How to Improve Critical Thinking: Featuring Logic and Common Sense

How to Improve Critical Thinking?

Few persons care to study Logic, because everybody conceives himself to be proficient enough in the art of reasoning already. But I observe that this satisfaction is limited to one’s own ratiocination and does not extend to that of other men.

– Charles S. Pierce

OBJECTIVES
By studying this lecture, you are expected to:
1. Learn how to improve critical thinking
2. Explain Critical Thinking
3. Define Logic
4. State how Logic, common sense, and critical thinking are related

TOPICS
1. Definition of Critical Thinking
2. Definition of Logic
3. Definition of common Sense
4. Logic as a foundation of Critical Thinking

How to improve critical thinking involves understanding Logic and common sense. The three have surprising interrelation. So let us find out.

CRITICAL THINKING does not necessarily mean being “critical” in a negative sense. Although one sense of the term critical means crucial, another sense, which is more fitting in this case, derives from κριτικός (kritikos) which means discerning judgment.

In fact, the term “critical thinking” is academically understood as evaluative or analytical thinking. The result of evaluation can range from positive to negative, from acceptance to rejection, or anything in-between.

As can be deduced from the words of some scholars, we can say the following things about Critical Thinking:

1. A protection

“[Critical thinking is] . . . the examination and test of propositions of any kind which are offered for acceptance, in order to find out whether they correspond to reality or not … It is our only guarantee against delusion, deception, superstition, and misapprehension of ourselves and our earthly circumstances.” – William Graham Sumner

2. A versatile tool

“Critical thinking is reasonably and reflectively deciding what to believe or do. It means making reasoned judgments. Basically, it is using criteria to judge the quality of something, from cooking to a conclusion of a research paper.  In essence, critical thinking is a disciplined manner of thought that a person uses to assess the validity of something: a statement, news story, argument, research, etc. “- Robert Ennis

3.A nucleus of education

“Critical thinking is not an isolated goal unrelated to other important goals in education.  Rather, it is a seminal goal which, done well, simultaneously facilitates a rainbow of other ends.  It is best conceived, therefore, as the hub around which all other educational ends cluster.  For example, as students learn to think more critically, they become more proficient at historical, scientific, and mathematical thinking.  Finally, they develop skills, abilities, and values crucial to success in everyday life.” -Peter Facione

In the field of education, various experts suggest that Critical Thinking be systematically designed into instruction that learning will not be unguided and superficial. And as its relevance transcends the four corners of the classroom, Critical Thinking, we can say, is not only a cathartic force in education but also a potent resource in one’s personal and civic life. But that is, if Critical Thinking is properly applied and founded on dependable and tested foundation like Logic.

How to Improve Critical Thinking: Studying Logic

Logic, on the other hand, is that branch of Philosophy that also serves as its language. Logic is the language which Philosophy speaks because any other branch of Philosophy, say Ethics, uses Logic in evaluating the theories submitted within the discipline.

Generally speaking, Logic reflects upon the nature of “correct thinking.” A very simple definition would be:

Logic is the subject which teaches the rules for correct and proper reasoning.

A more complete and “sophisticated” definition is:

Logic is a philosophical science that evaluates arguments to distinguish correct from incorrect reasoning.

The terms within this definition like “reasoning” and “arguments” are discussed comprehensively in various subsequent lectures in this site.

Common sense and Logic

Our internal sense of what is logical and what is not is the ‘natural’ Logic, which we generally refer to as “common sense.” Inherent among us, it is further learned through our personal experiences in the world, interactions, and acquisition of language.

The ‘philosophically scientific Logic’ or the Logic we strive to acquire and master is simply our ‘natural Logic’ trained and developed to expertness. To be logical therefore is to ripen and enhance one’s ‘common sense’ through exposure to well-established knowledge of the principles, laws, and methods which underlie the various operations of the mind in the pursuit and attainment of truth, validity, and soundness.

Logic: A Foundation of How to Improve Critical Thinking

Logic and Critical Thinking are fundamentally intertwined. In fact, you cannot be considered a critical thinker if you are illogical. So there must be an essential link between the two disciplines. The following statements expound on this relationship:

1. The essence of Critical Thinking is Logic and logical evaluation that uses reality checks and qualitychecks.

2. Historically, Critical Thinking as a discipline traces its roots in analytic philosophy—in Greek Socratic tradition in which probing questions were used to determine whether claims to knowledge could be rationally justified with clarity and logical consistency. (Read: Socratic Method: The Elenchus)

3. Critical Thinking necessarily involves knowledge of the science of Logic, including the skills of logical analysis, methods, and correct reasoning.

4. Critical Thinking involves an understanding of logical procedures and of the sources and the nature of knowledge and truth.

5. Correct understanding and evaluation of the sources and nature of concepts, knowledge, truth, validity, and soundness—which are needed in Critical Thinking—are properly governed by either the ‘natural’ or the ‘philosophically scientific’ Logic.

When correctly backed up by sound principle like Logic, Critical Thinking guides one to properly discern goals, inspect assumptions, identify hidden values, evaluate evidence, and bring about actions.

Therefore, studying Logic is an essential training in developing our critical thinking. Our critical faculty is a product of education and training, hence the need to understand the fundamentals of reasoning and engage in logical exercises.

Finally, Logic as an academic discipline also allows us to attain a confidence that we are making sense when we criticize the arguments of others and advance arguments of our own … continue reading

© 2014-present by Jensen DG. Mañebog/MyInfoBasket.com

Also Check Out:
Reasoning and Debate: A Handbook and a Textbook by Jensen DG. Mañebog

Related article: Logic, Critical Thinking, and Philosophy

DISCUSSIONS
1. Explain the importance of Critical Thinking in one’s life as a student.
2. Relate Logic and common sense.
3. Explain: Logic serves as a foundation of Critical Thinking.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES:
1. Give an example of a situation in which Logic and Critical Thinking are important. Explain how they are important in that circumstance.

2. Go online to www.OurHappySchool.com. Through its search engine (upper right corner), look for the article “The Importance of Critical Thinking and Logic”. Read the article and accomplish the instructions under ‘Task’.

NOTE TO STUDENTS: If the comment section fails to function, just SHARE this article to your social media account (Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc) and start the conversation there.