Coming to Terms on Critical Thinking

Abstract

Introduction:  The attention given to critical thinking in the last several years has led to an ever-increasing number of conflicting strategies and definitions.  For example, one camp might claim that critical thinking is detached from the disciplines and is merely another name for either formal or informal logic.  Other camps may, on the other extreme, plunge critical thinking absolutely into a discipline: to some it means no more than giving good discipline-accepted reasons; or to others it is the capability to do the "right thing" at the "right time."  These positions should be found unacceptable for none is capable of unsuccessfully integrating critical thinking both into the disciplines and also across a curriculum containing many disciplines.  That critical thinking should facilitate both intense specialization as well as interdisciplinary connections seems the implicit rationale for its increasingly widespread implementation, especially as a part of competency-based curricula.  Some recent literature begins to explore the dialectical dimension of critical thinking, but more important contributions have been made by the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children which develops the dialogical aspect.  The invaluable contributions of Dr. Lipman and Dr. Sharp have greatly influenced the ideas in this essay which is intended to promote even further their insights into the critical thinking conversation.