INTRODUCTION
To be a proper researcher requires the application of close scrutiny to be able to validate new and seemingly uncorroborated information. An important aide and guide towards the success of this task is the process known as "Critical Thinking".
Webster's Dictionary has nearly a dozen definitions for the word critical. But here is the one that seems best for our consideration.
Critical - 2. Characterized by careful, exact evaluation and judgment: a critical reading.This definition appears to be quite apropos of our intent for our topic under discussion.
How does one "think critically"?
The process of critical thinking is not easily characterized or the process would be ubiquitous. And we have observed quite to the contrary - such thinking is quite rare.
The concept of critical thinking to me - means - a method of analysis, a considered scrutiny, a means of selecting a proper location in the gestalt (i.e. the global reference framework) of the overall concept that embodies the subject under analysis. First, attempt to completely define the subject of the analysis. Here follow some broad questions and statements meant to characterize the subject and to place it in an appropriate reference framework.
CRITICAL THINKING METHODOLOGIES
Ok, you are presented with a political diatribe, a calculus problem to solve, a research report to read, in other words - some statement that either assumes or implies or explicitly states - a premise. Given a premise - it is possible to apply the rules of the sentential calculus - a form of logic reduced to mathematical rules that may be applied to statements in a language. For our purposes of this discussion - the language is restricted to English and the reference frame works referenced are to be simple. For complex analysis is beyond the intended scope. Henceforth the submission is to be referred to as "the object" or "object".
How do we begin this process?
It is best to decide and to define exactly what the reference framework of our subject is to be. This definition binds the scope of the topic to be considered. Thus - we have defined the area under consideration to which critical thought is to be applied. The subject and its domain are now defined.
