Clarity
Being unambiguous and easily understood
Purpose
The goal or objective of reasoning
Concepts
General categories or ideas by which
... [Show More] we interpret or classify information used in our thinking
Inference
A logical process of drawing conclusions
Precision
Being precise or exact
Implication
What logically follows from reasoning
Assumptions
Unstated or hidden beliefs that support our explicit reasoning about something
Point of view
The particular perspective from which something is observed or thought through
Accuracy
Being near to the true value or meaning of something
Egocentrism
The tendency to view everything in relationship to oneself and to regard one's own opinions, values, or interests as most important
Fair-mindedness
The commitment to consider all relevant opinions equally without regard to one's own sentiments or selfish interests
Fallacies
Flaws or errors in reasoning which, when found in the premise of an argument, invalidate its conclusion
Intellectual cowardice
Fear of ideas or viewpoints that do not conform to one's own
Intellectual empathy
The act of routinely inhabiting the perspectives of others in order to genuinely understand them
Intellectual humility
Openness to the possibility that one's beliefs are mistaken and a willingness to reevaluate them in the face of new evidence or persuasive counterarguments
Intellectual perseverance
The act of working one's way through intellectual complexities despite frustrations inherent in doing so
Second-order thinking
Another term for critical thinking. It is first-order thinking (or ordinary thinking) that is consciously realized (i.e., analyzed, assessed, and improved)
First-order thinking
Ordinary thinking that is spontaneous and non-reflective, contains insight, prejudice and good and bad reasoning, and is indiscriminately combined
Sociocentrism
The assumption that one's own social group is inherently superior to all others; seeing the social conventions, beliefs and taboos of your society as the only correct way to live and think
Sophistry
The ability to win an argument regardless of flaws in its reasoning
Stereotype
A fixed or oversimplified conception of a person, group, or idea
Strong-sense critical thinking
Thinking that uses critical thinking skills to evaluate all beliefs, especially one's own, and that pursues what is intellectually fair and just
Weak-sense critical thinking
Thinking that does not consider counter viewpoints, that lacks fair-mindedness and that uses critical thinking skills simply to defend current beliefs
Common factor method
In analyzing causation, looking for a single shared factor
Concomitant variation
In analyzing causation, looking for a pattern of variation between a possible cause and a possible effect
Process of elimination
In analyzing causation, successively ruling out non-causal factors until one correct causal factor remains
Question of fact
A question with one correct answer
Question of judgment
A question with competing and debatable answers
Question of preference
A question with many possible subjective answers
Single difference method
In analyzing causation, looking for a causal factor that is present in one situation but absent in another similar situation
Socratic questioning
A systematic, disciplined approach to asking questions aimed at assessing truth
Activated Ignorance
False information that is mistakenly believed to be true and acted upon
Activated Knowledge
Truthful information that is employed to pursue more knowledge and/or is acted upon [Show Less]