Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/215763

Title

Critical thinking: seven definitions in search of a concept

Author(s)

Moore, Tim

Abstract

The article reports a study that investigated ideas about critical thinking as held by academics working in three disciplines: history, philosophy and cultural studies. At least seven definitional strands were identified in the informants' commentaries, namely critical thinking: (i) as judgement; (ii) as skepticism; (iii) as a simple originality; (iv) as sensitive readings; (v) as rationality; (vi) as an activist engagement with knowledge; and (vii) as self-reflexivity. This multiplicity of meanings is thought to have important implications for university teaching and learning. The design of the study and the conclusions drawn from it draw heavily on Wittgenstein's idea of meaning as use.

Publication type

Journal article

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Higher Education, Lilydale

Source

Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 38, no. 4 (2013), pp. 506-522

Publication year

2013

FOR Code(s)

1301 Education Systems;  1303 Specialist Studies in Education

Keyword(s)

Critical thinking;  Disciplines;  Generic skills;  Language;  Learning;  Teaching

Publisher

Routledge

ISSN

0307-5079

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.586995

Copyright

Copyright © 2013 Society for Research into Higher Education. The accepted manuscript will be available for download 18 months after publication (December 2014) in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.

Peer reviewed