The Thinkers
Solve problems
Today we live in a world with societies full of problems, mental health is booming like never before. From politics to finance everyone is stressed or depressed, unemployment is at the highest and people declare poverty every day. In the UK there are children starving before they go to bed at night and yet the government sending billions to the war in Ukraine.
This is nothing but a war it is a theatrical play of power and money. Zelensky is a multi-millionaire he should help his country. We should really all stop what we are doing and start thinking do we have real problems, or we create them ourselves and we like living with stress. Is there a way out a solution to these problems or we cannot bother anymore to find a solution?
Critical thinking is the answer to our problems, we must start to use our so closed brain and start thinking again. How to sort the problems? What are we going to do? From where these problems came in the first place? Do we create them? Think and think again where to problem is the solution is right next to it.
Seems to me these days we consume information from different sources and without analyse them or critical thinking about them we just practise them. We follow individuals who they are wealthy they have their own agenda, yet we follow them.
Without asking where does he take us is he reliable? What was his past like? He is married five times. Does this ring a bell or showing red flag? He wants to go to Mars.
Have you asked him why he wants to go there? Can you support yourself financially? Or you are going to be his slave? Critical thinking is the ability to analyse information objectively and make reasoned judgments
It involves actively questioning assumptions, identifying biases, evaluating evidence, and forming well-supported conclusions. This skill is crucial for effective problem-solving, decision-making, and communication in both personal and professional contexts.
Critical thinking is a rich concept that has been developing throughout the past 2,500 years. The term “critical thinking” has its roots in the mid-late 20th century. Below, we offer overlapping definitions which together form a substantive and trans-disciplinary conception of critical thinking.
The Problem
Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.
A Definition
Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content, or problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skilfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them.
The Result: A well cultivated critical thinker:
raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely.
gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards.
thinks open-mindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and
communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.
Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use.
It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities and a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.
(Taken from Richard Paul and Linda Elder, The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools, Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2008)
The Need for Better Mental Health Therapies
In our largely pathological world, mental suffering is common. It is increasingly a worldwide epidemic. People often turn in the wrong directions for relief from their emotional suffering.
A great number of books and resources are now available for those who struggle to find happiness or contentment in the world we humans have crafted. Throughout the past half century or more, a tremendous mass of literature has been developed to help humans become satisfied and fulfilled.
The problems of depression, anxiety, and related emotional states are increasingly in focus through this literature. And yet, with all our knowledge and wisdom, with all our books and guides and videos, and with all the scientific promises, humans are still doing a relatively poor job of alleviating the suffering caused by depression, anxiety, and similar tormenting states of mind.
Similarly, we have yet to effectively deal with the irritability, defensiveness, irrational anger, and self-justifying behaviour that, though they may not lead directly to depression or anxiety, keep people from relating intimately with others and developing their innate capacities.
And even those who do not experience pervasive negative emotions will yet rarely achieve self-realization or self-actualization, which is the most fulfilling level of thinking and living; this requires achieving the skills and abilities, and embodying the virtues, of the fair-minded critical thinker.
And it is self-actualized people, unfettered by nagging negative emotions, who can potentially make the greatest contributions to improving human life, as well as our treatment of the earth and its other sentient creatures.
Therapists need all of the important concepts and principles in critical thinking if they are to have the greatest chance of assisting clients in finding a reasonable path to contentment and happiness in our complex world.
The more deeply that therapists internalize critical thinking concepts and principles, the more tools they have for reaching the uniqueness of each client. Yet, to this point, explicit critical thinking, with emphasis on both the barriers to criticality and a holistic framework for improving thinking, has been chiefly missing from the therapeutic setting. For this reason, and with the introduction of this therapeutic process, we now offer training and certification for therapists in Critical Thinking Therapy.
Learn and Train in Critical Thinking Therapy
At present, while there are therapists who think critically in significant ways, there are no Critical Thinking Therapists per se – that is, no therapists yet trained in a full, explicit framework of critical thinking.
Below are Critical Thinking Therapy resources and training opportunities offered by the Foundation for Critical Thinking.
To learn more about Critical Thinking Therapy in detail, either as an individual or therapist, read Dr. Linda Elder’s new release, Critical Thinking Therapy: For Happiness and Self-Actualization. From this book, therapists can glean powerful concepts and a tremendous number of tools for use in therapy, while individuals seeking better mental health can work through the book themselves – either alone if this is efficacious, or along with a therapist or other well-meaning reasonable person.
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Read the concise edition of Critical Thinking Therapy, titled, Critical Thinking Therapy: Self-Actualization and Happiness Toolbox for Everyone.
For direct custom training in Critical Thinking Therapy, email us for information at cct@criticalthinking.org. You can also read about our Critical Thinking Professional Development Program, which we customize for your needs and circumstances.
Register for the upcoming introductory 12-week Online Course in Critical Thinking Therapy.
