What Is Critical Thinking?

A Set of Values

• Thinking for yourself, as compared to accepting unquestioningly what others want you to believe.
• Welcoming the opportunity to explore new ideas, points of view and possibilities.
• Using reason to investigate questions, evaluate ideas, advocate positions, and resolve conflicts.
• Including the voices and perspectives of diverse parties in the discussion of issues.
• Weighing ideas based on their merits, not who advocates them.
• Achieving the best possible resolution of questions, as compared to winning arguments for the sake of winning them.

A Set of Skills

• Inquiry Skills—the ability to frame questions and gather information.
• Understanding and Evaluation Skills—the ability to understand others’ ideas and evaluate arguments offered in support of them.
• Advocacy Skills—the ability to formulate positions and support them in a manner that promotes reasoned discussion.

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East Tennessee State University
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Johnson City, TN 37614-0054