Reflections: Critical Thinking entails many levels of thinking. As learners, we want to use the right tool for the right task. People with analytical skills can detect bad reasoning and dismantle it. The more facile we feel, the better we can "think on our feet," recognize prejudice and bias, and unravel convoluted reasoning. Critical thinking is rooted in a social context. The fact of our uniqueness and yet our connectedness shapes everything we do.

Goals of this chapter: My goal for this chapter is to point out some roadblocks and then give a sense of the territory we cover in this book. There are two main sections to this chapter, namely:

First: In the first half, I look at ten obstacles to clear thinking. (You can add to the list). If someone's brain is blocked from thinking clearly because of some big obstacle like substance abuse, prejudice, conformity, or falling prey to stereotypes, then that person needs to get the obstacles out of the way as soon as possible. Otherwise, their thinking will be confused or narrow or rigid or have some other limitation. Think about taking a test with little or no sleep the night beforeÑwe can do it, but often do not do it well and generally walk out of the room oblivious to what we wrote down on the test sheet. These obstacles are important to address at the outset.

Second: In the second half of the chapter, I look at the basic areas of critical thinking. I start with a comparison to logic. Logic is a much older discipline and more narrowly focused; critical thinking covers more ground. This breadth is a real asset, as it gives us a wide variety of tools for us to tackle the issues and concerns that come our way. This is like looking at a map before the journeyÑit's not necessary to get there from here, but we then know where we are going and what signposts to watch for. This is very helpful. I don't know about you, but I don't like feeling lost. Surveying the territory in this chapter helps address that potential source of confusion and acts as a guide for what lies ahead in the book.

Obstacles to Clear Thinking

All sorts of things can trip us up; for instance when we rush into decisions without thinking about the consequences. Let us examine some of the more obvious obstacles to clear thinking.

1. Survival Issues
2. Prejudice, Bias, and Oppression
3. Unreflective Acceptance of Cultural and Societal Attitudes
4. Falling Prey to Stereotypes
5. Blind Obedience and Unquestioning Deference to Authority
6. Loaded Language
7. Habit and Conformity
8. Limited Access to Information or Evidence
9. Self Esteem Problems
10. One-Sided Thinking

Arguments: The Common Ground of Logic and Critical Thinking

When studying critical thinking, you acquire skills and tools to construct or take apart arguments, examine data, weigh evidence, read more carefully, subject your own reasoning to assessment, reflect on your beliefs, and articulate your own ideas clearly and defensibly. Argumentation is central to both critical thinking and logic. Our main concern is to assess the quality of the evidence in terms of supporting the conclusion. That relationship between the premises and the conclusion is pivotal.

A. Comparison of Logic and Critical Thinking

The key similarity is that both emphasize analysis and careful reasoning. The key difference is that logic is more narrowly focused, whereas critical thinking has a broader scope. Three Key Questions in Logic: (1) What kind of argument is it? Inductive-or deductive?, (2) How convincing is the argument?, (3) Does the argument pass the truth test?

B. Critical Thinking: A Broader Scope

Critical thinking encompasses much more than argumentation and, so, is a broader discipline than logic. It includes skills of observation, description, inference, language analysis, assessing the role of frame of reference, weighing and evaluating evidence, and examining unwarranted assumptions or other potential obstacles to clear thinking.

1. Examining the evidence
How evidence is gathered and examined. Weighing evidence involves separating evidence from background information, deciding on a set of criteria to sort into categories or evaluate it, and then assessing evidence in light of its relevance and quality of support for the conclusion

2. Sorting for Relevance
The more relevant the evidence is, the greater its role or impact. Consider how each piece of evidence links to the thesis.

3. Analysis
When we analyze, we need to be observant to detail, able to clarify problems, tasks, and goals, we need to separate fact from opinion, we need to recognize speculation as opposed to giving evidence for a position, we need to be able to evaluate testimony and assess credibility, we need to be attentive to moral reasoning, and we need to be able to dismantle arguments and evaluate them.

4. The Role of Ideas in Analysis
There are two key aspects to the role of ideas in critical thinking. One is having ideas (the very fact of synthesizing what we know, contemplating goals, formulating hypotheses, and bursts of creativity and insight) and another is applying and examining ideas.

5. Profile of a Clear Thinker: Skills and Dispositions
Critical reasoning gives us the tools to look at problems, including: (1) Surveillance tools; (2) Analytical tools; (3) Assessment tools; (4) Synthesis tools. Key attitudes and dispositions of a clear thinker include being receptive, flexible, open-minded, a careful listener, attentive to detail, observant, questioning, and willing to persevere. Personal traits include being willing to take risks, and able to look at problems from different vantage points.

6. Frame of Reference
Each of us has a particular vantage point from which events are seen and understood. This is what is known as our frame of reference. This framework is shaped by our prior knowledge, assumptions, values, language or notation, among others. Assumptions and values may also influence our perceptions.

7. Diverse Perspectives in Critical Thinking
In assessing arguments, be aware of whose interests prevail, whose history has priority, whose frame of reference determines the norm, and who sets the criteria for decision-making. These are all aspects of the perspective taken on ideas events and the framework of assessing them. The Seven Key Dimensions of Diversity: (1) Frame Of Reference, (2) Power Dimensions, (3) Values And Beliefs, (4) Race And Ethnicity, (5) Class, (6) Gender, (7) and Language.