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Wyman Kwok, Education and Thinking 203
From the experience of an experienced critical thinker, it should not be
difficult to see that the above are valuable attributes that can promote the
good practice of CT.
There are mutual interactions between cognitive skills and affective
dispositions, so that both components must not be ignored. They can work
hand in hand in a virtuous circle — competency in skills can strengthen
favorable dispositions, and strengthened favorable dispositions can in turn
enhance further competency in skills, and so on. By contrast, deficiency in
either component would instead result in a vicious circle.
After briefly reviewing aspects of the rich content of CT, one should
then begin to understand why the consensus statement regarding CT and the
ideal critical thinker arrived at in the Delphi Report would be elaborated upon
in such a detailed manner:
We understand critical thinking to be purposeful, self-regulatory judgment
which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as
explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or
contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based. CT is essential
as a tool of inquiry. As such, CT is a liberating force in education and a powerful
resource in one’s personal and civic life. While not synonymous with
good thinking, CT is a pervasive and self-rectifying human phenomenon. The
ideal critical thinker is habitually inquisitive, well-informed, trustful of reason,
open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in evaluation, honest in facing personal
biases, prudent in making judgments, willing to reconsider, clear about
issues, orderly in complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information,