Intellectual standards, benefits, and barriers to critical thinking

¶ … Characteristics

The intellectual standards of critical thinking

Critical thinking is described as the ability of an individual to think in a rational and clear manner with the aim of improving the quality of the reasoning process (Moore, 2007). It requires mastery of the application of different intellectual standards to elements of reasoning in various scenarios or problems. Although there are many applicable intellectual standards, some of the most important are: clarity or understandability of points, accuracy of information, how exact or precise the details are, relevance of a specified subject or even topic area, the depth in handling complex issues, the breadth of the train of thought, the logic and sense behind a thought, and the fairness or biasness of the thinker in regard to an issue (Moore, 2007).

The benefits of critical thinking

Critical thinking enables an individual to solve problems in a systematic way in any area of life; be it in education, family or in the workplace. It fosters creativity, boosts language skills and improves the way ideas are presented. On a broader perspective, critical thinking enables better analysis of information especially in this technological era where consolidation of different sources of knowledge is prioritized.

The difference between deductive and inductive reasoning

Deductive reasoning starts with a hypothesis then examines various possibilities to come to a logical conclusion (Lavery and Hughes, 2008). A good example: every day I take a cup of coffee in the morning. Every day I am alert and effective. Therefore, if I take a cup of coffee this morning, I will be more alert and effective during the day.

On the other hand, inductive reasoning uses a specific set of observations to make wider generalization and suggests multiple outcomes. For example: If I pick 40 balls from a sack, and all are red in color, then all the balls in that sack are red in color. Inductive reasoning is commonly used in science to conduct experiments while deductive reasoning is mostly used to test hypotheses. However, both methods should be applied in research for more conclusive findings.