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Dr. Richard W. Paul is Director of Research and Professional Development at the Center for Critical Thinking and Chair of the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking. Dr. Paul is an internationally recognized authority on critical thinking, with eight books and over 200 articles on the subject. Dr. Paul has given lectures on critical thinking at many universities in both the United States and abroad, including Harvard, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois, and the universities of Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, British Columbia, Toronto, and Amsterdam. He taught beginning and advanced courses in critical thinking at the university level for over 20 years. He has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including Distinguished Philosopher (by the Council for Philosophical Studies, 1987), O.C. Tanner Lecturer in Humanities (by Utah State University, 1986), Lansdown Visiting Scholar (by the University of Victoria, 1987), and the Alfred Korsybski Memorial Lecturer (by the Institute for General Semantics, 1987).
Dr. Linda Elder is an educational psychologist and a prominent authority on critical thinking. She is President of the Foundation for Critical Thinking and Executive Director of the Center for Critical Thinking. Dr. Elder has taught psychology and critical thinking at the college level and has given presentations to more than 20,000 educators at all levels. She has co-authored four books, including Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life, Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life and Twenty-Five Days to Better Thinking and Better Living. She has co-authored twenty thinker’s guides on critical thinking and co-authors a quarterly column on critical thinking in the Journal of Developmental Education. Dr. Elder has also developed an original stage theory of critical thinking development. Concerned with understanding and illuminating the relationship between thinking and affect, and the barriers to critical thinking, Dr. Elder has placed these issues at the center of her thinking and her work.
Preface
INTRODUCTION
A Start-Up Definition of Critical Thinking
How Skilled Are You as a Thinker?
Good Thinking Requires Hard Work
The Concept of Critical Thinking
Become a Critic of Your Thinking
Establish New Habits of Thought
Develop Confidence in Your Ability to Reason and Figure Things Out
Chapter 1 - BECOME A FAIRMINDED THINKER
Weak versus Strong Critical Thinking
What Does Fairmindedness Require?
Intellectual Humility: Strive to Discover the Extent of Your Ignorance
Intellectual
Courage: Develop the Courage to Challenge Popular Beliefs
Intellectual Empathy:
Learn to Enter Opposing Views Empathically
Intellectual Integrity: Hold Yourself
to the Same Standards to Which You Hold Others
Intellectual Perseverance:Refuse to Give Up Easily; Work Your Way through Complexities and Frustration
Confidence in Reason: Respect Evidence and Reasoning, and Value Them as Tools
for Discovering the Truth
Intellectual Autonomy: Value Independence of Thought
Recognize the Interdependence of Intellectual Virtues
Conclusion
Chapter 2 - THE FIRST FOUR STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT: AT WHAT LEVEL OF THINKING WOULD YOU PLACE YOURSELF?
Stage 1: The Unreflective Thinker
Stage 2: The Challenged Thinker
Stage 3: The Beginning Thinker
Stage 4: The Practicing Thinker
A “Game Plan” for Improvement
A Game Plan for Devising a Game Plan
Integrating Strategies One by One
Chapter 3 - SELF-UNDERSTANDIN G
Monitor the Egocentrism in Your Thought and Life
Make a Commitment to Fairmindedness
Recognize the Mind’s Three Distinctive Functions
Understand That You Have a Special Relationship to Your Mind
Connect Academic Subjects to Your Life and Problems
Learn Both Intellectually and Emotionally
Chapter 4 - THE PARTS OF THINKING
Reasoning Is Everywhere in Human Life
