Critical Thinking and Its Vulnerabilities
Dr Michael Walton2022, Effective Executive
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Abstract
This article suggests that the notion of 'critical thinking' is a far more perplexing and maleable notion that it may at first sight appear to be. The article highlights the significance of organisational bias and the impact of the mindset of key executives in shaping how 'critical thinking' will come to be defined and construed.
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Some recent challenges to theoretical and pedagogical endeavors focusing on critical thinking have taken the form of charges that critical thinking is biased, in particular with respect to gender and to culture.' Such challenges have been addressed among critical thinking theorists largely by attempts to demonstrate how such charges are problematic, by elaboration and clarification of current conceptions in attempts to demonstrate how such charges are misdirected, or by acknowledging the possible force of some particular aspects of the charges2 Such attempts at response to charges of bias may be inadequate, however, in that they do not generally distinguish among the various senses in which claims of bias may be made. As a consequence, they may fail to come to grips with the deeper issues being raised by some of the charges.
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