Important Terms in Critical Thinking
How do we talk about critical thinking?
In the context of critical thinking we keep encountering certain terms and concepts that are central to understanding and applying this skill. Here are some of the most important terms you should know. These are simple, practical definitions
Logic, Arguments and Rhetoric
The toolkit: what an argument is made of and what makes it a good one.
Argument
A claim together with the reasons that support it; from one or more premises a conclusion is derived.
Claim
A speech act that puts something forward as true; a statement one declares to be correct and may have to justify.
Justification
Giving reasons or evidence that support a claim and make it understandable why one should hold it to be true.
Premises
The presupposed statements of an argument from which the conclusion is derived; they form the basis of the logical inference.
Conclusion
A statement that is logically derived from the premises; the result of a step of thinking or argumentation.
Deduction
Inference from the general to the particular: if the premises are true and the form is valid, the conclusion is necessarily true.
Induction
Inference from the particular to the general: from observations a general rule is conjectured – probable, but not necessarily true.
Validity and Soundness
An inference is valid if the conclusion follows formally from the premises; it is sound when it additionally starts from true premises.
Clarity
The property of a statement of being unambiguous, understandable and precise, so that no ambiguity or confusion about its meaning arises.
Correctness
The agreement of a statement with the facts or with accepted rules; being right in the sense of factual correctness.
Relevance
The significance of a contribution for the question at hand; relevant is whatever genuinely helps to clarify the matter.
Coherent
Internally connected and free of contradictions: statements fit together meaningfully and mutually support one another into a consistent whole.
Consistent
Free of contradictions: a set of statements is consistent if it does not at the same time imply something and its opposite.
Judgment (in the logical sense)
In logic, the determination that a state of affairs holds or not; expressed linguistically as a declarative sentence and either true or false.
Normative
Evaluative and prescriptive: normative statements say how something ought to be, in contrast to descriptive ones, which describe how it is.
Informal Logic
A subfield of argumentation theory that analyses and evaluates everyday-language arguments without translating them into formal calculi.
Hypothesis
A justified but as yet untested assumption that serves as a provisional explanation and can be confirmed or refuted through observation or experiment.
Theory
A systematic, well-founded structure of statements that explains and orders phenomena and allows predictions; in science, well-tested knowledge.
Occam's Razor
Principle of parsimony: of several explanations, the one with the fewest assumptions is to be preferred – superfluous assumptions should be "cut away".
Rhetoric
The art of effective speech and persuasion; it uses reasoned arguments (logos), credibility (ethos) and emotions (pathos).
Truth, Knowledge and Opinion
Basic concepts around knowledge, truth and personal opinion.
Fact and Opinion
A fact is verifiably true or false; an opinion is a personal evaluation that one may share but need not prove.
Objectivity and Subjectivity
Objective is what holds independently of personal preferences; subjective is what depends on a person's viewpoint, feeling or interest.
Evidence
Proof or self-evidence that supports a statement; in philosophy, the immediately evident, that which is given beyond doubt.
Truth
The agreement of a statement with reality; depending on the theory, also coherence within a system of statements or practical success.
Belief
Holding something to be true without methodical justification; accepting a statement without compelling evidence or proof.
Cognitive Errors and Fallacies
Typical errors in thinking and in arguments – you can only avoid them once you know them.
Cognitive Bias, Reasoning Errors, Perceptual Errors
Systematic, unconscious deviations of our thinking and perceiving from rational judgement that lead to faulty assessments and decisions.
Confirmation Bias
The tendency to seek and interpret information so that it confirms one's own expectation, and to overlook or devalue what contradicts it.
Logical Fallacy
An inference whose form is invalid, so that the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the premises – regardless of the content.
Informal Fallacy
An argumentation error that lies not in the logical form but in the content, context or language, for example through illegitimate assumptions.
Straw Man
One distorts the opponent's position into an easily attackable caricature and then refutes that instead of the actual argument.
Ad hominem
Instead of the argument, the person is attacked; a claim is treated as false because its proponent is supposedly untrustworthy.
Appeal to Authority
Something is held to be true merely because an authority says so – without checking that authority's competence or the evidence.
Ad populum
Something is held to be true because many believe it; majority or popularity is confused with correctness.
