Intellectual Virtues: Why Critical Thinking isn’t Just About Thinking

Since I spent most of the last post talking about what critical thinking isn't, maybe I should talk about about what it actually is. Edward Glaser, a psychologist who designed the first psychological test of critical thinking, gave a good overview of the characteristics of a critical thinker:

The ability to think critically...involves three things: (1) an attitude of being disposed to consider in a thoughtful way the problems and subjects that come within the range of one's experiences, (2) knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning, and (3) some skill in applying those methods. (italics added)

Notice the first thing Glaser mentions isn't knowledge or skill, but attitude. It's no good having the ability to think critically if you don't have the motivation to use it. A person who knows all about logic and reasoning, but is too lazy or apathetic to apply it to real-world issues, isn’t a critical thinker. Even worse is intellectual dishonesty. Someone who knows logic and rhetoric, but uses them deceptively to “win” arguments, instead of seeking what’s actually true, isn't a good critical thinker either (though, sadly, he might be an effective debater or politician).

Caring What’s True and other Intellectual Virtues

As I’ve already mentioned, critical thinking isn’t just about cold logic. Among other things, it's also about values and attitudes. For example, you have to value truth. You have to care what’s actually true more than what you want to be true. You have to be willing to abandon old, comforting beliefs when the evidence is against them. That’s easy enough to say, but very, very hard to do. For example, if you believe in heaven and hell, you likely have a deep emotional investment in believing those places exist. If you’re an atheist, you may be emotionally invested in believing they don’t. Either way, let’s say you were shown undeniable evidence that you were wrong. Would you trade the comforting fiction for a hard truth? It’s easy to talk about, and very hard to do.

Truth seeking is just one of several values required for good critical thinking. Or perhaps we should think of them as virtues, in the sense moral philosophers use the word: as personal traits one can cultivate to become a better person. Of course, the word "virtues" has a bit of a puritanical, holier-than-thou ring to it in everyday usage, and many critical thinking scholars use the word “dispositions” instead. Whatever you call them, different scholars have different lists, but the ones below show up on most of them.

• Caring What is True

• Intellectual Courage and Independence

• Intellectual Modesty

• Curiosity and Commitment to Learning

• Fair-Mindedness

• Tolerance of Complexity and Uncertainty

• Skeptical Open-Mindedness

I've already talked about the first virtue in this list. In the next few posts, I'll explore the others in a little more depth.