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Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools- A Mini Guide, By Dr. R. Paul & Dr. L. Elder

The Miniature Guide to The Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org 707-878-9100 [email protected]

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The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts & Tools

LIMITED DOWNLOAD COPY The Miniature Guide to

Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools

By Dr. Richard Paul and Dr. Linda Elder

The Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org 707-878-9100 [email protected] LIMITED DOWNLOAD COPY

Why A Critical Thinking Mini-Guide? This miniature guide focuses on of the essence of critical thinking concepts and tools distilled into pocket size. For faculty it provides a shared concept of critical thinking. For students it is a critical thinking supplement to any textbook for any course. Faculty can use it to design instruction, assignments, and tests in any subject. Students can use it to improve their learning in any content area. Its generic skills apply to all subjects. For example, critical thinkers are clear as to the purpose at hand and the question at issue. They question information , conclusions, and points of view. They strive to be clear, accurate, precise, and relevant. They seek to think beneath the surface, to be logical, and fair. They apply these skills to their reading and writing as well as to their speaking and listening. They apply them in history, science, math, philosophy , and the arts; in professional and personal life. When this guide is used as a supplement to the textbook in multiple courses, students begin to perceive the usefulness of critical thinking in every domain of learning. And if their instructors provide examples of the application of the subject to daily life, students begin to see that education is a tool for improving the quality of their lives. If you are a student using this mini-guide, get in the habit of carrying it with you to every class. Consult it frequently in analyzing and synthesizing what you are learning. Aim for deep internalization of the principles you find in it—until using them becomes second nature. If successful, this guide will serve faculty, students, and the educational program simultaneously.

Richard Paul Linda Elder Center for Critical Thinking Foundation for Critical Thinking LIMITED DOWNLOAD COPY

The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools 

Why Critical Thinking?� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 4

The Elements of Thought � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 5

A Checklist for Reasoning � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 6

Questions Using the Elements of Thought � � � � � � � � � � � � 8

The Problem of Egocentric Thinking � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 9

Universal Intellectual Standards � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �10

Template for Analyzing the Logic of Articles and Textbooks � � �13

Criteria for Evaluating Reasoning � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �14

Essential Intellectual Traits� �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �15

Three Kinds of Questions � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �18

A Template for Problem-Solving � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �19

Analyzing and Assessing Research � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �20

What Critical Thinkers Routinely Do� �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � �21

Stages of Critical Thinking Development� �� � � � � � � � � � � � �22

Fourth Edition © 2006 Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org LIMITED DOWNLOAD COPY

 The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools

Why 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 system- atically cultivated. A Definition : Critical thinking is the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a view to ­improving it. 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 openmindedly 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 requires 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 egocen- trism and sociocentrism.

© 2006 Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org LIMITED DOWNLOAD COPY

The Elements of Thought

Point of View Purpose frame of reference , goal, perspective, objective orientation

Implications and Question at issue Consequences problem, issue

Assumptions Information presupposition , data, facts , taking for granted observations, experiences Concepts theories, Interpretation definitions , axioms, and inference laws, principles, conclusions, models solutions

Used With Sensitivity to Universal Intellectual Standards Clarity  Accuracy  Depth  Breadth  Significance Precision Relevance

12 The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools

Could you elaborate further? Clarity Could you give me an example? Could you illustrate what you mean?

How could we check on that? Accuracy How could we find out if that is true? How could we verify or test that?

Could you be more specific? Precision Could you give me more details? Could you be more exact?

How does that relate to the problem? Relevance How does that bear on the question? How does that help us with the issue?

What factors make this a difficult problem? Depth What are some of the complexities of this question? What are some of the difficulties we need to deal with?

Do we need to look at this from another perspective? Breadth Do we need to consider another point of view? Do we need to look at this in other ways?

Does all this make sense together? Logic Does your first paragraph fit in with your last? Does what you say follow from the evidence ?

Is this the most important problem to consider? Significance Is this the central idea to focus on? Which of these facts are most important?

Do I have any vested interest in this issue? Fairness Am I sympathetically representing the viewpoints of others?

The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools 15

Intellectual Integrity Intellectual Intellectual Autonomy Humility

Intellectual Intellectual Confidence Empathy Traits or Virtues in Reason

Intellectual Intellectual Courage Perseverance Fairmindedness

The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools 21

Critical thinkers routinely apply the intellectual standards to the elements of reasoning in order to develop intellectual traits.

The Standards Clarity Precision Accuracy Significance Relevance Completeness Must be Logicalness Fairness applied to Breadth Depth

The Elements Purposes Inferences Questions Concepts As we learn Points of view Implications to develop Information Assumptions

Intellectual Traits Intellectual Humility Intellectual Perseverance Intellectual Autonomy Confidence in Reason Intellectual Integrity Intellectual Empathy Intellectual Courage Fairmindedness

© 2006 Foundation for Critical Thinking www.criticalthinking.org

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Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts & Tools [Electronic License]

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Additional Information About: Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts & Tools [Electronic License]

Dear Administrators, Faculty, Students, Book Purveyors, and all others:

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Entering into an electronic licensing agreement establishes a partnership between you and the Foundation for Critical Thinking (FCT). A primary purpose of this agreement is to protect the copyrighted materials of the Foundation for Critical Thinking and its authors, while advancing fairminded critical thinking across the world.

Possessing intellectual products such as written materials in electronic form entails certain ethical obligations.   As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, the Foundation for Critical Thinking cannot afford to freely offer all of its intellectual resources and products. Some must be purchased if we are to continue fostering critical thinking through the FCT.

The information below delineates your obligations as purchaser and maintainer of our electronic source material.

Purchaser's (i.e. your) usage of electronic licenses for any and all titles within the Thinker's Guide Library, and for any and all products developed by the Foundation for Critical Thinking, is subject to the following terms and conditions:

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The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking-Concepts and Tools Paperback – October 1, 2009

There is a newer edition of this item:.

• Print length 19 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Foundation for Critical Thinking
• Publication date October 1, 2009
• Dimensions 4 x 0.05 x 5.5 inches
• ISBN-10 0944583105
• ISBN-13 978-0944583104
• See all details

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Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Foundation for Critical Thinking (October 1, 2009)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 19 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0944583105
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0944583104
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4 x 0.05 x 5.5 inches
• #312 in Miniatures
• #1,922 in Curricula (Books)
• #19,217 in Education Theory (Books)

About the authors

Richard paul.

As 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. He has written books for every grade level and has done extensive experimentation with teaching tactics and strategies, and devising, among other things, novel ways to engage students in rigorous self-assessment.

Dr. Paul has received four degrees and 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).

His views on critical thinking have been canvassed in the New York Times, Education Week, The Chronicle of Higher Education, American Teacher, Reader’s Digest, Educational Leadership, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report. For more information about Dr. Paul and the work of the Center and Foundation for Critical Thinking, go to www.criticalthinking.org

Linda Elder

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 eighteen 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. For more information on Dr. Elder and the work of the Foundation for Critical Thinking visit www.criticalthinking.org

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