What Is Critical Thinking

Student: Alan Cummins Student ID: 1165236

Course: B. A. Psychology

Module: Critical Thinking PSH184

Lecturer: Dr. Patrick Quinn

Critical thinking is a quest for knowledge, truth, integrity and fair-mindedness. It

can be argued as one of the defining attributes of a human.

“I decided to suppose that nothing that had ever entered my mind was more real

than the illusions of dreams. But I soon noticed that while I thus wished to think

everything false, it was necessarily true that I who thought so was something. Since this

truth, I think, therefore I am, or exist, was so firm and assured that all the most

extravagant suppositions of the sceptics were unable to shake it, I judged that I could

safely accept it as the first principle of the philosophy I was seeking.” [D1637]

Without the ability to think critically and to prod and poke all things presented to us

dualistically in body and mind we would in Descartes’ words be lost in a dream-world

where truth would be an unknown and subjective concept. This essay will discuss what

critical thinking is and how it informed and guided the early Greek forefathers of

philosophy, how critical thinking is the backbone of education, some of the common

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pitfalls of logical argument and the principle’s pertinence to students in life and

psychology from the founding fathers through to present day.

In discussing what critical thinking is definition of some of the core terms is

required. Critical thinking is argument, reasoning, knowledge, wisdom, scientific

investigation, oratory and belief. What these terms are is important in framing our

discussion. The word critical has negative connotations - to find fault with an object or

concept and although used in such a way when playing a devil’s advocate the term should

be used in relation to skillful judgement of truth and merit. It is the careful perusal of the

relevant facts and statements and the forming of a fair judgement. In making this

judgement argument is required. Once more it is often associated with verbal opposition,

altercations and negative contention but it is meant as a means to a fair process of

reasoning. With reasoning conclusions, judgements and inferences can be made from the

facts and premises presented or as is often the case to disentangle oratory from truth

(although not necessarily mutually exclusive concepts). Why must we pursue critical

thinking and reasoning?

“it is wisdom that makes possible courage and self-control and integrity” [P360BC,

69b]

As Plato suggests without wisdom courage, self-control and integrity are hard to come

by. Knowledge is achieved through acquaintance with facts, truths and principles. This is

what strove the early Greek philosophers to inquire and investigate and in doing so form

their guiding arché. More importantly wisdom is a coupling of knowledge of truth with

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actionable judgements. This adherence to moral and ethical principles should be

something that is pursued by humankind.

“If a soul is in a bad state, being ignorant, immoderate, immoral and irreligious, it

must be restrained from satisfying its appetites and prevented from doing anything but

what will improve it.. we all benefit equally from the truth being made clear.. I am simply

your fellow explorer in the search for truth” [A350BC, 505b, 505e-506a]

Education is an on-going process of imparting and acquiring knowledge, of

developing the powers of reasoning and judgement. As psychologists we have a

responsibility to prepare ourselves and others around us intellectually and emotionally for

mature life. Education should not be purely a memory-based pursuit where facts and

figures are committed to the mind. It is a relevant critical investigation of all facts

brought to bear in the education of the student. Phrases such as “the school of hard-

knocks”, “school of life” and “in at the deep-end” are pertinent in relation to critical

thinking as a tool for education.

“Those who frequent my company at first appear, some of them, quite unintelligent,

but, as we go further with our discussions, all who are favoured by heaven make progress

at a rate that seems surprising to others as well as to themselves, although it is clear that

they never learned anything from me. The many admirable truths they bring to birth have

been discovered by themselves from within… start again and try to explain what

knowledge is. Never say it is beyond your power;“ [PT360BC]

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As Plato discusses above, Truth comes from learning and self-discovery, learning is to

question. A teacher should only help to frame the relevant questions.

“If a question can be framed at all, it is also possible to answer it.” [WL1918, 6.5]

Questioning should be used to find the true facts of any given presentation made by a

teacher or guide. Critical thinking, rather than confounding the issues of education, helps

to elucidate for the student the real issues at hand, to determine what is true, relevant and

right.

“It is the business of philosophy.. to make it possible for us to get a clear view”

[WL1953, 125]

Lack of knowledge is seen as a weakness whereas Socrates put it correctly that it is the

lack of awareness of ignorance that is of more worrying consideration. A student is far

better to query and cajole than blindly accept.

“better that the mass of mankind should disagree with me and contradict me, than

I, a single individual, should be out of harmony with myself and contradict myself.”

[A350BC, 482c]

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“Analysis Paralysis” should be avoided however. Relevancy is a key term in questioning.

Building upon but always forming questions pertaining to the subject area is the only

means of progression.

“Always to separate sharply the psychological from the logical, the subjective from

the objective;

Never to ask for the meaning of a word in isolation, but only in the context of a

proposition;

Never to lose sight of the distinction between concept and object.” [FG1959]

We shall now discuss some of the common fallacies and errors in critical thinking.

Where required relevant present-day examples will be given but not wholly discussed.

Democratic fallacy is defined as the assumption that majority opinion is treated as a

source of truth and a reliable guide for action. Plato would argue for a benevolent

dictatorship in his work “The Republic” but it is oft argued as only applicable in an ideal

society. A single entity’s point of view and subjectivity on benevolence renders the

concept difficult to obtain so democracy and the process of common good is used.

However, the concept of common good is a subjective one. A puerile and perhaps ad

hominem example in present day terms would be that of the American President George

Bush. It might be reasonable to question whether the voice of the democracy ultimately

made the correct and wise decision in making such a man the leader of one of the most

influential countries in the world. The phrase “Design by committee” is oft used to berate

a design, again elucidating the democratic fallacy. Consensus does not necessarily equal

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truth or beauty. Another common move in argumentation is that of “Companions in

Guilt”. This falls on the fallacy that what is socially acceptable is also morally acceptable.

