Introduction
Critical thinking is reflective thinking regarding what one should believe or what one should do in a certain situation (Fisher, 1997). Elements of thoughts and intellectual standards are very vital parts of the critical thinking process and this essay will look at some of the elements of thoughts and intellectual standards in details.
Elements of thought
Elements of thought provide a framework that helps one to structure thoughts. In the critical thinking process there are some questions that one must ask themselves and these questions are the elements of thought. One of the most important elements of thought is information. For one to make a conclusion they must use certain information and that information is drawn from a certain experience. This means that the most important question that a critical thinker must ask themselves is the information they need to come up with a conclusion. The second element of thought that this paper is going to look at is inference. Inferences are also known as conclusions and they are reached after a critical interpretation of information which means that a critical thinker must ask themselves whether there is another way of interpreting the information. The third element of thought is implication and consequences. This element of thought considers the viewpoint of others. The main question asked in this element is what the thinker would be implying if their position is accepted by someone else. What would be the implication and consequence if their position is accepted by a third party (Dauer, 2007). After looking at three elements of thought, the paper will look at elements of intellectual standards.
Elements of intellectual standards
Elements of intellectual standards are standards that must be used in thinking whenever the quality of reasoning is the main focus during problem solving, speaking or even writing. One of the most important element of intellectual standards is clarity because it is a gateway standard. If a statement is not clear, it is hard to determine whether it is accurate and it is even harder to determine its relevance. Clarity helps speakers and writers to be more accurate and relevant and that is why it is one of the most important elements of intellectual standards. The second most important element of intellectual standards is accuracy. Not all statements that are clear can be said to be accurate. For a statement to be accurate, it must have precision meaning that the details in the statement must be specific. For example, if one is talking about someone who is overweight, they may express their statements clearly but fail to communicate the exact details due to lack of precision(Facione, 2007). The third element of intellectual standard is relevance. Any statement must be relevant meaning that it must address the issues and the questions at hand. Relevance and depth go hand in hand. Any answer to an issue is relevant if it addresses the complexities in those issues and questions. If the answer does not address the complicated bits in some of the issues and questions at hand, then it is not relevance.
Conclusion
All in all, elements of thought and elements of intellectual standards are very important aspects of critical thinking because they give a guide that critical thinkers use to solve problems and make conclusions. Without these elements, critical thinking would be a chaotic practice without any order.
References
Dauer, F. (2007). Critical thinking. London: Wadsworth.
Facione, P. (2007). The disposition towards critical thinking. Dubuque Iowa: Kendall publishing.
Fisher, A. (1997), Critical thinking: definition and Assessment. London: Edge press.