What is critical thinking?

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is the central intellectual skill that a tertiary education seeks to develop in students. It involves taking an attitude of reflective skepticism towards what we read and what people tell us.

“Reflective” means thinking seriously about what we have read or heard; “skepticism” means not taking it for granted that what we have read or heard is true or correct. Instead, we seek to evaluate or assess the validity of the information and opinions we encounter.

NOTE: “critical” in this context does not just mean looking for mistakes and weaknesses. It means judging what is good and what is not in the reading, and why. Critical evaluation is a higher order intellectual skill, and can therefore be a demanding intellectual task. One of the purposes of a university education is to develop your capacity to do this, and it does take time.