Siegel's two-component account of critical thinking: reason assessment ability plus critical attitude¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The paper adopts Harvey Siegel's definition of the critical thinker as one who is "appropriately moved by reasons." The account has two components: a reason assessment component, "the principled assessment of reasons and their ability to warrant beliefs, claims, and actions," and a critical attitude component, the disposition to engage in such assessment. The fully critical thinker is therefore both able and disposed to assess reasons, including challenges to her own beliefs.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Both ability and disposition must be present for fully critical thinking, per the article's reading of Siegel

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• undergraduate students

Target Learning Objectives¶

• critical thinking
• principled reason assessment

Claims¶

Related Theories¶

• Siegel's reasons conception: critical thinking as being appropriately moved by reasons
• Siegel's broad rationality: critical thinking as an educational and moral ideal grounding Constructivism
• The univocal language of inquiry: the language of reasons across disciplines

Examples¶

• Use an impersonal, procedure-driven critique format so challenges to students' basic assumptions come from the method, not the instructor
• CRITO: a five-step method for critically assessing one's own arguments (Conclusion, Reasons, Inference, Truth, Objections)

Key Sources¶

• Johnson, David Kenneth. (1995). CRITO: Informal Logic, Critical Thinking, and the Argumentative Essay. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED384062