ABSTRACT
Richard Paul, a major contributor to the contemporary debate about critical thinking, endorses similar democratic values. Critical thinking enjoins a Socratic commitment to follow the logic of discourse wherever it leads in pursuit of the truth; a view of education in deep contrast with the idea of nationally prescribed curricula, age-related attainment targets and standardised testing procedures. Critical thinking involves, quite crucially, the predisposition to evaluate any accepted rules or procedures. The idea of critical thinking is seriously distorted by efforts to portray it simply as an activity of individual intellects. Adoption of rigorously specified programmes as a general method in response to a definition of critical thinking might be dangerous. One connection between critical thinking and democracy concerns the absence of a consistent and radical distinction between ways of thinking and ways of living. An important criterion of rational thinking must surely be the ability to distinguish what Harvey Siegel describes as relevant reasons and rules of evidence.
