The Nature of Critical Thinking: An Outline of Critical Thinking Dispositions and Abilities
Robert H. Ennis
rhennis@illinois.edu
Revised, 2011
rhennis@illinois.edu
Revised, 2011
Critical thinking is reasonable and reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do. This definition I believe captures the core of the way the term is used in the critical thinking movement. In deciding what to believe or do, one is helped by the employment of a set of critical thinking dispositions and abilities that I shall outline below. These aspects of critical thinking can serve as a set of comprehensive goals for a critical thinking curriculum and its assessment. Usefulness in curriculum decisions, teaching, and assessment, not elegance or mutual exclusiveness, is the purpose of this outline. For the sake of brevity, clarification in the form of examples, qualifications, and more detail, including more criteria, are omitted, but can be found in sources listed below, especially "Critical Thinking: A Streamlined Conception" (1991a) and "A Taxonomy of Critical Thinking Dispositions and Abilities (1987a), but most fully in my Critical Thinking (1996a).
It is only a critical thinking content outline. It does not specify grade level, curriculum sequence, emphasis, teaching approach, or type of subject-matter content involved (standard subject-matter content, general knowledge content, streetwise-knowledge content, special knowledge content, etc.). For assessment purposes it could provide a basis for developing a table of specifications and the preparation of assessment rubrics.
Although the word 'critical' in the English language is sometimes used in a negative sense, this conception of critical thinking is not negative. Also, it does not treat critical thought as persuasion, but critical thought will, we hope, be more persuasive than uncritical thought. The future of democracy depends on it.
This outline is the encapsulation of many years of work in the elaboration of the simple definition of critical thinking given above.Thus it distinguishes between critical thinking dispositions and abilities.
CRITICAL THINKING DISPOSITIONS
Ideal critical thinkers are disposed to
1. Care that their beliefs be true (see note #2 below), and that their decisions be justified; that is, care to "get it right" to the extent possible; including to
a. Seek alternative hypotheses, explanations, conclusions, plans, sources, etc.; and be open to them
b. Consider seriously other points of view than their own
c. Try to be well informed
d. Endorse a position to the extent that, but only to the extent that, it is justified by the information that is available
e. Use their critical thinking abilities
2. Care to understand and present a position honestly and clearly, theirs as well as others'; including to
a. Discover and listen to others' view and reasons
b. Be clear about the intended meaning of what is said, written, or otherwise communicated, seeking as much precision as the situation requires
c. Determine, and maintain focus on, the conclusion or question
d. Seek and offer reasons
e. Take into account the total situation
f. Be reflectively aware of their own basic beliefs
3. Care about every person. (This is an auxiliary, not constitutive, disposition. Although this concern for people is not constitutive, critical thinking can be dangerous without it.) Caring critical thinkers
a. Avoid intimidating or confusing others with their critical thinking prowess, taking into account others' feelings and level of understanding
b. Are concerned about others' welfare
CRITICAL THINKING ABILITIES
The following abilities numbered 1 to 3 involve basic clarification; 4 and 5, the bases for a decision; 6 to 8, inference; 9 and 10, advanced clarification; and 11 and 12, supposition and integration. Abilities13 to 15 are auxiliary abilities, not constitutive of critical thinking, but very helpful.
Ideal critical thinkers have the ability to:
(Basic Clarification, 1 to 3)
1. Focus on a question:
a. Identify or formulate a question
b. Identify or formulate criteria for judging possible answers
c. Keep the question and situation in mind
2. Analyze arguments:
a. Identify conclusions
b. Identify reasons or premises
c. Ascribe or identify simple assumptions (see also ability 10)
c. Identify and handle irrelevance
d. See the structure of an argument
e. Summarize
3. Ask and answer clarification and/or challenge questions, such as:
a. Why?
b. What is your main point?
c. What do you mean by·?
d. What would be an example?
e. What would not be an example (though close to being one)?
f. How does that apply to this case (describe a case, which appears to be a counterexample)?
g. What difference does it make?
h. What are the facts?
i. Is this what you are saying:__________________?
j. Would you say more about that?