Circular Reasoning
An argument that already uses its own conclusion as a presupposition; the justification goes in circles and proves nothing.
False Dilemma
Only two options are presented although others exist – black-and-white thinking that forces a pseudo-decision.
Correlation and Causation
That two things occur together (correlation) does not mean that one causes the other (causation) – a common fallacy.
Lies, Bullshit and Disinformation
Forms of deception and influence that critical thinking is meant to protect against.
Advertising
Paid, public communication that makes products, services or ideas known and deliberately seeks to prompt a purchase or a particular behaviour.
Propaganda
Deliberate, mostly one-sided spreading of ideas in order to influence the opinions and behaviour of many people in the interest of political, religious or economic goals.
Agit-Prop
Short for "agitation and propaganda": militant political influencing that seeks to mobilise the masses and win them for a cause through art, theatre and media.
Indoctrination
One-sided transmission of convictions that suppresses critical questioning and leads learners to adopt doctrines unreflectively as incontrovertible truth.
Lie
A statement that the speaker themselves believes to be false and utters with intent to deceive, in order to lead others to a false belief.
Half-Truth
A statement that does contain something true but, by omitting important facts, creates a false or misleading overall impression.
Bullshit
Statements where the speaker is indifferent to whether they are true; only the effect counts, not the truth (after Harry Frankfurt).
Fake News
Deliberately false or misleading reports that look like serious journalism and are spread on purpose in order to deceive or manipulate.
Disinformation
Deliberately spread false or misleading information intended to deceive – in contrast to unintentional misinformation.
Manipulation
Covert, targeted influencing of perception, thinking or behaviour, so that those affected act against their own real interest without noticing it.
Framing
The way a piece of information is framed and emphasised; depending on how the same matter is presented, different impressions and judgements arise.
Cherry Picking
Selecting only the convenient pieces of evidence and leaving out all contradicting ones in order to support a thesis one-sidedly.
Pseudo-Theories
Constructs that pose as theories but are not testable and provide no real explanations or predictions.
Pseudoscience
Doctrines that present themselves as scientific but do not meet central standards such as testability, falsifiability and self-correction.
Conspiracism
A way of thinking that systematically suspects secret conspiracies of powerful groups behind events and reinterprets contradicting evidence as part of the cover-up.
Filter Bubble and Echo Chamber
Online effect in which algorithms and like-minded groups show mainly confirming content, so that diverging viewpoints barely get through anymore.
Process and Practice
Attitudes and methods that put good thinking into practice.
Sapere aude
Latin for "Dare to be wise!" – Kant's motto of the Enlightenment: have the courage to use your own understanding.
Reflection
Examining, comparing reflection on one's own thoughts, assumptions and judgements; the deliberate pausing and questioning of one's own thinking.
Skepticism
Methodical doubt: the attitude of not believing claims unchecked but critically examining evidence and justifications.
Zététique
The art of methodical doubt: a scientific-skeptical approach that examines extraordinary claims and pseudosciences with the means of rational scrutiny.
Source Criticism
Systematic examination of where a piece of information comes from, how reliable, current and independent the source is, and what interest lies behind it.
Hermeneutics
The theory of understanding and interpreting texts and meaning; it asks how we work out meaning methodically and in context.
Heuristics
A rule of thumb or simplified procedure that, with limited knowledge, quickly leads to usable solutions – useful, but error-prone.
Falsifiability
After Popper, the hallmark of scientific statements: they must in principle be refutable by observation, otherwise they are not scientific.
Intention
A mental state in which someone commits to a particular action or goal; the conscious willing behind a deed.
Intellectual Virtues
Inner attitudes that make critical thinking possible in the first place.
Intellectual Humility
The awareness that one's own knowledge is limited and that one can be wrong; the willingness to revise one's own convictions.
Open-Mindedness and Impartiality
The willingness to seriously examine other viewpoints and new arguments instead of judging prematurely or stubbornly clinging to the familiar.
Curiosity
The desire to learn and understand new things; the inner drive to ask questions and to get to the bottom of things.
Perspective-Taking
The ability to view a matter from the perspective of others and to put oneself into their assumptions and interests.
Dogmatism
Rigidly clinging to doctrines that are regarded as incontrovertible and may not be questioned – the opposite of critical openness.
Sources
- Critical Thinking, Wikipedia