A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking

Deciding What to Do and Believe

David A. Hunter

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781118583142
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

A thoroughly updated introduction to the concepts, methods, and standards of critical thinking, A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking: Deciding What to Do and Believe, Second Edition is a unique presentation of the formal strategies used when thinking through reasons and arguments in many areas of expertise. Pursuing an interdisciplinary approach to critical thinking, the book offers a broad conception of critical thinking and explores the practical relevance to conducting research across fields such as, business, education, and the biological sciences.

Applying rigor when necessary, the Second Edition maintains an informal approach to the fundamental core concepts of critical thinking. With practical strategies for defining, analyzing, and evaluating reasons and arguments, the book illustrates how the concept of an argument extends beyond philosophical roots into experimentation, testing, measurement, and policy development and assessment. Featuring plenty of updated exercises for a wide range of subject areas, A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking Deciding What to Do and Believe, Second Edition also includes:

• Numerous real-world examples from many fields of research, which reflect the applicability of critical thinking in everyday life
• New topical coverage, including the nature of reasons, assertion and supposing, narrow and broad definitions, circumstantial reasons, and reasoning about causal claims
• Selected answers to various exercises to provide readers with instantaneous feedback to support and extend the lessons

A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking Deciding What to Do and Believe, Second Edition is an excellent textbook for courses on critical thinking and logic at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as an appropriate reference for anyone with a general interest in critical thinking skills.

1
THE NATURE AND VALUE OF CRITICAL THINKING

This book is a practical guide to critical thinking. It might seem unnecessary to be reading a guide to something you do all the time and are probably already pretty good at. When I tell people that I am writing a book on critical thinking they sometimes tell me that they consider themselves to be very good critical thinkers. At the very least, they say that they consider critical thinking to be very important. I am sure that they are right on both counts. We think critically a good bit of the time, and on the whole we do it pretty well. Still, I think there is always something to learn from thinking hard about what one is already good at.

In this chapter, we will explore the nature and value of critical thinking. We will ask what critical thinking is and how it differs from other kinds of thinking. We will explore what it means to think critically; what makes that kind of thinking critical. As part of this, we will consider whether critical thinking varies from one discipline to the next. Is critical thinking in geology different from critical thinking in design or in humanities? We will see that while the concepts, methods, and standards may differ from one discipline to the next, there is a basic essence or core of critical thinking that remains the same across all disciplines. Whether one is doing chemistry, design, astrology, or philosophy, there are common standards that you should strive to maintain, and practical strategies to help you make sure that you do. This book is designed to introduce you to this essential core of critical thinking while at the same time providing you with the tools you need to identify the concepts, methods, and standards distinctive of different disciplines.

Once we have said what we mean by critical thinking, we can then ask what place this kind of thinking does or should occupy in our daily lives, both in and out of the classroom. When is it appropriate to think critically, and are there some parts of our lives where critical thinking tends to dominate or where it tends to be ignored? We will see that critical thinking is appropriate whenever we are trying to decide what we ought to believe about some matter of fact or whenever we are trying to decide what to do or what course of action to adopt. In short, critical thinking is needed whenever we reason about what to believe or what to do.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we will ask why being a critical thinker matters. What makes critical thinking valuable? Why should we engage in it? We will see that being a critical thinker is valuable for several reasons. Perhaps most obviously, thinking critically about a question or problem can help one get the right answer or solution. By thinking critically about what to believe or what to do, we increase our chances that our beliefs will be true and our actions effective. Thinking critically may not guarantee that you get the right answer; but a good case can be made that unless you think critically you will get the right answer only by luck, and relying on luck is not a wise policy. But critical thinking has a deeper value than just its ties to truth. Critical thinking is also closely tied to one variety of freedom. By thinking critically, one can make up one's own mind and making up one's own mind is essential if we are to be the master of our own lives. Critical thinking, we will see, is essential to personal autonomy.

1.1 THE NATURE OF CRITICAL THINKING

There are many definitions for critical thinking, but Robert Ennis, one of the leading researchers on critical thinking, offered the following definition many years ago and it remains, to my mind, the best of the bunch.

Critical thinking is reasonable, reflective thinking that is aimed at deciding what to believe or what to do.

We can see that there are several elements to this definition, so let us look at them one at a time, starting with the last one.

Critical thinking is the thinking that is aimed at deciding what to believe or what to do. Deciding what to believe is a matter of deciding what the facts are, figuring out what the world is like, or at least what some little corner of it is like. We make these kinds of decisions when we decide whether it is raining out or sunny, whether the Blue Jays stand a chance this year, whether the kids will put up with another meal of macaroni and cheese, whether the movie was as good as its billing, whether the restaurant has gotten better over the years, or whether we should trust what our teachers tell us. In deciding what to believe on some matter we take a stand on it. If it is a decision on a factual matter, like the decision about the weather or about the Blue jays, then we take a stand on what the facts are. If it is a decision on an evaluative matter, like the one about the movie or the restaurant, then in deciding what to believe we are taking a stand on what is good or better. In either kind of case, critical thinking is aimed at helping us to make those kinds of decisions about what to believe.

