Topic: This paper elaborates on a concept of critical thinking by Robert H. Ennis, thus providing the first extended definition of critical thinking in an academic source.
Author: Robert H. Ennis
Harvard Educational Review, 1962 volume 32, issue 1, Pages 81-111.
Abstract: Research in thinking has frequently been conducted in the fields of psychology and education, but in both fields there is a significant gap: there has been a lack of careful attention to the concept of critical thinking. This paper systematically fills the gap, first with a list of twelve aspects which come under the basic notion of critical thinking as the correct assessing of statements, and which commonly appear on lists of aspects of critical thinking. Next comes a proposed analysis of critical thinking in a three-dimensional scheme composed of logical, criterial, and pragmatic dimensions. Third, the main body of this paper is a detailed consideration of each aspect showing (with sufficient detail to serve as a guide for instruction and evaluation) criteria that are appropriate for judging statements of the type covered by it, explaining its dimensional analysis, and showing the interrelationships between aspects. In the last section, possible research steps are suggested. This enquiry is particularly relevant for psychology, education and subject-specific implementation.
Reference: Ennis, R. H. (1962). A Concept of Critical Thinking. Harvard Educational Review, 32(1), 81-111.
See paper: https://criticalthinking.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Ennis_HER_v32n1_pp81-111.pdf
See pre-print PDF: https://criticalthinking.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/ennis_1962.pdf
This paper is often cited as the first systematic, component-level definition of “critical thinking” and is thus particularly relevant for psychology and education. Prior work, notably by Max Black and John Dewey, is duly recognised. At the time of its publication, the words “critical thinking” were little used in public or technical discourse. This paper is sometimes viewed as one of the seminal papers of what has later been termed as the critical thinking movement.
The paper was published in the Harvard Educational Review, https://www.harvardeducationalreview.org. Google Scholar reports it has 1,966 citations (as of July 2026). The journal has not been digitised before 1964. We therefore provide the paper here at the above links as a service to scholars. It is also referenced at ERIC https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED021832. For a personal history of the critical thinking movement, see https://www.pdcnet.org/pdc/bvdb.nsf/purchase26?openform&fp=inquiryct&id=inquiryct_2011_0026_0001_0004_0018.
At the time of writing of “A Concept of Critical Thinking,” Robert Ennis was a professor at Cornell University.
