Critical Thinking

Paul and Elder have devoted their careers to developing fairminded critical thinkers. In this book, they share deep insights into their best thinking about thinking. This book challenges us to become better in every aspect, to use our best thinking as a tool for social justice. – Daryl Watkins, associate professor of organizational leadership, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical UniversityRichard Paul and Linda Elder’s latest collaboration advocates conscious thinking…for a…world mired in cultural assumptions, egocentric behaviors, and sociocentric actions. The text, chockful of examples, offers effective ways to uncover flawed thinking processes, examine inherited values, and expand our capacities for a peaceful world. – Dr. Richard LaManna, Academic Assessment, Bronx Community College, CUNY…Dr. Paul and Dr. Elder have developed an approach that stands in stark contrast to the tendency to embrace critical thinking as an essential, yet vaguely understood goal. The book inspires its readers to draw on methods grounded in wide-ranging examples…in order to reason effectively about the challenges that beleaguer the human condition. – Julie Stephens de Jonge, Professor of Spanish, University of Central Missouri

Dr. Richard Paul was a leading proponent of critical thinking and through his work and legacy remains an international authority in the field. He founded the Center for Critical Thinking at Sonoma State University in 1980, followed by the Foundation for Critical Thinking. He developed concepts, principles, and theory essentials to a robust and fairminded conception of critical thinking and authored more than 200 articles and seven books on the topic. He presented workshops to hundreds of thousands of educators over his 35-year career as a leader in the critical thinking movement.

Dr. Linda Elder is an educational psychologist who has taught both psychology and critical thinking at the college level. She is the President of the Foundation for Critical Thinking and the Executive Director of the Center for Critical Thinking. She has a special interest in the relation of thought and emotion, as well as the cognitive and affective. She has developed an original theory of the stages of critical thinking development. Elder has coauthored four books on critical thinking, as well as all 23 titles found in the Thinker’s Guide Library.