(Two Bases for a Decision: 4 and 5)
4. Judge the credibility of a source. Major criteria (but not necessary conditions):
a. Expertise
b. Lack of conflict of interest
c. Agreement with other sources
d. Reputation
e. Use of established procedures
f. Known risk to reputation (the source’s knowing of a risk to reputation, if wrong)
g. Ability to give reasons
h. Careful habits
5. Observe, and judge observation reports. Major criteria (but not necessary conditions, except for the first):
a. Minimal inferring involved
b. Short time interval between observation and report
c. Report by the observer, rather than someone else (that is, the report is not hearsay)
d. Provision of records
e. Corroboration
f. Possibility of corroboration
g. Good access
h. Competent employment of technology, if technology applies
i. Satisfaction by observer (and reporter, if a different person) of the credibility criteria in Ability # 4 above
(Note: A third basis is your own established conclusions.)
(Inference, 6 to 8)
6. Deduce, and judge deduction:
a. Class logic
b. Conditional logic
c. Interpretation of logical terminology, including
(1) Negation and double negation
(2) Necessary and sufficient condition language
(3) Such words as "only", "if and only if", "or", "some", "unless", and "not both"
d. Qualified deductive reasoning (a loosening for practical purposes)
7. Make material inferences (roughly “induction”):
a. To generalizations. Broad considerations:
(1) Typicality of data, including valid sampling where appropriate
(2) Volume of instances
(3) Conformity of instances to generalization
(4) Having a principled way of dealing with outliers
b. To explanatory hypotheses
(This is IBE: “inference-to-best-explanation”, more accurately described as "argument to best explanation"):
(1) Major types of explanatory conclusions and hypotheses:
(a) Specific and general causal claims
(b) Claims about the beliefs and attitudes of people
(c) Interpretation of authors’ intended meanings
(d) Historical claims that certain things happened (including criminal accusations)
(e) Reported definitions
(f) Claims that some proposition is an unstated, but used, reason
(2) Characteristic investigative activities
(a) Designing experiments, including planning to control variables
(b) Seeking evidence and counterevidence, including statistical significance
(c) Seeking other possible explanations
(3) Criteria, the first four being essential, the fifth being desirable
(a) The proposed conclusion would explain or help explain the evidence
(b) The proposed conclusion is consistent with all known facts
(c) Competitive alternative explanations are inconsistent with facts
(d) A competent sincere effort has been made to find supporting and opposing data, and alternative hypotheses
(e) The proposed conclusion seems plausible and simple, fitting into the broader picture
8. Make and judge value judgments
Important factors:
a. Background facts
b. Consequences of accepting or rejecting the judgment
c. Prima facie application of acceptable principles
d. Alternatives
e. Balancing, weighing, deciding
(Advanced Clarification, 9 and 10)
9. Define terms and judge definitions, using appropriate criteria
Three basic dimensions are form, function (act), and content. A fourth, more advanced dimension is handling equivocation.
a. Definition form. For criteria for 1 through 4 and 6, see Ennis (1996, Ch 12 & 13). For #5 see Ennis (1964, 1969c).
(1) Synonym
(2) Classification
(3) Range
(4) Equivalent-expression
(5) Operational
(6) Example and non-example
b. Definitional functions (acts)
(1) Report a meaning (criteria: the five for an explanatory hypothesis)
(2) Stipulate a meaning (criteria: convenience, consistency, avoidance of impact equivocation)
(3) Express a position on an issue (positional definitions, including "programmatic" and "persuasive" definitions) criteria: those for a position (Ennis 2001)
c. Content of the definition
d. Identifying and handling equivocation (Ennis 1996)
10. Attribute unstated assumptions (an ability that belongs under both basic clarification (2b) and inference (7b1f))
a. Pejorative flavor (dubiousness or falsity): commonly but not always associated to some degree with the different types of assumptions. Criteria: See #4 through #8 above.