Read about our upcoming Critical Thinking Therapy Certification Program.
View recent interviews with and presentations by Dr. Linda Elder on Critical Thinking Therapy
The State of Critical Thinking Today
- Most college faculty at all levels lack a substantive concept of critical thinking.
- Most college faculty don’t realize that they lack a substantive concept of critical thinking, believe that they sufficiently understand it, and assume they are already teaching students it.
- Lecture, rote memorization, and (largely ineffective) short-term study habits are still the norm in college instruction and learning today.
These three facts, taken together, represent serious obstacles to essential, long-term institutional change, for only when administrative and faculty leaders grasp the nature, implications, and power of a robust concept of critical thinking — as well as gain insight into the negative implications of its absence — are they able to orchestrate effective professional development.
When faculty have a vague notion of critical thinking or reduce it to a single-discipline model (as in teaching critical thinking through a “logic” or a “study skills” paradigm), it impedes their ability to identify ineffective, or develop more effective, teaching practices.
It prevents them from making the essential connections (both within subjects and across them), connections that give order and substance to teaching and learning.
This paper highlights the depth of the problem and its solution — a comprehensive, substantive concept of critical thinking fostered across the curriculum.
If we rest content with a fuzzy concept of critical thinking or an overly narrow one, we will not be able to effectively teach for it. Consequently, students will continue to leave our colleges without the intellectual skills necessary for reasoning through complex issues.
Studies Reveal That Critical Thinking Is Rare in the College Classroom
A 1972 study of 40,000 faculty members by the American Council on Education found that 97 percent of the respondents indicated the most important goal of undergraduate education is to foster students’ ability to think critically.
Process-oriented instructional orientations “have long been more successful than conventional instruction in fostering effective movement from concrete to formal reasoning. Such programs emphasize students’ active involvement in learning and cooperative work with other students and de-emphasize lectures . . .”
Gardiner’s summary of the research coincides with the results of a large study (Paul, et. al. 1997) of 38 public colleges and universities and 28 private ones focused on the question: To what extent are faculty teaching for critical thinking?
The study included randomly selected faculty from colleges and universities across California, and encompassed prestigious universities such as Stanford, Cal Tech, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and the California State University System. Faculty answered both closed and open-ended questions in a 40-50 minute interview.
By direct statement or by implication, most faculty claimed that they permeated their instruction with an emphasis on critical thinking and that the students internalized the concepts in their courses as a result. Yet only the rare interviewee mentioned the importance of students thinking clearly, accurately, precisely, relevantly, or logically, etc… Very few mentioned any of the basic skills of thought such as the ability to clarify questions; gather relevant data; reason to logical or valid conclusions; identify key assumptions; trace significant implications or enter without distortion into alternative points of view. Intellectual traits of mind, such as intellectual humility, intellectual perseverance, intellectual responsibility, etc . . . were rarely mentioned by the interviewees. Consider the following key results from the study:
Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 1987
A statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul, presented at the 8th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education Reform, Summer 1987:
Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analysing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.
In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.
Another Brief Conceptualization of Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically. They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when left unchecked.
They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and sociocentric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical thinking offers – concepts and principles that enable them to analyse, assess, and improve thinking.
They work diligently to develop the intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility, intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and confidence in reason.
They realize that no matter how skilled they are as thinkers, they can always improve their reasoning abilities, and they will at times fall prey to mistakes in reasoning, human irrationality, prejudices, biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-interest, and vested interest.
They strive to improve the world in whatever ways they can and contribute to a more rational, civilized society.
At the same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in doing so. They avoid thinking simplistically about complicated issues and strive to appropriately consider the rights and needs of relevant others.
They recognize the complexities in developing as thinkers and commit themselves to life-long practice toward self-improvement. They embody the Socratic principle: The unexamined life is not worth living, because they realize that many unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust, dangerous dangerous world.
Critical Thinking Defined by Edward Glaser
In a seminal study on critical thinking and education in 1941, Edward Glaser defines critical thinking as follows “The ability to think critically, as conceived in this volume, involves three things:
1) an attitude of being disposed to consider in a thoughtful way the problems and subjects that come within the range of one’s experiences,
2) knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning, and
3) some skill in applying those methods. Critical thinking calls for a persistent effort to examine any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the evidence that supports it and the further conclusions to which it tends.
It also generally requires ability to recognize problems, to find workable means for meeting those problems, to gather and marshal pertinent information, to recognize unstated assumptions and values.
To comprehend and use language with accuracy, clarity, and discrimination, to interpret data, to appraise evidence and evaluate arguments, to recognize the existence (or non-existence) of logical relationships between propositions.
To draw warranted conclusions and generalizations, to put to test the conclusions and generalizations at which one arrives, to reconstruct one’s patterns of beliefs on the basis of wider experience, and to render accurate judgments about specific things and qualities in everyday life.
( Edward M. Glaser, An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking, Teacher’s College, Columbia University, 1941)
What Is Critical Thinking Therapy?
