What Is Critical Thinking? What Is Reasoning?

What is Critical Thinking? What is Reasoning?

by Dan O'Reilly

Though  there  are  numerous  courses,  books  and  articles  about  critical  thinking,  few  address  the  topic  in exactly the same way. Many academics consider critical thinking to be closely related to, if not the same as, reasoning  and  these  individuals  attempt  to  analyze  critical  thinking  by  analyzing  what  it  means  to  reason. This is the approach taken in this course.

Nevertheless, even amongst these scholars, there is still a wide range of different approaches and opinions about the topic. The approach taken frequently depends upon the discipline of the professor. Some professors teach  the  student  to  identify  the  common  fallacies  of  reasoning  by  teaching  the  most  frequently  occurring fallacies in their discipline. Other professors focus on how to identify the main ideas within their discipline, and  then  to  consider  whether  one  is  doing  it  well  or  not.  In  this  course,  we  will  look  at  reasoning  from  a slightly  different  angle  than  either  of  these  approaches;  we  will  examine  reasoning  from  the  logician's perspective by looking at the basic structure of reasoning.

Logicians  attempt  to  identify  the  fundamental  logical  properties  of  reasoning  that  are  common  to  all disciplines. So, if one is reasonable, then one will be alert to these principles, consciously or unconsciously, whether  one  is  a  philosopher,  historian,  anthropologist,  etc.  This  is  not  to  say  that  failing  to  grasp  these principles  will  block  one's  success  academically.  However,  those  who  are  academically  successful  tend  to exhibit  an  ability  to  employ  the  fundamental  logical  principles  of  reasoning.  So,  hopefully,  by  explicitly identifying  and  learning  these  fundamental  principles  you,  the  student,  will  become  more  academically successful.

It is worth keeping in mind that this is not a course in formal logic; rather, it is a course about some of the fundamental principles of reasoning. Nevertheless, we will be employing some of the logician's tools to learn about reasoning. As well, it is worth keeping in mind that this is an introductory course, so we will not be covering  all  topics  on  critical  thinking  nor  will  we  be  going  into  significant  depth  with  regard  to  any particular topic. The course is designed as a very brief overview of critical thinking from a logician's point of view.