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BUSS5221
Week 2
Critical Thinking
Dr Lova Andriamora
lovasoa.andriamora@sydney.edu.au
The University of Sydney Page 2
Acknowledgement of Country
We would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the
traditional owners of the land on which the University of
Sydney (Camperdown Campus) is built.
As we share our knowledge, teaching, and learning within this
University, may we also pay respect to the knowledge
embedded forever within the Aboriginal Custodianship of
Country
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Admin
– Announcement
– Timetable
– Click my video on ‘How to study this unit’
page
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The three types of Mindset in BUSS5221 Modules:
Creative mindset, analytic mindset & Critical mindset
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Thought versus Thinking
A “thought is the act of attending to, identifying, and making meaningful responses to stimuli… characterised
by the ability to generate strings of ideas” (Mlodinow, 2018, p34)
Thinking is a process of taking that thought and doing something with it ( e.g. to deliver new ideas)
No thinking
• Not establishing a point by argument and counter-argument
• Establishing points by relying on anecdotes
• Establishing points by cherry-picking information that conforms with what you want to say
• Simply going forward with what you think or what you heard or read (because it has been repeated and
stressed, and because it has always been accepted that way)
• Engaging with what we have heard or read ‘on its own terms’, without commenting, challenging or
drawing comparisons with other sources
• Simply describing, explaining or restating what we have heard or read, and treating these as non-
contestable.
• Not putting any efforts into rational persuasion
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What is thinking?
– Thinking is a process of questioning anything and everything and asking better questions
– The art of asking good questions.
It is important because
▪ It helps in making better decisions by making us independent and by strengthening our ability
to detect ‘non-sense or even common-sense’’.
▪ It ensures that our opinions are well-informed*.
▪ It is the only way we can invent things, make discoveries and find better ways of doing things.
▪ Stephens (2020) in his book the End on Thinking argues that ‘today, ideas are power’- You can
generate ideas by ‘thinking- collectively’.
▪ A virtuous mind cares about thinking.
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Our thinking attitude
➢ Remember last week, we discussed ‘Growth and fixed mindset’?
➢ Thinking is a bit related to ‘growth mindset’. Thinking is a deeply human activity, and the way
we go about it reveals much about our character.
➢ Do we know how to think well about all that new information? Do we appreciate it when
someone asks hard questions of our opinions? Do we care about finding truth, or just being
seen to be right? Do we think only for ourselves, or do we also think for the good of others?
➢ Our thought life goes well beyond our small domains of expertise.
➢ ‘You are not entitled to your opinion’ means when you share your ideas it’s still OK for people
to ask questions, offer critique, and suggest improvements (This is the very definition of critical
thinking.)
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Thinking could go wrong
Philosophy
Epistemology= theory of knowledge
✓ How can we reliably claim to ‘know something’? Philosophers press us to consider what
justification or grounds we have to claim something as knowledge
✓ We get easily offended when people challenges us or ask tough questions- No humility to
accept challenges
Psychology
Confirmation bias is the habit that, once we believe something to be true, we then shut our minds
off form seriously considering alternatives.
We tend to respond and then defend. Emotions forestall the possibility of thought
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Thinking could go wrong
– Statistics
We live in an age flooded by data. To a degree unknown by generation past, we think with
statistics
but
Rare is the friend who asks, Where have you got these data from? ‘Is it a good graph? Is this the
most appropriate graph to convey information?
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Problems
❖ Relatively few people want to think (Jacobs, 2027)
❖ We suffer from a settled determination to avoid thinking
❖ Being thoughtful can get annoying
❖ It often stands in the way of the easy option. It will slow some decisions down, and it may stop
some altogether
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Other concepts
– Right and left brain
Right-brained people are more likely to be intuitive and creative free-thinkers.
Left-brained people tend to be more quantitative and analytic.
– Convergent thinking versus divergent thinking
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The Brain, Heart and gut
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CRITICAL THINKING
➢ Thinking about thinking
➢ Art of asking good questions
➢ ‘Critical thinking is the art of analysing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving it.’
➢ Criticism is less about destroying your ideas and more about what the philosopher Catherine
Hundleby calls ‘argument repair’.
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CRITICAL THINKING
❖ Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualising,
applying, analysing, synthesising, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated
by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and
action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject
matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good
reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.
❖ Critical thinking has been described as an ability to question; to acknowledge and test
previously held assumptions; to recognize ambiguity; to examine, interpret, evaluate, reason,
and reflect; to make informed judgments and decisions; and to clarify, articulate, and justify
positions
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CRITICAL THINKING
– Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self- monitored and self-corrective
thinking.
– It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities* and a commitment to overcome
our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.
– Critical thinking is that mode of thinking - about any subject, content, or problem - in which the
thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skilfully taking charge of the structures
inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them.
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HOW DO WE CRTICALLY THINK?