Reasoning Has Parts
A First Look at the Elements of Thought
An Everyday Example: Jack and Jill
Analysis of the Example
How the Parts of Thinking Fit Together
The Relationship between the Elements
Critical Thinkers Think to Some Purpose
Critical Thinkers Take Command of Concepts
Critical Thinkers Assess Information
Inert Information
Activated Ignorance
Activated Knowledge
Critical Thinkers Distinguish between Inferences and Assumptions
Critical Thinkers Think through Implications
Critical Thinkers Think across Points of View
The Point of View of the Critical Thinker
Conclusion
Chapter 5 - STANDARDS FOR THINKING
Take a Deeper Look at Universal Intellectual Standards
Clarity
Accuracy
Precision
Relevance
Depth
Breadth
Logic
Significance
Fairness
Bring Together the Elements of Reasoning and the Intellectual
Standards
Purpose, Goal, or End in View
Question at Issue or Problem to Be Solved
Point of View or Frame of Reference
Information, Data, Experiences
Concepts, Theories, Ideas
Assumptions
Implications and Consequences
Inferences
Brief Guidelines for Using Intellectual Standards
Chapter 6 - ASK QUESTIONS THAT LEAD TO GOOD THINKING
The Importance of Questions in Thinking
Questioning Your Questions
Dead Questions Reflect Inert Minds
Three Categories of Questions
Become a Socratic Questioner
Focus Your Thinking on the Type of Question Being Asked
Focus Your Questions on Universal Intellectual Standards for Thought
Focus Your Questions on the Elements of Thought
Focus Your Questions on Prior Questions
Focus Your Questions on Domains of Thinking
Conclusion
Chapter 7 - MASTER THE THINKING, MASTER THE CONTENT
Go Beyond Superficial Memorization to Deep Learning
The Relation of Content to Thinking
Understand Content through Thinking and Thinking through Content
All Content Is Organized by Concepts
All Content Is Logically Interdependent
Think through Your Classes Using Your Knowledge of Thinking
A Caution
Chapter 8 - DISCOVER HOW THE BEST THINKERS LEARN
18 Ideas for Improving Your Studies
The Logic of a Typical College Class
Becoming a Skilled Thinker
The Design of a Typical College Class and the Typical College Student
Figure Out the Underlying Concept of Your Courses
Figure Out the Form of Thinking Essential to Courses or Subjects
Think within the Logic of the Subject
The Logic of Biochemistry
The Logic of Four Additional Disciplines
The Logic of Biology
The Logic of Ecology
The Logic of Aerospace Engineering
The Logic of Electrical Engineering
Make the Design of the Course Work for You
Sample Course: American History, 1600—1800
Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening, and Thinking
Figure Out the Logic of an Article or Essay
Figure Out the Logic of a Textbook
Criteria for Evaluating an Author’s Reasoning
Chapter 9 - REDEFINE GRADES AS LEVELS OF THINKING AND LEARNING
Develop Strategies for Self-Assessment
Use Profiles to Assess Your Performance
Exemplary Students (Grade of A)
High-Performing Students(Grade of B)
Mixed-Quality Students (Grade of C)
Low-Performing Students (Grade of D or F)
Apply Student Profiles to Assess Your Performance within Specific Disciplines
Exemplary Thinking as a Student of Psychology (Grade of A)
High-Performing Thinking as a Student of Psychology (Grade of B)
Mixed-Quality Thinking as a Student of Psychology (Grade of C)
Low-Performing Thinking as a Student of Psychology (Grade of D or F)
Conclusion
Chapter 10 - MAKE DECISIONS AND SOLVE PROBLEMS
Making Decisions
Evaluating Patterns in Decision-Making
“Big” Decisions
The Logic of Decision-Making
Dimensions of Decision-Making
The Early Decisions (2—11 Years of Age)
Adolescent Decisions (12—17 Years of Age)
Solving Problems
Becoming an Activist Problem-Solver
Evaluating Patterns in Your Problem-Solving
“Big” Problems
Dimensions of Problem-Solving
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Problem-Solving
Analyzing Problems Using the Elements of Thought
The Art of Problem-Solving
Conclusion
Chapter 11 - DEAL WITH YOUR IRRATIONAL MIND