Surely if everyone is doing it, it cannot be wrong. Piracy is a good example of such. The

act as illegally defined within our governing laws is broken by many people, increasingly

so in this age of the digital. There is a diluted responsibility in place, no one person can

be blamed for the loss of revenue or jobs to a company suffering from software piracy for

example. (Once more it must be prefaced with an acknowledgement of the inconsistency

of the law relating to digital copyright and a muddying of the water in terms of actual

revenue loss to any given company.) Wide-ranging issues such as global warming,

nuclear power, animal testing, stem-cell research, GM foods, war and political upheaval

are, but to name a few, prey to comment by universal expertise. These universal experts

can be as ill-informed (but not necessarily so) as celebrities (who worryingly are seen as

authority by both old and young) or as seemingly well-informed scientists. Truth by an

authority is only truth on a superficial level. Health issues surrounding the MMR vaccine

have fallen foul of truth by authority and universal expertise. Counter-intuitively truth by

authority was in action when politicians refused to make clarifying statements regarding

their own children’s vaccinations causing concern among the public. By inaction they

had given credence to universal or mistaken scientific experts who had made inaccurate

findings tying MMR to autism and bowel disease. Independent organisations such as

“Sense About Science” [SAS07] have been put in place purely to respond to the

misrepresentation of science by sources both scientific and celebrity. The issue is plainly

how one determines which expert or authority to be guided by.

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 “When I noticed how many different opinions learned men may hold on the same

subject, despite the fact that no more than one of them can ever be right, I resolved to

consider almost as false any opinion which was merely plausible” [D1637]

Whether it is termed propaganda, placed by vested interests or genuinely intended but

misplaced facts it is up to the individual to critically analyse and judge the presented

details thereafter. These fallacies should be avoided but can be of use in playing a devil’s

advocate.

“We need the capacity effectively to urge contradictory positions.. not so that we

may adopt either of the two (it is quite wrong to persuade human beings to evil), but that

we should be aware how the case stands and be able, if our adversary deploys his

arguments unjustly, to refute them.” [A350BC, 1355a-1355b]

If we recognise the shortfalls of a detractor’s arguments we can shore up our premises

against argument. We should avoid bias, distortion, prejudice and ignorance (or rather

lack of awareness of our own ignorance as related by Socrates) then we can reach for

truth, integrity and humility.

If we trace history from the early Greek philosophers such as Heraclitus, Plato,

Socrates, and Aristotle through to the founding fathers of psychology such as Descartes,

Locke, Darwin, Wundt, Freud and Esyenck there is a common theme throughout. None

accepted the world as it stood, all strove to extend their knowledge of the world around

them, to critically assess the issues of their day.

Student: Alan Cummins Student ID: 1165236 7 of 11

 “Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a body

of doctrine but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations.”

[WL1918, 4.112]

As science progresses many of their ideologies have been found to be superficially

lacking but their spirit of analysis and quest to understand has and will continue to lead us

to a better understanding of the human mind and body and its place in the world. We

must not however ignore emotion and the commonplace. We cannot fall for the Socratic

fallacy that everything must be determined and defined precisely before it can be

understood. A balance must be struck. Thinking underlies emotion but emotion drives

thinking. Reason and logic alone cannot guide us.

“Tis not therefore, reason, which is the guide of life, but custom. That alone

determines the mind, in all instances, to suppose the future comfortable to the past”

[H1748]

but, equally we cannot rely on the subjective alone.

“We seek to define them psychologically, in terms of the nature of the human mind.

But this account makes everything subjective, and if we follow it through to the end, does

away with truth” [FG1959]

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As psychologists we must strike the correct balance and strive for truth, integrity and

compassion in and for our work. Descartes perhaps put it best, that critical thinking is:

“Never to accept anything as true unless I recognised it to be certainly and

evidently as such: that is, carefully to avoid all precipitation and prejudgement, and to

include nothing in my conclusion unless it presented itself so clearly and distinctly in my

mind that there was no reason or occasion to doubt” [D1637]

Student: Alan Cummins Student ID: 1165236 9 of 11

References:

[A350BC] Aristotle, (350 B.C.), “The Art of Rhetoric”

[D1637] Descartes, (1637), “Discourse on Method”, Penguin Books Ltd, 1973

[FG1959] Frege Dr. G., 1959, “The Foundations of Arithmetic”, Basil Blackwell, Oxford

[FR1979] Fancher E. Raymond, (1979), “Pioneers of Psychology”, 3rd Edition, Norton &

Company

[H1748] Hume, (1748) “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding”, Eric Steinberg,

Hackett Pub Co Inc, 2nd Edition, 1993

[P360BC] Plato, (360 B.C.), “Phaedo”

[PT360BC] Plato, (360 B.C.), “Theaetetus”

[SAS07] Sense About Science, 2007, Cambridge, London

[WN2000] Warburton, Nigel, (2000) “Thinking From A to Z”, 2nd edition, Routledge

Publishers

Student: Alan Cummins Student ID: 1165236 10 of 11

[WL1953] Wittgenstein Ludwig, translated by G. E. M. Anscombe, (1953),

“Philosophical Investigations”, Blackwell Publishers, 2001

[WL1918] Wittgenstein Ludwig, David Francis Pears, Brian McGuinness, (1918)

“Tractus Logico-Philosophicus”, Routledge, 2003

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