Episode 1.1: What is Critical Thinking?

Summary

This module introduces critical thinking as a deliberate, thoughtful process that involves reasoned judgment and careful analysis. It explains that critical thinking is not about being negative but about thoroughly evaluating claims using logic, evidence, and reasoning. The module emphasizes the value of understanding complex issues, assessing arguments, and applying this knowledge to real-world situations. It encourages students to challenge inherited beliefs, offer reasoned alternatives, and develop ownership over their thoughts, ultimately leading to well-supported decisions and actions.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Critical thinking is not about being negative or criticizing but involves thoughtful and reasoned consideration of arguments.
• 🔍 Critical thinking involves analyzing claims through an intentional, careful, and judicious process.
• 💡 The term 'critical' in critical thinking refers to an analytical approach rather than reflexive judgment.
• 📝 Critical thinking requires the use of logic and reason to evaluate arguments, not just emotion or intuition.
• 🤔 Judgment in critical thinking involves determining the truth or falsehood of a claim and applying it to real-world problems.
• 📚 Careful evaluation in critical thinking means examining all parts of an argument thoroughly and considering its complexity.
• 🌍 Critical thinking helps navigate complex and gray-area arguments, unlike black-and-white decisions.
• 🧩 Critical thinking encourages offering alternatives and fosters collective problem-solving through discussion.
• 👥 Critical thinking is essential for evaluating claims made by others, and defending one's own perspectives.
• 🎯 Critical thinking aims to develop reasoned judgments, enabling individuals to understand, justify, and take action based on their beliefs.

Q & A

What is the common misconception about critical thinking?

A common misconception is that critical thinking means criticizing something negatively, whereas it actually involves thoughtfully reasoned consideration, not reflexive judgment.

How does the script define critical thinking?

Critical thinking is defined as the careful application of reason to determine whether a claim is true or as judicious reasoning about what to believe and what to do.

What are the four key elements of critical thinking mentioned in the script?

The four key elements of critical thinking are: 1) careful, intentional thinking, 2) the use of reason or logic, 3) judgment about beliefs, and 4) application to real-world problems.

Why is being careful and intentional important in critical thinking?

Being careful and intentional ensures that the thinker is purposeful, deliberate, and thorough in evaluating an issue, taking into account all its complexity, breadth, and depth.

Is critical thinking a passive process? Why or why not?

No, critical thinking is not passive. It involves an active evaluation of claims and arguments, with the goal of fully assessing each part of the claim and arriving at a reasoned conclusion.

What is an example of a black-and-white claim, as mentioned in the script?

An example of a black-and-white claim is the argument from Columbus's time that ships sailing east would fall into space because the Earth is flat. This claim is easy to reject if you know the Earth is round.

How does critical thinking help in handling more complex issues?

Critical thinking helps in complex issues by providing a logical process for evaluating whether to agree or disagree with a claim, explaining why, and offering alternatives to strengthen and clarify views.

What role does reason play in critical thinking?

Reason is central to critical thinking because it allows individuals to apply logical evaluation to claims, as opposed to relying on emotion, intuition, or common sense alone.

How does critical thinking affect decision-making in real-world scenarios?

Critical thinking helps individuals make informed decisions by carefully assessing the truth of claims and using that assessment to decide on appropriate actions, whether in personal, professional, or societal contexts.

Why is critical thinking valuable in professional settings, as demonstrated by the marketing assistant scenario?

Critical thinking is valuable because it allows professionals to support their decisions with reason and evidence, making them stand out and gain recognition for thoughtful, well-supported conclusions.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Understanding Critical Thinking and Its Purpose

This paragraph explains the definition of critical thinking, dispelling the misconception that it equates to being negative or critical. It emphasizes that critical thinking is a thoughtful, reasoned process, not a quick judgment. The goal is to evaluate claims carefully and analytically, involving reason, logic, and judgment about beliefs. It provides key components of critical thinking, such as being intentional, judicious, and focused on real-world problems. The paragraph also contrasts critical thinking with passive thinking and highlights how it applies to both simple and complex issues.

05:02

🧠 The Role of Reason in Critical Thinking

This paragraph emphasizes the importance of applying reason in the critical thinking process. It outlines how critical thinking requires evaluating claims not just based on emotion, intuition, or faith, but through careful reasoning. Emotional responses, such as fear, are examined through the lens of reason to assess their validity. The section illustrates how using reason allows individuals to probe deeper into their emotional reactions and make decisions based on thoughtful consideration.

10:03

📏 Judgments and Practical Applications of Critical Thinking

The third paragraph explains the practical purpose of critical thinking—making reasoned judgments about whether a claim is true and deciding on actions based on that judgment. It introduces a scenario involving a group project, where students must critically assess a peer's suggestion on how to proceed. This highlights the importance of questioning inherited opinions and using critical thinking to form independent, well-reasoned positions. The paragraph also touches on the broader societal relevance of critical thinking in addressing diverse and complex issues.

