ABSTRACT
The ideal of critical thinking is the wellspring at the root of Western civilization. The dialogic methods Socrates used to explore the confused meanings, mixed metaphors and illogical beliefs that can confound the human cognitive process are, in many ways, the elemental source of Western intellectual thought. Despite, and perhaps because of, its central place in the discourse on the nature of human thought and the intellect, critical thinking lacks a universally agreed-upon definition. Definitions that do exist can be divided into two broad types (Patrick, 1986). Limited definitions, or what Paul (1984) refers to as weak definitions, focus on specific cognitive skills, such as evaluation, appraisal or the use of criteria to make warranted judgments. In contrast, strong definitions tend to equate critical thinking with higher-order cognitive functions such as decision making or problem solving. From this perspective, specific cognitive skills, such as evaluation or inference, are considered necessary but are not sufficient to ensure critical thinking.
