I started writing a primer on Critical Thinking for those unfortunate souls that I was tutoring. I never completed it because it did not fit in an obvious way with the subject at hand and also because it was clear that learning by reading was not going to be the best way to teach this subject. But if you are interested in my half completed attempt to explain critical thinking in a simple enough manner for young people can you can read below the break.

A Primer On Critical Thinking

What Is Critical Thinking Is For?

The world is full of things that want to take over your mind. Everything that was made by a human that you read, hear, or see was made in accordance with somebody’s values and thoughts. When you read, hear, or see these things, they influence your thoughts and values even though you might not be aware of it. If these things are allowed to influence you without you thinking critically about them, you are allowing your mind to be taken over by other people. The other person might be a preacher on TV who wants you to send him money. It might be a politician who wants you to vote for him. It could be as simple as a company trying to sell you a sandwich. The only way to not let those types of people do the thinking for you is to think critically.

When Should You Think Critically?

Many people realize that they need to think critically when reading an opinion columnist but when watching a movie they feel that they don’t have to think critically. These people might not think that a movie is not influencing how they think, but people with money on the line feel differently. That is why they pay to have their products placed in movies. They know that the best time to take over people’s minds is when they are relaxing. So the answer to when you should think critically is always. It is like chewing your food. Anytime you let solid food into your mouth without chewing you risk choking. And any time you take things into to your mind without thinking critically you run the risk of losing control of your mind.

How Do You Think Critically?

Thinking critically can be broken down into three parts. The first part is understanding what is being communicated by what you are reading, hearing, or seeing. The second part is testing what you are reading, hearing, or seeing. The third part is figuring what you think about what you are reading, hearing, or seeing. There is a lot involved with those three steps so we shall examine them in more detail.

How Do You Understand What You Are Reading, Hearing, or Seeing?

In order to understand what you are reading, hearing, or seeing, you have to be able to do three things.

1. Recognize the emotion that is being evoked. Almost everything you are reading, hearing, or seeing is attempting to make you feel a certain way. Go back to beginning of this primer and read it again. How is it trying to make you feel? If you are unsure, ask yourself why was a TV evangelist or a politician used as an example instead of a parent or a teacher? But this primer is not the only thing that is trying to make you feel a certain way. Everything from a billboard on the highway to the newspaper is trying to get you to feel a certain way. Even things that are written in a way as to seem emotionally neutral are trying to get you to feel something if you pay attention.
2. Understanding the “facts” and logic that are being presented to you. Some people make the mistake of thinking that facts and logic are only things you need to pay attention to if you are trying to figure out if something is “true.” But fiction, art, and even an advertising billboard along a highway all have their own internal “facts” and logic. Even if you know something is not true, it is still important to pay attention to what it is presenting as facts in order to understand it. For example, there is a set of facts and an internal logic behind why Éowyn is able to kill the Witch King in the Lord Of The Rings. If you don’t recognize the “facts” and internal logic behind that part of the book you will be unable to think critically about it.
3. Articulating the things that are taken for granted. The things that you read, hear, and see have unspoken assumptions that underlie them. For example, you might read a long argument trying to prove the Electoral College is undemocratic. The argument will try to influence your emotions. The argument will try to use fact and figures. But underlying the argument will be the assumption that “undemocratic” is bad. This assumption will not be argued and often it will not even be stated. It will just be assumed that everyone agrees that undemocratic is bad. An example of this sort of assumption can be found at the start of this primer where it is assumed that someone else taking over your mind is a bad thing. Underlying assumptions can be the trickiest thing to think critically about. If you don’t learn to recognize them, they can slip into your mind without you even being aware of it

How Do You Test What You Are Reading, Hearing, or Seeing?

Once you understand what you are dealing with, it is now time to test what you are reading, hearing, or seeing. The three steps of this process parallel the same three steps you use to understand what you are reading, hearing, or seeing. They are as follows….