📈 Critical Thinking in Professional Decision-Making

This paragraph presents a workplace scenario where two employees propose different strategies for a marketing campaign. It underscores the value of critical thinking in professional environments by comparing unsupported claims with well-reasoned, evidence-based proposals. The employee who offers data-backed reasoning is more likely to gain recognition. This section highlights how critical thinking leads to deeper insights, informed decision-making, and the ability to defend one’s beliefs, ultimately leading to professional success and intellectual ownership.

Keywords

💡Critical Thinking

Critical thinking refers to the careful and intentional process of evaluating claims, arguments, and beliefs to determine their validity and relevance. In the video, it emphasizes that critical thinking is not synonymous with criticism but involves thoughtful reasoning and judgment. The video uses examples like assessing the flat earth belief and group project scenarios to highlight the importance of critical thinking in evaluating real-world issues.

💡Judiciousness

Judiciousness in the context of critical thinking refers to being careful and thoughtful in forming judgments. It emphasizes taking time, being deliberate, and thorough when analyzing a claim. The video connects judiciousness to critical thinking by explaining that it is a deliberate process, not a quick judgment, and requires considering all parts of an argument.

💡Reason

Reason refers to the use of logic and rational thought in evaluating claims. In the video, reason is a central element of critical thinking, helping individuals assess arguments based on evidence rather than emotion, intuition, or common sense. For example, when evaluating the fear of running alone at night, reason helps decide if the fear is justified by facts such as crime rates or safety concerns.

💡Judgment

Judgment is the ability to form an opinion or conclusion after careful consideration of evidence. The video emphasizes that judgment in critical thinking involves determining the truth or acceptability of a claim, such as whether to agree with a classmate’s suggestion in a group project. Critical thinking allows for reasoned judgments based on analysis, not reflexive decisions.

💡Application

Application refers to the act of using critical thinking in real-world situations to make informed decisions. The video illustrates this by discussing scenarios like deciding how to handle a group project or marketing strategies in the workplace. Application is important because it bridges the gap between theoretical thinking and practical decision-making.

💡Emotions

Emotions are personal feelings that can influence decision-making. In the video, emotions like fear are presented as factors that can either be justified or unjustified. Critical thinking requires examining emotional reactions, such as fear of running at night, through the lens of reason to determine whether they are based on valid concerns.

💡Inherited Opinion

An inherited opinion is a belief adopted from others, such as family or community, without personal critical analysis. The video explains that critical thinking challenges inherited opinions by encouraging individuals to assess the reasons behind these beliefs, such as whether to agree with a classmate’s group project approach based on personal evaluation rather than someone else's experience.

💡Beliefs

Beliefs are ideas or convictions that an individual holds to be true. The video stresses that critical thinking involves examining beliefs to ensure they are supported by evidence and reason. It provides examples of how people might hold inherited or unexamined beliefs about political, moral, or ethical issues, and critical thinking helps them evaluate and own their beliefs.

💡Alternative Arguments

Alternative arguments refer to different perspectives or solutions offered in response to a claim. The video explains that part of critical thinking is not just rejecting an argument but proposing alternative views that may better address the issue. This can be seen when evaluating group projects or marketing strategies, where different approaches are considered.

💡Ownership of Beliefs

Ownership of beliefs means understanding and taking responsibility for one’s convictions after thoughtful reflection and critical evaluation. The video highlights that critical thinking leads to this ownership, as individuals are no longer merely repeating what they’ve been told but can explain and defend their positions with reasoned arguments. This concept is crucial in fostering independent thought.

Highlights

Critical thinking is often misunderstood as negative or criticizing, but it's actually about thoughtfully reasoned consideration.

Critical thinking involves careful, intentional thinking, also known as judicious reasoning.

The goal of critical thinking is not just to accept or reject an argument but to evaluate all parts of a claim thoroughly.

Critical thinking requires time and deliberate effort to focus on the complexity, breadth, and depth of the issue at hand.

It is an active process aimed at moving us towards a greater understanding of complex social, ethical, and legal problems.

Critical thinking involves applying reason and logic, not just relying on emotion, intuition, or common sense.

Critical thinking allows us to determine whether a claim is true and to decide what actions to take based on that determination.

Judicious reasoning includes assessing whether an emotion or reaction, such as fear, is based on reasonable judgment.

The exercise of critical thinking helps us develop ownership of our beliefs, understanding why we hold them, and how to defend them.

Critical thinking can offer alternative viewpoints to strengthen and clarify positions, making it a tool for collective problem-solving.