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Critical thinking is reasonable, reflective thinking that is aimed at deciding what to believe or what to do.

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Deciding what to believe involves reasoning about what the facts are. This is theoretical reasoning.

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Critical thinking is also aimed at decisions about what to do. Deciding what to do really has two parts. First, one has to decide what to value or to strive for. This is a matter of deciding on one's goal or end. Then, one has to decide how best to achieve that end. This is a matter of deciding on the best means to that end. Should I go for a run now or keep working on my book? Should I spend my savings on a new car or continue using my beat up one? Should the city spend its limited resources on building a new bridge? Should the country move toward a universal health care plan? Should I tell the truth when my friend asks me about her boyfriend? Should I give to charities? Usually we decide what to do on the basis of what we already value or on what we already think makes for a good life. I decide to go for a run instead of continuing to work on this book because I feel that running and staying in shape is an important part of my life. I decide to tell the truth to my friend about her new car because I value honesty in my friends and want them to consider me trustworthy. But sometimes, deciding what to strive for or what goals to pursue requires first deciding what one will value, what kind of person one wants to be, and what kind of life one wants to lead. In deciding whether to pursue graduate school in philosophy, I had to make a decision about to value, about what kind of shape I wanted my life to take. Decisions about what to value are among the most difficult and profound decisions we can make. Critical thinking can help us to make these kinds of decisions. But once we make them, once we decide what we want out life to be like, we still need to decide what the best way is to make our life that way. Once we choose the ends, we still need to decide on the means. Here too, critical thinking can help.

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Deciding what to do involves reasoning about what to do and how to do it. This is practical reasoning.

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According to Robert Ennis' definition, critical thinking is reasonable thinking. This is so in several respects. First, critical thinking is reasonable thinking because it is sensitive to methods and standards. If we are trying to decide what to make for dinner or whether the Blue Jays stand a chance this year, there are various methods we should use and standards we should keep in mind. If we try to make up our minds on these topics without relying on those methods or respecting these standards, then we will fail to be thinking critically about the topic. Part of what makes critical thinking critical is that it is governed by rules and methods. This does not mean that there is no room in critical thinking for reasonable judgment and flexibility. In fact, as we will see in a moment, part of what makes critical thinking different from other kinds of thinking, such as arithmetical calculation, is that there is usually plenty of room for judgment and a case-by-case flexibility. Still, it is essential to critical thinking that in thinking critically about what to believe or do we rely on methods and are subject to standards. We will spend lots of time in the following chapters learning what these methods and standards are.

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Critical thinking is reasonable thinking because it is governed by general methods and standards and because it demands that we have good reasons for our decisions.

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Critical thinking is reasonable in another and deeper sense. Critical thinking about what to believe or what to do is reasonable, in that it demands that we have reasons, and good ones, for the decisions we make. The aim of critical thinking is not simply to make a decision on what the facts are or what to strive for. In a way, it is easy to make such decisions. What is hard is having good reasons for the decisions we make. It is not enough to decide to believe that it is sunny out; one has to have a good reason to decide this. Likewise, it is not enough just to decide to value honesty or justice; one has to have good reason for this decision. So critical thinking is reasonable in that it demands that we have reasons, and good ones, for making the decisions we do. We will be spending a lot of time in what follows exploring what makes something a good reason to believe or to do something.

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Critical thinking is reflective because it involves thinking about a problem at several different levels or from several different angles all at once, and because it sometimes requires thinking about what the right method is to answer or solve some problem.

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Finally, Ennis says that critical thinking is reflective. We can see what he has in mind if we contrast critical thinking with arithmetical calculation. There is no doubt that calculating the square root of a large number is a kind of thinking and no doubt that it is a thinking that is sensitive to methods and standards. In this respect, arithmetical calculation is like critical thinking. But when one calculates a number's square root, one does not need to think about the methods one is using. One simply uses the formula to get the right answer. In this kind of case, the problem at hand (finding the number's square root) is pretty straightforward: it is perfectly clear from the beginning what is to count as the right answer and what the best means is of finding it. The same is true for many kinds of decisions we make in our daily lives. But some problems are open-ended. A problem is open-ended when it is ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Titlepage
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Preface
• Preface to First Edition
• Note to Instructors
• 1 The Nature and Value of Critical Thinking
• 2 Clarifying Meaning
• 3 Sufficient Reasons
• 4 Acceptable Reasons
• 5 Reasoning About Alternatives and Necessary and Sufficient Conditions
• 6 Reasoning by Analogy
• 7 Critical Thinking in Action
• Appendix A Critical Thinking Mistakes
• Appendix B Critical Thinking Strategies
• Index
• End User License Agreement