GALEN COLLEGE OF NURSING Critical Thinking Fundamentals

Russell W. Waltz, Ph.D.

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Not critical as in judging severely to find fault

Critical as in careful, exact evaluation and judgment

Critical thinking refers to a set of skills relating to the recognition, analysis, evaluation, and construction of arguments

What is Critical Thinking?

Critical Thinking at the Galen College of Nursing

Learners will demonstrate the ability to draw conclusions based on evidence and consider prior knowledge, context, and perspectives in predicting implication or consequences

How is Critical Thinking useful?

Critical thinking skills are necessary for

success in college

success in the workplace

success in the marketplace

living an examined life

What is an argument?

An argument is a set of claims; one of which is supported by the others.

A conclusion is a claim that the arguer is trying to prove.

A premise is a claim providing support for a conclusion.

A claim is a statement that has truth-value.

It is snowing.

Today is Saturday.

Alaska is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea.

Identifying Claims

Identifying Claims

Not all sentences are claims.

Where is Alaska located?

Please take me to Alaska.

Let’s go to Alaska.

Yea, Alaska!

How do I know which sentences are claims?

Hint! Test using “it is true that…”

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Inference Indicators

Inference indicators are words and phrases signaling the presence of a premise and/or a conclusion.

Inference Indicators

Conclusion Indicators

therefore…

thus…

consequently…

so...

hence…

accordingly…

Premise Indicators

because…

since…

for…

given...

as…

follows from…

Types of Reasoning

Deductive Reasoning

The arguer attempts to demonstrate that the truth of the conclusion necessarily follows from the premises.

Inductive Reasoning

The arguer attempts to demonstrate that the truth of the conclusion probably follows from the premises.

Implicit biases often make thinking critically difficult because they are:

Beyond typical awareness

Activated involuntarily

Unintentional

Since implicit biases cannot be detected through introspection, they are difficult to eradicate, yet are able to direct our thinking quite drastically.

Implicit Bias

Implicit Biases

Outgroup Homogeneity Bias

Perceiving identicality of members of a group while perceiving exaggerated differences between members of different groups

Confirmation Bias

Perceiving higher salience of evidence that is consistent with one’s held beliefs than warranted

Logical Fallacies

A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning that tends to persuade us even though it involves faulty reasoning

Circular Reasoning

Providing a claim as evidence for another claim and then also providing that second claim as evidence for the first claim

Parent: Go to bed!

Child: Why?

Parent: Because it’s bedtime.

Child: Why?

Parent: Because I said so.

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The Bandwagon Fallacy

Assuming that something is true just because many people believe it to be true