b. Types:
(1) Presuppositions (required for a proposition to make sense)
(2) Needed assumptions (needed by the reasoning to be at its strongest, but not logically necessary (Ennis 1982c)), (called “assumptions of the argument” by Hitchcock (1985))
(3) Used assumptions (judged by hypothesis-testing criteria, Ennis 1982c), called “assumptions of the arguer” by Hitchcock (1985)
(Supposition and Integration, 11 and 12)
11. Consider and reason from premises, reasons, assumptions, positions,
and other propositions with which one disagree or about which one is in doubt, without letting the disagreement or doubt interfere with one's thinking
("suppositional thinking")
12. Integrate the dispositions and other abilities in making and defending a decision
(Auxiliary abilities, 13 to 15)
13. Proceed in an orderly manner appropriate to the situation:
a. Follow problem solving steps
b. Monitor their own thinking (that is, engage in metacognition)
c. Employ a reasonable critical thinking checklist
14. Be sensitive to the feelings, level of knowledge, and degree of sophistication of others
15. Employ appropriate rhetorical strategies in discussion and
presentation (oral and written), including employing and reacting to "fallacy" labels in an appropriate manner. Examples of fallacy labels are "circularity,"
"bandwagon," "post hoc," "equivocation," "non sequitur," and "straw person”
SUMMARY AND COMMENTS
In brief, the ideal critical thinker is disposed to try to "get it right," to present a position honestly and clearly, and to care about others (this last being auxiliary, not constitutive); furthermore the ideal critical thinker has the ability to clarify, to seek and judge well the basis for a view, to infer wisely from the basis, to imaginatively suppose and integrate, and to do these things with dispatch, sensitivity, and rhetorical skill.
In presenting this outline of critical thinking dispositions and abilities, I have only attempted to depict, rather than defend, them. The defense would require much more space than is available, but would follow two general paths: 1) examining the traditions of good thinking in existing successful disciplines of inquiry, and 2) seeing how we go wrong when we attempt to decide what to believe or do.
In any teaching situation for which critical thinking is a goal, whether it be a separate critical thinking course or module, or one in which the critical thinking content is infused in (making critical thinking principles explicit) or immersed in (not making critical thinking principles explicit) standard subject-matter content, or some mixture of these; all of the dispositions, as well as the suppositional and integrational abilities (# 11 and #12) and auxiliary abilities (#13 through #15) are applicable all the time and should permeate the instruction to the extent that time and student ability permit.
I have only attempted to outline a usable and defensible set of critical thinking aspects, including criteria for making judgments. Space limitations have precluded exemplifying their application n real situations, though I have done so elsewhere. See below. However, aspects are the place to start. I hope that this outline provides a useful basis on which to build curriculum, teaching, and assessment.
The meaning, significance, and application of some of the above aspects might not be apparent to some, who might find the following items, which contain many examples, to be of help. Furthermore detailed criteria for deduction, assumption ascription and definition are not provided in the above outline of the nature of critical thinking because they are too complex for a brief listing. Elaboration of these criteria can be found for deduction in Ennis (2004, 1996a, 1981a, 1976, 1975, 1971, 1969a, 1969b); for assumption ascription, elaboration can be found most fully in Ennis (1982c), but to some extent also Ennis (2001, 1996a, 1961); and for definition in Ennis (1996a, 1981b, 1980, 1974a, 1969a, 1969c, and 1964a). Exemplification of the application of most or all criteria is presented in 1996a, 1991a, 1991b, 1991c, 1987a, 1985b, 1981b, 1980). Comprehensive presentations without exemplification are in Ennis (2011a, 2002). Other and earlier presentations can be found in Ennis (2011b, 2011c, 2011d, 2007, 2006, 2001, 1996b, 1987b, 1985a, 1982a, 1982b, 1981b, 1980, 1974b, 1973, 1969a, 1968, 1964a, 1964b, 1962, 1959a). A complete list of my publications can be found on my academic cv.
REFERENCES
Ennis, Robert H. (2011a). Critical Thinking: Reflection And Perspective—Part I. Inquiry, Vol. 26, 1.
