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Martin Davies and Ronald Barnett
Critical thinking as a composite of skills and attitudes
Critical thinking has naturally been seen in terms of a composite of skills,
knowledge, and attitudes too—including argumentational, reflective, and
affective features (Boostrum 1994; Brookfield 1987; Facione 1990; Kurfiss
1988; McPeck 1981; Paul 1981; Siegel 1988; 1991; Watson and Glaser 2008).
Most theorists hold a composite account. The composite view includes both
the cognitive and propensity elements discussed above. While the ability to
argue and make inferences, to reflect and make judgments, and be critically
disposed is all important, it is also crucial to recognize that each of these
does not occur in isolation. For McPeck, critical thinking involves a disposi-
tion and a skill, and “one must develop the disposition to use those skills”
(1981, 3), hence, his definition of critical thinking as “a propensity [disposi-
tion]
and
skill to engage in an activity with reflective skepticism” (1981, 8).
How the cognitive and propensity elements relate to each other in any defi-
nition of critical thinking is subject to much discussion. Facione et. al., for
example, postulate an interactionist hypothesis where “the disposition toward
critical thinking reinforces critical thinking skills and that success with critical
thinking skills reinforces the disposition” (1995, 17).
To conclude here, as it has been traditionally defined—by Ennis, Paul,
McPeck, Lipman, and others in the critical thinking movement—critical think-
ing has been seen largely in terms of cognitive elements, that is, as “reflective
and reasonable thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do.”
However, as intimated, this definition is remiss by not including in its scope
any sense of actual or potential
action
.
Dimensions of criticality: An axis diagram
Figure 0.1 represents the critical thinking movement as outlined so far. This
movement is largely concerned with an individual’s
cognitive
qualities, that
is, cognitive elements or skills (argumentational skills, skills in thinking) and
reasoning and argumentative propensities or character attributes of the
per-
son
. These are inclusive of all the skills and attributes mentioned in figure 0.1
(namely foundation, higher-level, complex, metacognitive skills, as well as criti-
cal thinking abilities and dispositions). These skills and dispositions are rep-
resented by separate lines radiating out from the bottom of the Y axis. This
account of criticality is what might be termed “critical thinking
unadorned
”
or critical thinking in its traditional senses. (The X axis will be added in a
moment.) For the full development of this diagram see Davies (2015).
Critical thinking as “criticality” (The “skills-plus-dispositions-
plus-actions” view)
Following Barnett (1997), the term now most commonly used in relation to
critical thinking is that of “
criticality
.” Criticality is a term deliberately distinct
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