Take Charge of Your Egocentric Nature
Understand Egocentric Thinking
Understand Egocentrism as a Mind within the Mind
Successful Egocentric Thinking
Unsuccessful Egocentric Thinking
Rational Thinking
Two Egocentric Functions
Pathological Tendencies of the Human Mind
Challenge the Pathological Tendencies of Your Mind
The Challenge of Rationality
Take Charge of Your Sociocentric Tendencies
The Nature of Sociocentrism
Social Stratification
Sociocentric Thinking Is Unconscious and Potentially Dangerous
Sociocentric Uses of Language
Disclose Sociocentric Thinking through Conceptual Analysis
Reveal Ideology at Work through Conceptual Analysis
Conclusion
Chapter 12 - HOW TO DETECT MEDIA BIAS AND PROPAGANDA IN NATIONAL AND WORLD NEWS
Democracy and the News Media
Myths That Obscure the Logic of the News Media
“Objectivity” in the News Media
Points of View
Forms of Objectivity
The Perception of Bias in the Mainstream
Propaganda and News Story Writing
Protecting the Home Audience from Guilt Feelings
Fostering Sociocentric Thinking
Slanting Stories to Favor Privileged Views
How to Obtain Useful Information from Propaganda and Standard News Stories
Steps in Becoming a Critical Consumer of the “News”
Media Awareness of Media Bias
The Bias toward Novelty and Sensationalism
Critical Consumers of the News
Questions for the News Media
Finding Alternative Sources of Information
Becoming an Independent Thinker
Buried, Ignored, or Underreported Stories
Using the Internet
Additional Alternative News Sources
Conclusion
Chapter 13 - FALLACIES: THE ART OF MENTAL TRICKERY AND MANIPULATION
Truth and Deception in the Human Mind
Three Types of Thinkers
Uncritical Persons (Intellectually Unskilled Thinkers)
Skilled Manipulators (Weak-Sense Critical Thinkers)
Fairminded Critical Persons (Strong-Sense Critical Thinkers)
The Concept of Fallacies of Thought
Naming Fallacies
Mistakes versus Fallacies
No Exhaustive List of Fallacies
Faulty Generalizations
Analyzing Generalizations
Post Hoc Generalizations
Analogies and Metaphors
44 Foul Ways to Win an Argument
Fallacy Detection: Analyzing a Speech from the Past
Fallacy Detection: Analyzing a Current Presidential Speech
Fallacy Detection: Analyzing a Speech from a Presidential Candidate
Avoid Two Extremes
Conclusion
Chapter 14 - DEVELOP AS AN ETHICAL REASONER
Why People Are Confused about Ethics
The Fundamentals of Ethical Reasoning
Ethical Concepts and Principles
The Universal Nature of Ethical Principles
Distinguishing Ethics from Other Domains of Thinking
Understanding Our Native Selfishness
Conclusion
Chapter 15 - STRATEGIC THINKING: PART ONE
Understanding and Using Strategic Thinking
Components of Strategic Thinking
The Beginnings of Strategic Thinking
Key Idea #1: Thoughts, Feelings, and Desires Are Interdependent
Key Idea #2: There Is a Logic to This, and You Can Figure It Out
Key Idea #3: For Thinking to Be of High Quality, We Must Routinely Assess It
Chapter 16 - STRATEGIC THINKING: PART TWO
Key Idea #4: Our Native Egocentrism Is a Default Mechanism
Key Idea #5: We Must Become Sensitive to the Egocentrism of Those around Us
Key Idea #6: The Mind Tends to Generalize Beyond the Original Experience
Key Idea #7: Egocentric Thinking Appears to the Mind as Rational
Key Idea #8: The Egocentric Mind Is Automatic in Nature
Key Idea #9: We Often Pursue Power through Dominating or Submissive Behavior
Key Idea #10: HumansAre Naturally Sociocentric Animals
Key Idea #11: Developing Rationality
Requires Work
Conclusion
Chapter 17 - BECOMING AN ADVANCED THINKER: OUR CONCLUSION
Practicing Skilled Thinking
Stage 5: Reaching the Advanced Stage of Development
Stage 6: Becoming an Accomplished Thinker
Qualities of Mind of an Accomplished Thinker
The Inner Logic of the Accomplished Thinker
The Ideal Thinker
Appendices
A A Brief History of The Idea of Critical Thinking
B Sample Analysis of The Logic of . . .
Glossary
References
Index
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