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Chapter 1 Summary
- Critical thinking is the systematic evaluation or formulation of beliefs, or statements, by rational standards. Critical thinking is systematic because it involves distinct procedures and methods. It entails evaluation and formulation because it’s used to both assess existing beliefs (yours or someone else’s) and devise new ones. And it operates according to reasonable standards in that beliefs are judged according to the reasons and reasoning that support them.
Why It Matters
- Critical thinking matters because our lives are defined by our actions and choices, and our actions and choices are guided by our thinking. Critical thinking helps guide us toward beliefs that are worthy of acceptance, that can us help be successful in life, however we define success.
- A consequence of not thinking critically is a loss of personal freedom. If you passively accept beliefs that have been handed to you by your family and your culture, then those beliefs are not really yours. If they are not really yours, and you let them guide your choices and actions, then they¾not you¾are in charge of your life. Your beliefs are yours only if you critically examine them for yourself to see if they are supported by good reasons.
- The empowerment obtained through critical thinking can take several forms: Skills for learning and exploring; defense against error, manipulation, and prejudice; and tools for self-discovery.
- Critical thinking does not necessarily lead to cynicism. It can complement our feelings by helping us sort them out. And it doesn’t limit creativity¾it helps perfect it.
- Critical thinking is about determining what we are justified in believing, and that involves an openness to other points of view, a tolerance for opposing perspectives, a focus on the issue at hand, and fair assessments of arguments and evidence. To paraphrase a bumper-sticker slogan: Good critical thinking does not make cynics— people make cynics.
- In a very important sense, critical thinking is thinking outside the box. When we passively absorb the ideas we encounter, when we refuse to consider any alternative explanations or theories, when we conform our ideas to the wishes of the group, when we let our thinking be controlled by bias and stereotypes and superstition and wishful thinking— we are deep, deep in the box. But we rise above all that when we have the courage to think critically. When we are willing to let our beliefs be tried in the court of critical reason, we open ourselves to new possibilities, the dormant seeds of creativity.
Claims and Reasons
- Critical thinking is a rational, systematic process that we apply to beliefs of all kinds. Belief is another word for statement, or claim. A statement is an assertion that something is or is not the case. When you’re engaged in critical thinking, you are mostly either evaluating a statement or trying to formulate one. In both cases your primary task is to figure out how strongly to believe the statement (based on how likely it is to be true). The strength of your belief will depend on the strength of the reasons in favor of the statement.
- Sometimes you may not be able to assign any substantial weight at all to the reasons for or against a statement. There simply may not be enough evidence to rationally decide. Generally when that happens, good critical thinkers don’t arbitrarily choose to accept or reject a statement. They suspend judgment until there is enough evidence to make an intelligent decision.
Reasons and Arguments
- Reasons provide support for a statement. That is, they provide us with grounds for believing that a statement is true. Reasons are themselves expressed as statements. So a statement expressing a reason or reasons is used to show that another statement is true or likely to be true. This combination of statements— a statement (or statements) supposedly providing reasons for accepting another statement—is known as an argument. Arguments are the main focus of critical thinking. They are the most important tool we have for evaluating the truth of statements (our own and those of others) and for formulating statements that are worthy of acceptance. Arguments are therefore essential for the advancement of knowledge in all fields..
- Often people use the word argument to indicate a quarrel or heated exchange. In critical thinking, however, argument refers to the assertion of reasons in support of a statement. The statements (reasons) given in support of another statement are called the premises. The statement that the premises are intended to support is called the conclusion.
- Being able to identify arguments is an important skill on which many other critical thinking skills are based. The task is made easier by indicator words that frequently accompany arguments and signal that a premise or conclusion is present. Premise indicators include for, since, and because. Conclusion indicators include so, therefore, and thus.
- Persuading someone to agree with you is not the same thing as presenting them with a good argument. You can influence people’s opinions by using words to appeal to their ego, gullibility, bigotry, greed, anger, prejudice, and more. You just have to use emotional language, psychological ploys, semantic or syntactic tricks, and outright lies. But having done so, you would not have demonstrated that any belief is true or warranted. You would not have shown that a claim is worthy of acceptance. This latter task is a matter of logic and argument. The machinations of raw persuasion are not.
Arguments in the Rough
- Arguments almost never appear neatly labeled for identification. They usually come imbedded in a lot of statements that are not part of the arguments. Arguments can be complex and lengthy. Your main challenge is to identify the conclusion and premises without getting lost in all the other verbiage.
Of all these nonargumentative elements, explanations are probably most easily confused with arguments. Arguments try to prove or demonstrate that a statement is true. They try to show that something is the case. Explanations, however, do not try to prove that a statement is true. They try to show why or how something is the way it is.