Critical Thinking

Ironically, humans are not simply the only “logical” animal, they are also the only “illogical” animal. They are the only animal that uses meanings – ideas, concepts, analogies, metaphors, models, theories and explanations – to make sense of things, to understand, predict, and control things. They are also the only animal that uses meanings to negate, contradict, and deceive itself, to misconceive, distort and stereotype, to become dogmatic, prejudiced and narrow-minded. Humans are the only animal whose thinking can be characterized in terms like clear, precise, accurate, relevant, consistent, profound, and fair: they are also the only animal whose thinking is often imprecise, vague, inaccurate, irrelevant, superficial, trivial, and biased.

Critical thinking makes sense in the light of this paradoxical dichotomy. Humans ought not simply trust their instincts. They ought not believe unquestioningly what spontaneously occurs to them. They ought not accept as true everything taught as true. They are not born with intellectually sound standards for belief, for truth, for validity. They need to cultivate habits and traits which integrate these standards into their lives.

In the last three decades, much has been discovered about animals and their thinking, including the fact that, seen from a certain light, they are very often quite “logical” in their orientation to the world. Still, Paul’s comments about the dichotomous nature of human thought and action are as relevant today as ever. How do we effectively deal with the fact that on the one hand we can be rational, reasonable creatures while on the other, irrational and unreasonable? One and the same person can be logical, open-minded and empathic in one setting while close-minded, selfish and unreasoning in another. This question has always been at the heart of the work of the Center and Foundation for Critical Thinking.

Source: In 1989, in the program for the Seventh International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education Reform, Richard Paul opened with these comments.