Critical Thinking Therapy, which includes Critical Thinking Self-Therapy, assumes that being in healthy command of your life in our complicated, frequently dark world requires systematically employing critical thinking throughout your life.
This form of therapy therefore teaches the explicit concepts and principles of critical reasoning to help therapists and clients, as well as people working alone, explicitly guide their mental and emotional lives onto higher, more fulfilling, more self-actualizing ground.
Critical Thinking Therapy provides therapists with a holistic approach to therapy using the broad range of critical thinking tools. A goal in Critical Thinking Therapy is the development of ethical character as we reach toward self-actualization.
It is not a vague approach that simply looks for thinking underlying behaviour. Rather, it is a way of living in which we reach for the highest levels of thought and action across all parts of our lives, and in which we believe in the power of our own minds.
Critical Thinking Therapy advances a broad range of skills of deep internal reflection that enable people to better answer questions such as these:
What are the most pressing problems I face?
What can I do to improve my attitude and outlook on life? What can I change about myself or my circumstances, so I am happier and more fulfilled?
How can I fit myself into a society that is frequently superficial or pathological, without losing my identity? What can I contribute to such a world?
How can I get outside my merry-go-round thinking (like worrying) and create new options for myself?
What are the barriers to my achieving what I could achieve? How can I reach my potential and become self-actualized?
Am I satisfied with my job and profession? Do I need to pursue a different career path?
Should I continue to live with the people I have been living with?
Is something about my work or home life causing me to be mentally unwell? What can I do about my conditions to improve them?
How can I take the important questions that I need to reason through, one by one, and reason through them at the highest level possible?
What are my real options? What are my best options?
Critical Thinking Therapy will most likely appeal to therapists already using a cognitive behavioural therapy approach, since Critical Thinking Therapy’s main emphasis is on uncovering faulty thinking that leads to problematic expectations or behaviour.
But there are better and worse approaches to cognitive behavioural therapy, and ultimately, critical thinking is required to accurately critique all forms of therapy – including cognitive behavioural therapies.
Thinking
It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue; assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions; implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and frame of reference.
Critical thinking — in being responsive to variable subject matter, issues, and purposes — is incorporated in a family of interwoven modes of thinking, among them: scientific thinking, mathematical thinking, historical thinking, anthropological thinking, economic thinking, moral thinking, and philosophical thinking.
Critical thinking can be seen as having two components: 1) a set of information and belief generating and processing skills, and 2) the habit, based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behaviour.
It is thus to be contrasted with:
1) the mere acquisition and retention of information alone, because it involves a particular way in which information is sought and treated.
2) the mere possession of a set of skills, because it involves the continual use of them; and
3) the mere use of those skills (“as an exercise”) without acceptance of their results.
Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When grounded in selfish motives, it is often manifested in the skilful manipulation of ideas in service of one’s own, or one’s groups’, vested interest. As such it is typically intellectually flawed, however pragmatically successful it might be.
When grounded in fairmindedness and intellectual integrity, it is typically of a higher order intellectually, though subject to the charge of “idealism” by those habituated to its selfish use.
Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone is subject to episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought. Its quality is therefore typically a matter of degree and dependent on, among other things, the quality and depth of experience in each domain of thinking or with respect to a particular class of questions.
No one is a critical thinker through-and-through, but only to such-and-such a degree, with such-and-such insights and blind spots, subject to such-and-such tendencies towards self-delusion. For this reason, the development of critical thinking skills and dispositions is a life-long endeavour.
Faculty Lack a Substantive Concept of Critical Thinking
Studies demonstrate that most college faculty lack a substantive concept of critical thinking. Consequently, they do not (and cannot) use it as a central organizer in the design of instruction. It does not inform their conception of the student’s role as learner.
It does not affect how they conceptualize their own role as instructors. They do not link it to the essential thinking that defines the content they teach. They, therefore, usually teach content separate from the thinking students need to engage in if they are to take ownership of that content.
They teach history but not historical thinking. They teach biology, but not biological thinking. They teach math, but not mathematical thinking.
They expect students to do analysis but have no clear idea of how to teach students the elements of that analysis. They want students to use intellectual standards in their thinking but have no clear conception of what intellectual standards they want their students to use or how to articulate them.
They are unable to describe the intellectual traits (dispositions) presupposed for intellectual discipline. They have no clear idea of the relation between critical thinking and creativity, problem-solving, decision-making, or communication.
They do not understand the role that thinking plays in understanding content. They are often unaware that didactic teaching is ineffective. They don’t see why students fail to make the basic concepts of the discipline their own.
They lack classroom teaching strategies that would enable students to master content and become skilled learners.
Most faculty have these problems, yet with little awareness that they do. The majority of college faculty consider their teaching strategies just fine, no matter what the data reveal.
Whatever problems exist in their instruction they see as the fault of students or beyond their control.
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