing is the form of investment.
• Academic writing is thinking on paper.
• Writing, Simultaneously, is invitation for other to
present their worldviews.
Thankyou
Great Day!
• Specialized knowledge along with the curiosity can create the
new knowledge.