Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is the purposeful and reflective judgment about what to believe or what to do in response to our observations, experience, verbal or written expressions, or arguements. It involves determining the meaning and significance of what is observed or expressed, concerning a given inference or argument, determining whether there is adequate justification to accept the conclusion as true.
Fisher & Scriven define critical thinking as "Skilled, active, interpretation and evaluation of observations, communications, information, and argumentation." Parker & Moore define it more naturally as” the careful, deliberate determination of whether one should accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim and the degree of confidence with which one accepts or rejects it.”
In simpler terms, Critical thinking is disciplined logical thinking governed by clear intellectual standards. Critical thinkers must always seek truth and reality. It employs not only logic but broad intellectual criteria such as clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, significance and fairness. While thinking critically we must give due consideration to the evidence, the context of judgment, the relevant criteria for making the judgment correctly, the applicable methods or techniques for forming the judgment, and the applicable theoretical constructs for understanding the problem and the question at hand.
Critical Thinking and Perception
Perception is an extremely common word used to define our own thinking and beliefs about certain situations and facts. The word