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CT Ch.1-1

The document outlines a course on Critical Thinking led by Dr. Ghada W. El-Tazy, detailing the timetable, learning objectives, and key concepts. It emphasizes the definition and importance of critical thinking, highlighting its role in various fields, problem-solving, creativity, and self-reflection. Additionally, it discusses methods for improving thinking skills through theory, practice, and the right attitude.

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2 views21 pages

CT Ch.1-1

The document outlines a course on Critical Thinking led by Dr. Ghada W. El-Tazy, detailing the timetable, learning objectives, and key concepts. It emphasizes the definition and importance of critical thinking, highlighting its role in various fields, problem-solving, creativity, and self-reflection. Additionally, it discusses methods for improving thinking skills through theory, practice, and the right attitude.

Uploaded by

yousssifsharf
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CRITICAL THINKING

Dr. Ghada W. El-Tazy


TIMETABLE

 Before the Mid-term

Date Content
17/2/2025 Introduction
24/2/2025 Chapter 1+ Ass. 1
3/3/2025 Chapter 2
10/3/2025 Quiz 1+ Chapter 2
17/3/2025 Chapter 3
24/3/2025 Revision
Chapter 1

Introduction to Critical Thinking


LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 Defining Critical Thinking

 The Importance of Critical Thinking

 Improving Our Thinking Skills


 The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a hell of heaven
or a heaven of hell.

John Milton, Paradise Lost

 The best thinkers make the study of thinking second nature.


DEFINING CRITICAL
THINKING

Thinking about thinking while thinking in


order to make thinking better.
IT INCLUDES

 analyzing thinking: By focusing on the parts of thinking in any situation—its


purpose, question, information, assumptions, concepts, implications, and point
of view.
 evaluating thinking: By figuring out its strengths and weaknesses: the extent
to which it is clear, accurate, precise, relevant, deep, broad, logical, significant,
and fair.
 improving thinking: By building on its strengths while reducing its
weaknesses.
IT IS NOT

 accumulating information: a person with a good memory and who knows a lot
of facts is not necessarily good at critical thinking.

 being argumentative: critical thinking play an important role in cooperative


reasoning .

 being critical of other people: critical thinking enhance improve our social life.

 about hindering creativity: Critical thinking is quite compatible with thinking


“out-of-the-box,” challenging consensus views, and pursuing less popular approaches.
SOMEONE WITH CRITICAL
THINKING SKILLS CAN

 Understand the logical connections between ideas.

 Identify, construct, and evaluate arguments.

 Detect Contradictions and common mistakes in reasoning.

 Solve problems systematically.

 Identify the relevance and importance of ideas.

 Reflect on the justification of one’s own beliefs and values.


T H E I M P O RTA N C E O F
CRITICAL THINKING

 Critical thinking is a domain-general thinking skill. The ability to


think clearly and rationally is important whatever we choose to do.
If you work in education, research, finance, management or the legal
profession, then critical thinking is obviously important. But critical
thinking skills are not restricted to a particular subject area. Being able
to think well and solve problems systematically is an asset for any
career.
T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F C R I T I C A L
THINKING

 Critical thinking is very important in the new knowledge


economy. The global knowledge economy is driven by information and
technology. One must be able to deal with changes quickly and
effectively. The new economy places increasing demands on flexible
intellectual skills, and the ability to analyse information and integrate
diverse sources of knowledge in solving problems. Good critical thinking
promotes such thinking skills and is very important in the fast-changing
workplace.
T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F C R I T I C A L
THINKING

 Critical thinking enhances language and presentation skills.


Thinking clearly and systematically can improve the way we express our
ideas. In learning how to analyse the logical structure of texts, critical
thinking also improves comprehension abilities.
T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F C R I T I C A L
THINKING

 Critical thinking promotes creativity. Some people believe that critical


thinking hinders creativity because critical thinking requires following the
rules of logic and rationality, whereas creativity might require breaking those
rules. This is a misconception. To come up with a creative solution to a
problem involves not just having new ideas. It must also be the case
that the new ideas being generated are useful and relevant to the task
at hand. Critical thinking plays a crucial role in evaluating new ideas, selecting
the best ones and modifying them if necessary.
T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F C R I T I C A L
THINKING

 Critical thinking is crucial for self-reflection. In order to


live a meaningful life and to structure our lives accordingly, we
need to justify and reflect on our values and decisions.
Critical thinking provides the tools for this process of self-
evaluation.
T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F C R I T I C A L
THINKING

 Good critical thinking is the foundation of science and


democracy.
 Science requires the critical use of reason in experimentation and
theory confirmation.
 The proper functioning of a liberal democracy requires citizens who
can think critically about social issues to inform their judgments about
proper governance and to overcome biases and prejudice.
AKRAM AMIN

Akram Amin Abdellatif's


journey to becoming Egypt's
first astronaut candidate
exemplifies the profound
impact of critical thinking on
personal and professional
development.
I M P ROV I N G O U R T H I N K I N G
SKILLS

 Improving Our Thinking Skills is based on three important


points:

 Theory

 Practice

 Attitude
THEORY

 If we want to think correctly, we need to follow the correct rules of reasoning that
can be achieved through:
1- Knowledge of theory. I.e., the basic principles of critical thinking, such as the laws
of logic, and the methods of scientific reasoning, etc.
2- knowledge of what not to do if we want to reason correctly. This means we
should have some basic knowledge of the mistakes that people make. First, this
requires some knowledge of typical fallacies. Second, psychologists have discovered
persistent biases and limitations in human reasoning. An awareness of these empirical
findings will alert us to potential problems.
PRACTICE

 it is necessary to internalize the theoretical principles so that we can actually


apply them in daily life. There are at least two ways to do this:
1- Perform lots of quality exercises. These don’t just include practicing in the
classroom; they also include engaging in discussions and debates with other
people in our daily lives, where the principles of critical thinking can be applied.
2- Think more deeply about the principles that we have acquired. In the
human mind, memory and understanding are acquired through making
connections between ideas.
ATTITUDE

 Good critical thinking skills require more than just knowledge and practice.
Persistent practice can bring about improvements only if one has the right kind of
motivation and attitude. The following attitudes are not uncommon, but they are
obstacles to critical thinking:
1- I prefer being given the correct answers rather than figuring them out myself.
2- I don’t like to think a lot about my decisions as I rely only on gut feelings.
3- I don’t usually review the mistakes I have made.
4- I don’t like to be criticized.
Thanks

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