For different people critical thinking means different things. The most common trait that everyone equates critical thinking is analytical thinking. However there is no agreement amongst scholars and academicians on what the definition of critical thinking should be, or what all it entails. I will not burden you with more definitions here, as a google search will bring you to many academic definitions, many of which are hard for non-academic folks to decipher or relate to.
In the workplace , you will hear employers and recruiters stating that critical thinking skills are very important for success. A survey of employers in 2020 by the World Economic Forum revealed that employers consider critical thinking to be amongst the top job skills for success. Not only that, when we analyze the top ten skills that the employers declare as being critical for success in their business, we see that critical thinking is a foundational skill for seven of the top ten skills. For example, problem solving capability is amongst the top ten skills. But Critical thinking skills are required to be good at problem solving.
Since we are hearing so much about critical thinking, what exactly is this skills. There are two different ways of looking at this. The first is to list out the traits that you expect critical thinkers to possess and the second is to list out what is the knowledge and concepts we need to acquire to develop those traits.
Some traits of critical thinkers are:
- Understand logic and they are able to detect and assess logical connections between ideas.
- ability to develop and articulate ideas clearly and precisely, free of ambiguity undefined relative terms and undefined vague terms.
- ability to develop cogent arguments based on evidence and sound reasoning
- ability to evaluate arguments to determine their strength, identify weak premises and fallacies
- Separating logical persuasion from rhetoric and moral reasoning
- always ensure their reasoning moves from evidence to inferences, and that the premises of every argument are supported by evidence, or reasonable assumptions in the absence of concrete evidence
- able to recognize the implicit assumptions made in arguments, solutions, plans, decision and solutions. They are also able to evaluate these arguments are reasonable
- Looking at all the points of view of different stakeholders in any decision, problem, solution or plan
- trained to look at the implications of any decision or solution, and modify their decision if the implications are not acceptable
- having a knowledge of cognitive biases and putting in place decision making and problem solving processes to mitigate the effects of cognitive biases.
- Having an attitude of humility and being persuaded only by logic that is backed by evidence. Critical thinkers are also willing and ready to change their beliefs if they are provided with sound logic backed by good evidence
Two central elements of Critical thinking
If I were to ask myself what critical thinking is, I would look at Critical thinking having two different elements
1. The first one is how to thinking critically about an issue and how to think critically. What is an issue? An issue in our context is :
- a problem to be solved
- a decision to be made
- a plan or strategy to be forumlated.
In order to solve or address an issue, we should use a critical thinking framework. This framework ensures that we look at an issue from multiple perspectives. It ensures that we make conclusions only based on evidence. It also requires us to list out our assumptions behind the solution, the implications of the solution and what could be the views of other stakeholders about the solution.
2. The second element of critical thinking is 'How to think critically'. Here we need to learn :
- Logical reasoning. There are many different types of reasoning we use, and we need to learn them all. It's only then that we will be able to reason logically, and also be effective in evaluating reasoning presented to us.
- Clear thinking and communication.We need to understand how lack of clarity can lead to poor critical thinking
- Rhetorical devices. Rhetorical devices are meant to manipulate our emotions to arrive at judgements based on emotion as against logic. We need to learn to recognize rhetorical devices and learn to differentiate it from logic
- Fallacies. These are errors in reasoning often masquerading as good logical reasoning. We need to be aware of these fallacies so that we don't come to conclusions based on erroneous reasoning.
- Cogntive biases. These are systematic errors in judgements under certain circumstances. We need to understand some of these biases to ensure that our judgement are not flawed leading to poor decisions.
In summary, using a critical thinking framework and logical reasoning are central to critical thinking. The other elements of 'how to think critically' should be learnt to avoid being lead astray by poor reasoning. The relationship between 'how to think critically about an issue' and 'how to think critically' is similar to the relationship between the sciences and engineering. Unless I am good at math and physics I cannot be a good mechanical or civil engineer. Engineering is applied science. Similarly 'thinking critically about an issue" requires expertise in 'how to think critically'.