Inherited opinions, often received from family or community, can be challenged and refined through critical thinking.

In situations like group projects or work scenarios, critical thinking helps assess the validity of arguments and choose the best approach.

Critical thinking requires offering reasons and evidence for our opinions, rather than simply expressing unsupported beliefs.

Through critical thinking, we develop insights and justifications that inform actions, leading to more thoughtful decisions.

Critical thinking ultimately leads to freedom of thought and opinion, where we understand and own our beliefs.

Transcripts

The Definition and Purpose of Critical Thinking

What comes to mind when someone says you need to use

“critical thinking”? Do you focus on the word

“critical”? Do you assume that thinking critically must be negative

requiring you to criticize or be critical if something you've

read, heard, or watched? The modules you will complete in this course will help you

understand

what critical thinking is and how you can do it.

As we go through this module, you will learn that thinking critically

should not be assumed to be synonymous with CRITICIZING

once you learn to think critically, you MIGHT criticize an argument or claim,

but your thinking will be thoughtfully reasoned consideration

NOT reflexive, quick, and unthinking judgment.

In the concept of critical thinking,

the term “critical” refers to a way of thinking, an analytical stance you take

with regards to assessing claims that you have read,

heard, or saw. In this module

we will explain the concept and activity of critical thinking

1) we will construct a useful, everyday definition of critical thinking

and identify what critical thinking is NOT; and 2) show

you the PURPOSE and VALUE of critical thinking.

According to one definition, critical thinking

is “the careful application of reason in the determination

of whether a claim is true.” Another definition

holds that critical thinking is “judicious reasoning

about what to believe and, therefore, what to do.” Let’s note the important pieces of

these definitions;

critical thinking requires: 1)

careful, intentional thinking also known as

judiciousness; 2) the use of reason or logic;

3) judgment about beliefs;

and finally 4) application to real world problems and issues.

Let's walk through these one by one. Careful and Intentional

First, consider the ideas are being “careful”

and “judicious.” Critical thinking is not a fast or easy process even if you know

how to do it.

To do it properly requires you to take your time.

Being careful and judicious requires you to be purposeful and deliberate in your

evaluation.

It also requires you to be thorough. To think critically

you have to focus on the issue at hand, taking in all its complexity,

breadth, and depth. Critical thinking

is NOT PASSIVE. The goal of critical thinking

is not simply to decide whether to accept or reject an argument

to register or “yea” or “nay” vote. In critical thinking

the goal is to fully evaluate all parts have a claim that someone has made

to assess each of its parts as well as the whole.

Certainly there are relatively easy black-and-white cases.

For example consider the claim that was made in the day of Columbus,

when people said, “Ships sailing east from Europe

will eventually fall into space because the earth is flat.”

You don't need to be an expert in critical thinking

to see this as an example of an argument that's pretty easy to reject in total

(assuming you know the earth is not flat). However,

much more often we are asked to think critically about more complex,

challenging claims or arguments that contain much more gray

than they do black or white. So in such cases it's much harder to say

“I agree” or “I disagree.” Critical thinking is the logical process that you go

through

to determine whether you agree or not. Critical thinking allows you to explain

WHY you disagree,

what parts as the claim argument you find wrong or troubling,

and even what argument you might make in its place.

As we proceed in learning about critical thinking, you'll find that by

offering alternatives to the argument, you and others involved strengthen and

clarify views and positions.

Thus, critical thinking can be seen as an exercise

in collective problem-solving. Throughout these critical thinking modules,

you will be asked to take what you learn and apply it in class.

That means, thinking critically about what you're reading,

as well as claims made by your professor and classmates.

Sometimes you will have to critically evaluate claims made by others.

Other times you'll be asked actively defend your own claims,

which will require you to think critically about your own perspectives

and positions.

Critical thinking is not a process that most people do in their daily activities.

But it's important to both your understanding of what other people say

and what you think and say to others.

At times you may struggle to use the critical thinking process – and that's

okay.

Number two – Reason or Logic

So, critical thinking is an active process meant to move us –

whether it's a class or another community that you belong to –

towards greater understanding of difficult economic,

social, ethical, and legal problems.

In order to do this effectively, critical thinking requires applying

REASON. Over the next few modules, we will examine more deeply

“reason”: we will develop yardsticks for assessing whether an argument is a

product of good, thoughtful reasoning.

We will compare reason with other ways of judging or reacting to claims.

For example, people often make decisions based on pure emotion

intuition, faith, or common sense.

Utilizing reason does not necessarily mean throwing these sensibilities –

emotion, intuition, etcetera – out the window.

It's not cold, hard, or unfeeling.