Models:
1. Characterisitics of critical thinkers
2. Paul-Elder Critical Thinking Framework
3. 8 elements of thought
4. Moore (Reading)
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Judgement
A skeptical and
provisional view
Simple
Originality
Careful &
Sensitive
reading of the
text
Rationality
Adopting an
ethical &
activist stance
Self
Reflexivity
Major
Themes
Minor
Themes
(Foundation for Critical Thinking, n.d.)
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A COMPARISON OF CRITICAL AND UNCRITICAL THINKING
CRITICAL THINKING
– Results in reliable knowledge
(knowledge that has a strong
likelihood of being true) or
justified true belief (belief that is
probably true because it is
justified by a proven method).
UNCRITICAL THINKING
– Results in unreliable knowledge or
unjustified belief. This knowledge
may be true, but we have no
confidence that it is except by faith
and hope. Often this knowledge is
not true.
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CRITICAL THINKING
– Logical Thinking
Characterised by reliance on correct
forms of reasoning that use logic in a
proper manner. Premises are reliable
and conclusions follow logically.
UNCRITICAL THINKING
– Illogical Thinking
Characterised by fallacious reasoning,
specious arguments, false analogies,
knowledge claims supported by
inadequate or unreliable premises.
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CRITICAL THINKING
Empirical Thinking
Relies on objective sensory
experience (empirical evidence).
Such evidence is repeatable,
measurable, and testable by
others.
UNCRITICAL THINKING
Intuitive Thinking
Belief in the superiority of the
mind's powers; that knowledge of
reality can be obtained by
subjective experience or intuition
alone.
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CRITICAL THINKING
– Pragmatic Thinking
Recognises that wishes and hopes do not make
a belief true or even worth holding.
UNCRITICAL THINKING
– Hopeful/Wishful Thinking
The willing suspension of disbelief because of
devout wishes and hopes.
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CRITICAL THINKING
– Sceptical Thinking
Constant critical questioning of the
reliability of any knowledge we
claim to possess and requiring
adequate grounds for any belief or
claim to knowledge.
UNCRITICAL THINKING
– Authoritarian Thinking
Uncritical belief is some doctrine or
authority, especially without
adequate grounds; unquestioning
and credulous acceptance of
knowledge claims made by an
authority figure or institution.
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CRITICAL THINKING
Reflective Thinking
Characterised by the willingness to
temporarily suspend belief and
reflect on the sufficiency of the
belief's premises or logic and
the consequences of believing
or acting on those beliefs.
Identifies and recognises
assumptions.
UNCRITICAL THINKING
Dogmatic Thinking
Characterised by the unwillingness
to suspend belief and reflect on
the sufficiency of the belief's
premises and ignoring the
consequences of believing or
acting on those beliefs. Refuses
to recognise or acknowledge
groundless assumptions.
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CRITICAL THINKING
– Realistic Thinking
Predicated on the belief that
phenomena or objects of sense
perception exist independently of
the mind, and these provide an
objective reality that can be known.
UNCRITICAL THINKING
– Idealistic Thinking
Based on the premise that true
knowledge of reality lies only in the
consciousness or reason, in the
sense that objective reality
transcends phenomena of sense
perception.
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CRITICAL THINKING
– Statistical Thinking
Recognition that many empirical
phenomena are understood and
known only in statistical terms or in
a sense that deals with
probabilities, not certainties.
UNCRITICAL THINKING
– Absolutist Thinking
Belief in absolutes and thinking
characterised by holding to
extreme or black and white
positions that see no middle
ground or grey areas.
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CRITICAL THINKING
– Creative Thinking
Characterised by the search for
new facts and ideas which are put
together in unusual and creative
ways. Ability to think in new and
innovative ways.
UNCRITICAL THINKING
– Close-minded Thinking
The unwillingness to entertain new
facts and ideas or use them in new
and creative ways. Reliance on old
or traditional ways of thinking.
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CRITICAL THINKING
– Comprehensible Thinking
Evidence used to reach conclusions
is empirical, repeatable, testable,
verifiable, analysable, and
objective.
UNCRITICAL THINKING
– Mystical Thinking
Evidence used to reach
conclusions is ephemeral, ineffable,
intuitive, unverifiable, sporadic, and
subjective.
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CRITICAL THINKING
– Reasonable Thinking
Characterised by a reliance on
reason to search for and
discover reliable knowledge.
Emotions are not evidence, and
feelings are not facts.
UNCRITICAL THINKING
– Emotional Thinking
Characterised by a reliance on
emotion and feeling to search
for and discover truth or
knowledge, and a pervasive
distrust of reason.
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CRITICAL THINKING
– Analytical Thinking
Routinely comprehending the
universe by a conscious and
reasoned process of analysis,
clarification, comparison, inference,
and evaluation.
UNCRITICAL THINKING
– Ordinary Thinking
Routinely comprehending the
universe by an unexamined
thought process without concern
for its accuracy or completeness.
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THE WRAP AND THE WEFT
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*Critical Thinking
*Assessment 1 is due on Friday Week 3.
Summary
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