THE SHORT ANSWER
Critical thinking is the disciplined practice of clarifying a claim, examining its evidence and assumptions, considering alternatives, judging uncertainty and deciding what follows. It does not mean rejecting everything or trying to win every disagreement.
Critical thinking is a process, not a personality
A skeptical person can still reason badly by dismissing inconvenient evidence. An open-minded person can still reason badly by accepting incompatible claims. Good judgment asks what support a claim deserves and remains open to changing that judgment.
Make seven parts of a judgment visible
| Part | Question |
|---|---|
| Claim | What exactly is being asserted? |
| Source | Where did it come from? |
| Evidence | What supports it? |
| Assumption | What must be true for the reasoning to hold? |
| Alternative | What else could explain the observation? |
| Uncertainty | How confident should we be? |
| Decision | What action, if any, follows? |
Disagreement is not the objective
Imagine a colleague says customer complaints increased because a new process failed. Critical thinking does not begin by contradicting them. It separates the observed increase from the proposed cause, checks whether definitions or reporting changed, and asks what evidence would distinguish competing explanations.
The result may confirm the colleague's explanation. Critical thinking is successful when the conclusion becomes better justified, even if the first answer survives.
Use one claim that matters
- Write the claim in one sentence.
- Label the evidence and the interpretation separately.
- Name one assumption and one plausible alternative.
- State what remains uncertain.
- Choose what would make you revise the conclusion.
Sources & further reading
- Reproducibility and Replicability in Science
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. A consensus report on evidence, uncertainty, transparency, reproducibility and replication. Scientific standards need proportionate adaptation outside research settings.
- Civic Online Reasoning
Digital Inquiry Group. Source-evaluation teaching resources, including lateral reading: investigating a source beyond its own website.
Examples and exercises are illustrative unless attributed to a source. No independent expert review is claimed.
A correction, a counterexample or an experience worth sharing?
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