Ennis, Robert H. (2011b). Defending sole singular causal claims. In Zenker, Frank (ed.). Argumentation: Cognition and Community. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation (OSSA), May 18-21, 2011. Windsor, ON (CD ROM).
Ennis, Robert H. (2011c). Reply to Maurice Finnochiaro (2011). ). In Zenker, Frank (ed.). Argumentation: Cognition and Community. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation (OSSA), May 18-21, 2011. Windsor, ON (CD ROM).
Ennis, Robert H. (2011d). Commentary on “Causation and correlation” (2011). ). In Zenker, Frank (ed.). Argumentation: Cognition and Community. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation (OSSA), May 18-21, 2011. Windsor, ON (CD ROM).
Ennis, Robert H. (2007). 'Probable' and its equivalents. In Hans V. Hansen & Robert C. Pinto (Eds.), Reason reclaimed: Essays in honor of J. Anthony Blair and Ralph H. Johnson. Newport News, VA: Vale Press. Pp. 243-256.
Ennis, Robert H. (2006). 'Probably'. In David Hitchcock & Bart Verheij (Eds.), Arguing on the Toulmin model. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer. Pp. 145-164.
Ennis, Robert H. (2004). Applying soundness standards to qualified reasoning. Informal Logic, 24, 1, 23-39.
Ennis, Robert H. (2002). Goals for a critical thinking curriculum and its assessment. In Arthur L. Costa (Ed.), Developing minds (3rd Edition). Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Pp. 44-46.
Ennis, Robert H. (2001). Argument appraisal strategy: A comprehensive approach. Informal Logic, 21.2 (2), 97-140.
Ennis, Robert H. (1998). Is critical thinking culturally biased? Teaching Philosophy, 21, 1 (March), 15-33.
Ennis, Robert H. (1996a) Critical thinking. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Ennis, Robert H. (1996b). Critical thinking dispositions: Their nature and assessability. Informal Logic, 18, 2 & 3, 165-182 .
Ennis, Robert H. (1991a). The State of Illinois goals and sample learning objectives for scientific thinking and methods: Strengths, weaknesses and suggestions. Spectrum, 17 (1), 10-16.
Ennis, Robert H. (1991b). An elaboration of a cardinal goal of science instruction: Scientific thinking. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 23 (1), 31-45.
Ennis, Robert H. (1991c). Critical thinking: A streamlined conception. Teaching Philosophy, 14 (1), 5-25.
Ennis, R.H. (1990a). The extent to which critical thinking is subject specific: further clarification, Educational Researcher, 19 (4), 13-16.
Ennis, R.H. (1990b). The rationality of rationality: Why think critically? In Ralph Page (Ed.), Philosophy of education 1989. Bloomington, IL: Philosophy of Education Society, 1990. Pp. 402-405.
Ennis, R.H. (1989). Critical thinking and subject specificity: Clarification and needed research. Educational Researcher, 18 (3), 4-10.
Ennis, Robert H. (1987a). A taxonomy of critical thinking dispositions and abilities. In J. Baron & R. Sternberg (Eds.), Teaching thinking skills: Theory and practice. New York: W.H. Freeman. Pp. 9-26.
Ennis, Robert H. (1987b). A conception of critical thinking – with some curriculum suggestions. APA Newsletter on Teaching Philosophy, Summer. Pp.1-5.
Ennis, Robert H. (1985a). Quality and creativity. In E. Robertson (Ed.), Philosophy of education, 1984 (pp. 323-328). Bloomington, IL: Philosophy of Education Society.
Ennis, Robert H. (1985b). A logical basis for measuring critical thinking skills, Educational Leadership, 43 (2), 44-48.
Ennis, Robert H. (1982a). Abandon causality? Educational Researcher, 11 (7), 25-27.
Ennis, Robert H. (1982b). Mackie's singular causality and linked overdetermination. In Asquith, Peter D. & Nickles, Thomas (Eds.), PSA 1982. East Lansing MI: Philosophy of Science Association. Pp. 55-64.
Ennis, Robert H. (1982c). Identifying implicit assumptions. Synthese , 51, 61-86.
