What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is the art of analysing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving it.

It is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective thinking. As varied as conceptions around ‘critical thinking’ may be, ‘creative thinking’ is also used judiciously, yet not necessarily with a common understanding or definition. It is perhaps as a result of meaning ascribed by society to the concepts of creativity and criticality that the relationship between the two is commonly misunderstood. Where creativity is associated with imagination, spontaneity and emotion, criticality is associated with scepticism, negativity and caution. In other instances, particularly in school contexts, creative and critical thinking are regarded as one and the same; a totally indistinguishable whole. However, when examined closer it is fair to say that criticality and creativity are both achievements and outcomes of thought.

Where creativity masters a process of making or producing, criticality is a process of assessing or judging. High-quality thought involves the mind’s ability to simultaneously produce and assess. One analyses to assess; one assesses to improve. Quite simply, sound thinking requires both imagination and intellectual standards. Rather than being polar opposite, there is indeed an interdependence that exists between criticality and creativity. Looked at in another way, critical thinking is the art of thinking about thinking in such a way as to firstly identify its strengths and weaknesses and then to recast it in improved form if necessary. The first characteristic requires the thinker to be skilled in analytic and evaluative thinking. The second requires the thinker to be skilled in creative thinking. Thus, critical thinking has three dimensions: the analytic, the evaluative and the creative.

One of the greatest challenges teachers face is developing purposeful thinking of students. Purposeful thinking requires both critical and creative thinking, because the student is able to successfully design, create or produce results, but in achieving this challenging end, she also has criteria which are applied in order to determine to what extent that ‘end’ is being achieved. A student’s ability to assess her thinking in a discerning, exacting, discriminating and judicious manner gives her a sense of whether her thinking is sufficiently clear, precise, accurate, consistent, relevant, deep or broad for its specific purposes and aims. When a teacher is able to inspire a student to take on a challenging task, the teacher provides the catalyst for intellectual work and subsequently the creation of intellectual products. When this happens, creativity and criticality are interwoven. It becomes clear that developing critical and creative thinking in students requires the very same of teachers. Furthermore, critical and creative thinking are not the simple by-product of teaching and learning, but must be actively pursued through the judicious application of intellectual standards.