Scientific Thinking and Critical Thinking

Scientific Thinking and Critical Thinking

The Three Central Components

The Three Central Components

Empricisim: The Use of Empirical Evidence

It is the evidence that others beside yourself can experience

The only type used to make important decisions and reach sound conclusions

The common alternative is the authoritarian evidence

It is also known as natural evidence

Rationalism: The Practice of Logical Reasoning

It is a skill/discipline that must be learned within a formal educational environment

It is hard and not easily learned

It requires a struggle with a person's will

Skepticisim: Possessing a Skeptical Attitude

the constant questoining of your beliefs and conclusions

Skeptics hold uncertain beliefs

Skeptics have the ability to change their minds incase of new reliable evidence

Definition

Definition

Critical thinking is thinking correctly for oneself that successfully leads to the most reliable answers for problems

Scientific thinking is the use of scientific method to study or investigate nature/universe

Scientific thinking is always practiced by scientists while critical thinking is sometimes used by humans