Financial Times Prentice Hall Books
Chapter 1. Thinking in a World of Accelerating Change and Intensifying Danger
The Nature of the Post-Industrial World Order
A Complex World of Accelerating Change
Change, Danger, and Complexity: Interwoven
The Challenge of Becoming Critical Thinkers
Chapter 2. Becoming a Critic of Your Thinking
How Skilled is Your Thinking (Right Now)?
Good Thinking Is as Easy as Bad Thinking (But It Requires Hard Work to Develop It)
Become a Critic of Your Own Thinking
Chapter 3. Becoming a Fair-Minded Thinker
Weak versus Strong Critical Thinking
What Does Fair-Mindedness Require?
Intellectual Humility: Having Knowledge of Ignorance
Intellectual Courage: Being Willing to Challenge Beliefs
Intellectual Empathy: Entertaining Opposing Views
Intellectual Integrity: Holding Ourselves to the Same Standards to Which We Hold Others
Intellectual Perseverance: Working Through Complexity and Frustration
Confidence in Reason: Recognizing that Good Reasoning Has Proven Its Worth
Intellectual Autonomy: Being an Independent Thinker
Recognizing the Interdependence of Intellectual Virtues
Monitoring the Egocentrism in Your Thought and Life
Making a Commitment to Fair-Mindedness
Recognizing the Mind''s Three Distinctive Functions
Understanding That You Have a Special Relationship to Your Mind
Chapter 5. The First Four Stages of Development: What Level Thinker Are You?
Stage One: The Unreflective ThinkerAre You an Unreflective Thinker?
Stage Two: The Challenged ThinkerAre You Ready to Accept the Challenge?
Stage Three: The Beginning ThinkerAre You Willing to Begin?
Stage Four: The Practicing ThinkerGood Thinking Can Be Practiced Like Basketball, Tennis, or Ballet
A ''Game Plan'' for Improvement
A Game Plan for Devising a Game Plan
Chapter 6. The Parts of Thinking
Reasoning Is Everywhere in Human Life
Beginning to Think About Your Own Reasoning
The Elements of Thought: A First Look
An Everyday Example: Jack and Jill
The Elements of Thought in Relationship
The Relationship Between the Elements
Distinguishing Between Inert Information, Activated Ignorance, and Activated Knowledge
Some Key Questions to Ask When Pursuing Information
Distinguishing Between Inferences and Assumptions
Thinking Within and Across Points of View
Using Critical Thinking to Take Charge of How We See Things
The Point of View of the Critical Thinker
Chapter 7. The Standards for Thinking
Taking a Deeper Look at Universal Intellectual Standards
Bringing Together the Elements of Reasoning and the Intellectual Standards
Using Intellectual Standards to Assess Your Thinking: Brief Guidelines
Fate or Freedom: Which Do You Choose?
Recognizing the Dual Logic of Experience
Facing Contradictions and Inconsistencies
Social Forces, the Mass Media, and Our Experience
Implications for the Design of Your Life
Chapter 9. The Art of Making Intelligent Decisions
Thinking Globally About Your Life
Evaluating Patterns in Decision-Making
Recognizing the Need for an Important Decision
Accurately Recognizing the Alternatives
Putting More Time into Your Decision-Making
Dealing with One Major Decision at a Time
Developing Knowledge of Your Ignorance
Regularly Re-Articulate and Reevaluate Your Goals, Purposes, and Needs
Chapter 10. Taking Charge of Your Irrational Tendencies
Understanding Egocentric Thinking
Understanding Egocentrism as a Mind Within the Mind
Pathological Tendencies of the Human Mind
Challenging the Pathological Tendencies of the Mind
Chapter 11. Monitoring Your Sociocentric Tendencies
Sociocentric Thinking as Pathology
Sociocentric Thinking Is Unconscious and Potentially Dangerous
Sociocentric Use of Language in Groups
Disclosing Sociocentric Thinking Through Conceptual Analysis
Revealing Ideology at Work Through Conceptual Analysis
The Mass Media Foster Sociocentric Thinking
The Mass Media Play Down Information That Puts the Nation in a Negative Light
Freedom from Sociocentric Thought: The Beginnings of Genuine Conscience
The Capacity to Recognize Unethical Acts
Chapter 12. Developing as an Ethical Reasoner
Why People are Confused About Ethics
The Fundamentals of Ethical Reasoning
Ethical Concepts and Principles
The Universal Nature of Ethical Principles
Distinguishing Ethics from Other Domains of Thinking
Religious Beliefs Are Socially or Culturally Relative
Practices That Are Socially or Culturally Relative
Understanding Our Native Selfishness
Chapter 13. Analyzing and Evaluating Thinking in Corporate and Organizational Life
Critical Thinking and Incremental Improvement
An Obstacle to Critical Thinking Within Organizations: The Covert Struggle for Power
Another Obstacle: Group Definitions of Reality
A Third Obstacle: The Problem of Bureaucracy
The Problem of Misleading Success
Competition, Sound Thinking, and Success
Stagnating Organizations and Industries
Questioning Organizational Realities
Assessing Irrational Thinking in Organizational Life
Professional Fallibility and the Glut of Information
The Ideal of Professional Knowledge
True and False Loyalty to a Profession
The Gap Between Fact and Ideal
The Ideal Compared to the Real
Professions Based on the Ideal of Mathematics and Abstract Quantification
The Pain and Suffering of Those Who Fail
Loss of Self-Esteem and Opportunity to Receive Higher Education
Low Level of Math Competency of Those Who Pass School Examinations
The Ideal of Science: Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, Geology, and Biology
The Ideal of Social Science: History, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, and Psychology
The Social Sciences as Taught and Practiced
The Promise of the Fine Arts and Literature
The Reality of Instruction in the Fine Arts and Literature
Chapter 15. Strategic Thinking Part One
Understanding and Using Strategic Thinking
Components of Strategic Thinking
The Beginnings of Strategic Thinking
Key Idea #1: Thoughts, Feelings, and Desires are Interdependent
Key Idea #2: There is a Logic to This, and You Can Figure It Out
Key Idea #3: For Thinking to Be of High Quality, We Must Routinely Assess it
Chapter 16. Strategic Thinking Part Two
Key Idea #4: Our Native Egocentrism Is a Default Mechanism
Key Idea #5: We Must Become Sensitive to the Egocentrism of Those Around Us
Key Idea #6: The Mind Tends to Generalize Beyond the Original Experience
Key Idea #7: Egocentric Thinking Appears to the Mind as Rational
Key Idea #8: The Egocentric Mind Is Automatic in Nature
Key Idea #9: We Often Pursue Power Through Dominating or Submissive Behavior
Key Idea #10: Humans Are Naturally Sociocentric Animals
Key Idea #11: Developing Rationality Requires Work
Glossary: Guide to Critical Thinking Terms and Concepts