What is Critical Thinking?

I never really thought about critical thinking until I got to college.  Naturally I always did it, but never realized.  The article I picked tried to define critical thinking. “Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action” (Scriven).  It talks about a bunch of concepts I never thought about.  People have been doing it forever but the concept has been around for 2500 years.  Another thing the article talked about critical thinking will change based on how motivated you are.  “Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When grounded in selfish motives, it is often manifested in the skillful manipulation of ideas in service of one’s own, or one's groups’, vested interest. As such it is typically intellectually flawed, however pragmatically successful it might be” (Scriven).  The more motivated you are the harder you will try to achieve your goals.  The article also explains what critical thinkers do.  They ask important and concise questions. After gathering information they sort through it and find the main ideas.  They have an open mind about everything and are not afraid to say yes.  They can communicate positively with others.  It’s easy to say critical thinking is just deep thinking.   However it is so much more.  This quote breaks it down to two parts.   “Critical thinking can be seen as having two components: 1) a set of information and belief generating and processing skills, and 2) the habit, based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behavior” (Scriven).   Overall, what I have learned is that there is not just one definition for critical thinking.  There is also not a right definition. Critical thinking is whatever you make of it.

"Defining Critical Thinking." Critical Thinking Community. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct 2011. <http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766>.