Critical Thinking

Monico David P. Botor

 • understand the meaning of correct and
critical thinking.
• appreciate the importance of critical
Objectives: thinking.
• be aware of the hindrances to his own
critical thinking processes.
 Is there such thing as Correct Thinking?
We interact everyday with people. We are always engaged in a constant
dialogue with them. In our conversations, we always try to make ourselves
consistent with everything that we say. When we want to make a certain
point, say we prefer the beach instead of the pool, we try to give the reasons
or justification for our decisions. Justifying our choices or behavior means
that we want to be seen as reasonable. And being reasonable implies that
we want to be perceived as right, that is, in conformity with the truth –
understood to be objective. When we fail to conform with what is true, then
we are considered false and thus, in error. An example of this when we think
we saw a beautiful girl from afar when in fact it was a boy. Or when we
thought we have already paid our bus fares when in fact, we have not. This
implies that every time we make our everyday value judgments and
actions, we should see to it that it conforms to a certain idea of truth and
right.
 • Correspondence theory
• Coherence theory
Theories on • Pragmatic theory
Truth • Constructivist theory
• Consensus theory
 Aiming for correctness
It is a natural tendency for man to know. In fact, Aristotle succinctly
expresses that “All men has the desire to know.” We want to know
the truth. However, in our everyday experience, it is possible for us to
be mistaken – we can either be deceived or mistaken or simply fail to
know the truth. This is where the importance of clear and critical
thinking comes in. It is a normal task in everyday life that we people
would want to know the truth as truth, certain that it is not a non-truth.
This is why thinking critically is important so that we can distinguish
what is truth from falsity, what is correct thinking from incorrect
thinking.
What is Critical
Thinking?
 Critical
thinking – Not a matter of
accumulating information
“What it is
not.”
 Critical
thinking – It is not focused on finding
faults or weaknesses in a
“What it is particular person or thing.
not.”
 Critical Thinking
A process by which we achieve correct thinking.
Ability to think clearly and rationally.
Focused on exercising objective, fair & skilled judgment and
analysis of ideas, beliefs, and arguments.
Helps us avoid the pitfalls of incorrect thinking and ensures the
cognitive consistency among our various thoughts.
Deliberation of options – correct choice.
Importance
of Critical 1. A domain-general
Thinking thinking skill
Importance
of Critical 2. Enhances language
Thinking and presentation skills
Importance
of Critical 3. Promotes creativity
Thinking
Importance
of Critical 4. Crucial to self-reflection
Thinking
Importance 5. Foundation of science
of Critical and liberal democratic
Thinking society.
 1. Awareness
Steps in Critical 2. Explication
Thinking 3. Assessment
 The first step in critical thinking is to
become aware that you make
assumptions. Can you identify at
Awareness least one assumption you have made
and continue to make on a regular
basis? Without a clearly discernable
reason, each succeeding generation
continued the practice without
question.
 The second step is to make the
assumption explicit so that you can
really evaluate it. Making explicit is
Explication bringing the assumption at the
forefront as a problem so that we can
focus our attention on it.
 Finally, you will assess the
assumption’s accuracy. To assess
means that we set off the assumption
against a certain background of
Assessment certain value judgments. assessment
could be done by trying to look into
the motivations of certain actions and
judging by some objective criteria.
 Enculturation
Ego defenses
Self-serving biases
Expectations
Hindrances to
Emotional conditions
Critical Thinking
Stress
 The process by which values and
preferences, religious, sexual mores
and work ethics are imbibed by an
individual through culture. It starts
from our birth and continues until
Enculturation now. To the extent we are able to free
ourselves from these enculturated
ideas, then we can be able to practice
critical thinking especially in accepting
the kinds of attitudes we should have
and behaviors which we should act.
 Psychological strategies to protect
ourselves from anxiety, guilt and other
bad feelings. These defenses distort
reality so that we can cope with
whatever undesirable situation we are
Ego defenses in. Examples of these are denial,
projection and rationalization.
 Refer to thinking and perception that
tend to protect and elevate our sense
of worth so that we can maintain
Self-serving positive feelings about ourselves.
biases This means that we decide only what
we need to see and what they want to
see. In effect, this makes us blind to
what reality really is.
 Consist of the schemas or the
patterns into which we want to fit
reality and the events that happen
around us. Once we have formed a
certain idea about a person or an
Expectations event, we tend to think that a certain
person will always think or behave in
the same way if confronted by the
same situation, or that future events
will also underlined by the same
reasons.
 This way, our observation and
experience are made to fit into the
existing patterns of our thought. An
Expectations example of this is stereotyping
where naive, unfair views about
certain members of the society.
Emotional Refer to the existence of passions like
Conditions anger, joy, sorrow, which cloud our
clear thinking. They confuse us
because of the impulsive character
that they give to our actions and
makes us unable to carefully weigh
the reasons for our decisions.
 Is taxing demand on one’s personal
energy because of excessive physical
or psychological strain. It affects both
body and soul and makes us unable
to fully concentrate on our mental
tasks, cloud our judgment and critical
Stress thinking. It also affects our memory
and seriously hinder with our ability to
make decisions. When we are under
stress, we are no longer able to
perceive alternative solutions to our
problems.
 Critical Thinking
These hindrances to thinking must be carefully brought to our
attention because the task of critical thinking is not an easy one.
Critical thinking demands that we follow the correct rules of thought
so that we can arrive at correct thinking. These rules of thought
serve as the guide in our reasoning processes and they are more
properly studied in the science of logic.