The critical thinker works diligently and consistently to achieve the following goals:
• Understand the links between ideas.
• Determine the importance and relevance of arguments and ideas.
• Recognize, build, and evaluate arguments.
• Identify inconsistencies and errors in reasoning.
• Approach problems in a consistent and systematic way.
• Reflect on the justification of their own assumptions, beliefs and values.
• Keep one’s preconceived notions and personal biases from influencing decisions and judgments.
Critical thinking requires the development of certain skills and habits:
• Analyzing: Separating a whole into its individual parts to discover its nature, function, and working relationship of the parts to the whole (i.e., synergy).
• Applying Standards: Judging and evaluating according to established professional, personal, cultural, or social rules and norms.
• Discriminating: Recognizing differences and similarities among subjects or situations: comparing and contrasting.
• Information Seeking: Searching for evidence, facts, and knowledge by identifying relevant sources and gathering objective, subjective, historical, and current data from those sources.
• Logical Reasoning: Drawing inferences or conclusions supported by evidence and argumentation.
• Predicting: Envisioning a plan or outcome, and the effects or consequences.
• Applying the Knowledge: Taking everything learned and acquired in the process of critical thinking and using it to improve one’s situation, subject, or self.(H/T: umich.edu)Critical thinking means making reasoned judgments that are logical and well-thought out. It is a way of thinking in which you don’t simply accept all arguments and ideas you are exposed to but rather have an attitude of a skeptic: questioning such arguments and conclusions for the sake of discovering truth, and applying truth to your life and work.
Dead-Logic 