Ennis, Robert H. (1981a). A conception of deductive logic competence. Teaching Philosophy, 4, 337-385.
Ennis, Robert H. (1981b) Rational thinking and educational practice. In J. Soltis, (Ed.), Philosophy of Education, 1981 (Eightieth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part I). Chicago, IL: The National Society for the Study of Education. Pp. 143-183.
Ennis, Robert H. (1981c). Eight fallacies in Bloom's taxonomy. In C.J.B. Macmillan (Ed.), Philosophy of education 1980. Bloomington, IL: Philosophy of Education Society. Pp. 269-273.
Ennis, Robert H. (1980). Presidential address: A conception of rational thinking. In Jerrold Coombs (Ed.), Philosophy of education 1979. Bloomington, IL: Philosophy of Education Society. Pp. 1-30.
Ennis, Robert H. (1979). Research in philosophy of science and science education. In P. Asquith & H. Kyburg (Eds.), Current research in philosophy of science. East Lansing, MI: Philosophy of Science Association. Pp. 138-170.
Ennis, Robert H. (1974a). The believability of people. Educational Forum, 38, 347-354.
Ennis, Robert H. (1974b). Definition in science teaching. Instructional Science, 3, 285-298.
Ennis, Robert H. (1973). On causality. Educational Researcher, 2 (6), 4-11.
Ennis, Robert H. (1969a). Logic in teaching. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Ennis, Robert H. (1969b). Ordinary logic. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Ennis, Robert H. (1969c). Operationism can and should be divorced from covering law assumptions (a reprint of “Operational Definitions (1964). In L.I. Krimerman (Ed.), (1969), The nature and scope of social science: A critical anthology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, pp. 431-444. Pp. 431-444.
Ennis, Robert H. (1968). Enumerative induction and best explanation. The Journal of Philosophy, 65, 523-530.
Ennis, Robert H. (1964a). Operational definitions. American Educational Research Journal, 1, 183-201.
Ennis, Robert H. (1964b). A definition of critical thinking. The Reading Teacher, 17 (8), 599-612.
Ennis, Robert H. (1962). A concept of critical thinking. Harvard Educational Review, 32, 81-111. Reprinted in B. Paul Komisar and C.J.B. Macmillan (Eds.), (1967), Psychological concepts in education. Chicago: Rand McNally and Company, pp. 114-148.
Ennis, Robert H. (1961). Assumption-finding. In B.O. Smith & R.H. Ennis (Eds.), Language and concepts in education. Chicago: Rand McNally and Company . Pp. 161-178. Reprinted as (1971) La identificacion de supestos, in B. Othanel Smith and Robert H. Ennis (Eds.), Lenguaje y conceptos en la educacion, Buenos Aires: El Ateneo, pp. 177-194.
Ennis, Robert H. (1959b). The development of a critical thinking test. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois. University Microfilms #59-00505.
Hitchcock, David (1985). Enthymematic arguments. Informal Logic, vii, (2 and 3), pp. 83-97.
NOTES.
1. This is a thoroughly revised version of a presentation at the Sixth International Conference on Thinking at MIT, Cambridge, MA, July, 1994.
2. A clarification relevant to the use of "true" (under Dispositon 1) with respect to constructivism (the view that truth is constructed):
Radical epistemological constructivism holds that all supposed truths are constructed by us. Conservative epistemological constructivism (the view assumed in this definition/conception of critical thinking) holds that our concepts and vocabulary are constructed by us, but also that (to oversimplify somewhat) the relationships among the referents of our concepts and terms are not constructed by us. We can have true or false beliefs about these.
Pedagogical constructivism holds that students learn best when they construct their own answers to problems and questions: For some (but not all) goals and types of learning, this view has empirical support, but it should not be confused with either type of epistemological constructivism. In particular, the validity of pedagogical constructivism (to the extent that it is valid) does not imply the validity of either type of epistemological constructivism. They are totally different ideas, and are sometimes conflated.
There is a vast literature about 'true', truth, and constructivism.