1. The first test is to check whether there is a mismatch between the emotions being invoked and the nature of the argument being presented. Humans don’t do anything without emotion so impacts on your emotions (subtle or overt) are always going to be part of anything you made by a human that you read, hear, or see. But if there is a mismatch between the emotions that a creator is trying to invoke and the argument they are presenting then it is a sure sign that someone is trying to manipulate you into something they don’t really believe in themselves. For example, you could see a billboard advertising a beverage that says “best taste” and shows beautiful people in swim suits on a beach holding the beverage. The emotions that this billboard is trying to evoke with beautiful people in swim suits has nothing to do with the argument that the beverage has the best taste. An example of a honest use of emotion would be if a book discussing Khmer Rouge has art work on the cover depicting them as devils and in the book it documents how the Khmer Rouge made children kill their parents. In this case, the emotions the book cover is trying to invoke are in line with the argument the book is trying to make. That does not necessarily make the emotions generated by such a cover right, but at least they are honest. If something can’t pass this test of having the emotions that it invokes match up with the arguments being made then there is usually not much point in paying it any more attention. If someone is trying to dishonestly manipulate you, why allow them to take up more space in your mind?
2. Test how well the facts work with the argument being presented. Some people think that critical thinking is all whether the facts presented are true or not. But it is not worth wasting time figuring out if the facts are true until you have determined if the facts being presented work with the argument being made. This is true even if you are dealing with something that is made up. For example, let us say you are reading a fiction book that advances the argument that you should like yourself no matter how you look, but the story in the book is about someone who everyone looked down on until she got the right clothes and make up advice and everyone realized how beautiful she was and she lived happily ever after. Does the facts as presented by this fiction book really line up with the argument that the fiction book is calming to make? On the flip side, the absolute truth of facts even in non-fiction is not always the most important thing. For example, if John argues the communist are bad people because they killed 20 million people and someone else proves that the communists only killed 12 million people is John’s argument invalid? That is not to say that the truth of facts never matter. For example, if the argument is that Sam is a bad person because he killed Jill then the question of whether Sam really killed Jill is critical to the argument. But you don’t want to waste time trying to determine if the facts are true until you understand how well the facts being advanced actually work with the argument being presented. It is surprising how often in fiction or nonfiction the facts presented don’t support the argument the creator of those works is trying to make.
3. Test the underlying assumptions against the argument. If what you are reading, hearing, or seeing passes the first two tests, the last test to see if the underlying assumptions are in conflict with what is being presented. Everything that people create has assumptions underlying them. That is unavoidable. But if content of an argument, work of art, or other creations of the human mind challenges the assumptions that the underlay that same work, then you should be alert you to serious problems with what you are being presented with. For example, let us say that an author presents you with an argument that courts should strike down a law that the majority of people support on the grounds that the law is undemocratic. Now the assumption of the piece is that “undemocratic” is bad, but the person making this assumption wants the will of majority overturned because what the majority wants is undemocratic. There is conflict between what the author is arguing and his assumption that “undemocratic is bad” no matter how well he argues that the law is undemocratic. This conflict could be reconciled by appeal to some other principle then “undemocratic is bad”. But if this conflict is not explicitly addressed, then it calls into question everything that is being presented in an argument that assumes “undemocratic is bad”. After all, if it is good to overturn what the majority wants in one case, then why should the assumption be that “undemocratic” is always a bad thing? I am using a pretty obvious example, but if you carefully examine complex ideas put forth by humans you will find that they often have this problem.

How Do You Think About What You Are Reading, Hearing, or Seeing?

Once you have understood what you are reading and then tested it, there only remains to decided what you think about it. To a certain extent, this is a personal thing that nobody can help you with. It depends on your values, your interests, and your resources. But there are some questions you can ask yourself to help guide your thinking.

1.  Did you put enough time into understanding what you are dealing with? All too often people rush to the part where they make up their mind.
2. Does it past the tests well enough to be worth thinking about it? If it is manipulative or self contradictory do you really want to spend a lot of time thinking about it? Sometimes the answer will be yes because you recognize something good in there. But a lot of stuff in this world fails the tests so badly that there is not much to gain from thinking about them once you recognize the failures.
3. Do you share the underlying assumptions of what you are reading, hearing, or seeing? No matter how well something is put together, if it is based on assumption that you don’t share, the matter might not be worth putting a lot of time in. Sometimes it is worth paying attention to such things just so you know how other people think. But most of the time, it is not worth reading a long argument about the best way to skin a cat if you have no intention of ever killing a cat.