But critical thinking requires putting these other ways of thinking and reacting

under the microscope of reason. For example,

many people decide not to try certain activities because, they say,

“I’m too scared I can't go running tonight.”

“I don't have anyone else to run with and I'm afraid of running by myself at night.”

Fear, like all emotions can either be justified

or unfounded when we expose this emotional response to reason,

we can determine whether it's justified or not. Are there good reasons to be

fearful a running alone at night?

Is the area known for crime? Are there wild

animals are dogs to worry about? Is it easy to get lost?

By asking these kinds of questions we can probe to see whether our emotion –

fear – is the product of a reasonable assessment of the situation.

3) and 4) Judgments and Application

Finally, let's consider these last two pieces of the definition of critical

thinking –

determining whether a claim is true and deciding how to act

based on that determination. These speak to the PURPOSE of critical thinking.

When we engage in critical thinking, our goal is to determine whether the claim

before us is true or not,

and then to use that assessment to decide what action

or actions to take. Ultimately,

when we were asked to think critically we are being asked to take a position

regarding the truth or acceptability of something we've read, heard, or watched.

While the exercise of critical thinking is not biased toward one outcome or the

other,

in the end, we are expected to have a REASONED judgment

about whether we disagree or agree with the claim or argument.

So why do we need to take a position or pass judgment?

Let's consider the following scenario: one of your classes require students to

complete a group project

worth fifty percent of the final grade. You are put into a group

with four other students. At your first meeting one of your group member says,

“Listen, I've done this whole group project thing before and it's a real

pain in the butt.

Nobody really likes working with other people, and we all just end up fighting

anyway.

It's too hard to split up the parts of the project – no one's

ever happy with their part. Last time I had to do one of these things

we decided that each of us would just do the whole project.

Then we shared our reports and voted on the best one.

That's the one we turn in the professor We should do the same thing for this

class.”

Is this a good argument? Do you agree with all of the claims he made?

Do those claims necessarily lead to his conclusion about

how to handle the project? Should you go along with your classmate,

or is there a better way to handle the project? Remember

50 percent of your final grade is at stake here!

Your classmates had certain experiences that make you believe that doing group

project work separately

as individuals is better than dividing up the tasks among the group.

If you simply accept his belief without question without thinking about it

critically,

you may come to share his belief simply as an “inherited opinion.”

An inherited opinion means that you believe completing group projects this

way

is better because someone else told you it was better.

Now, many of us hold inherited opinions on a lot of topics. Frequently ore

political,

moral, and ethical beliefs have been handed down to us by our families our

communities.

How many of us could actually provide evidence or reasons for those beliefs,

if asked to do so? But we are often required to do just that.

We live in a diverse complicated world in which people hold widely different

views on many topics.

Individuals, communities, businesses, and governments need to decide

what to do you on many issues that are the subject

a strong disagreements. Critical thinking

will help us both offer reasons for our own positions on what action should be

taken

AND effectively evaluate the reasons offered by others,

To see how important critical thinking can be consider this scenario:

you're working as a marketing assistant for a marketing company.

You've been in that position for a few years, and you're looking to catch the

attention to your supervisor.

You know there's a marketing manager position opening up soon and you've got

your eye on it.

You want to distinguish yourself. Fortunately,

an opportunity presents itself. Your supervisor asked both you

and your co-worker (who's also an assistant) what you think the company

should focus on for an

upcoming ad campaign. Should they invest more resources in

traditional marketing venues – like print and TV ads for example,

or in innovative online and social media venues?

Wanting to seem like you're on top of things and ready to go,

you respond quickly with an email: “Definitely traditional venues.

And here's how we should spend the money in those venues.”

Your co-worker doesn't respond right away, but the next day offers her

assessment:

“We should go with online and social media. I’ve attached a detailed report

showing recent trends and market research, with data that demonstrates the

increase return on investment a social media marketing campaigns

compared with traditional venues.”

Who do you think will get the attention of the supervisor? The employee who made

an unsupported claims about what to do

(you) or the employee who offered evidence in a reason for her position?

Taking the time to assess beliefs and opinions – to think critically about them –

gives us insight and understanding that we would not have developed

without critical thinking. Insight and understanding

leads to justification for taking or

not taking certain actions, but it also gives us

ownership over our beliefs. As we think critically about her own and

others beliefs, we develop the skills that allow us to know why we believe

what we believe.

We can offer evidence in reason to defend our beliefs and that reason

giving leads us to actions that fit with our beliefs.

Ultimately, we have true freedom of thought and opinion

that comes when we know what we believe and why.

This module has provided you with a working definition of critical thinking.

You should now be able to explain what critical thinking is

and how it's different from other types of thought.

You should understand the key features of critical thinking, and

to appreciate its purpose and value.