Weak Sense Critical Thinking

The weak sense critical thinker has some things in common with the non-critical thinker, and some things in common with the strong sense critical thinker.

Critical thinkers in the weak sense differ from the non-critical thinker in that they are not merely driven by emotion. They understand the rules of logic to a degree. They understand that positions must be defended with reasons. Like the non-critical thinker, the weak sense critical thinker is wedded to their world view. Their ego is in the way of good, clear reasoning.

To a large extent, they are probably unaware of the role their background beliefs are playing in their reasoning. They are not willing to be objective. Their reasoning is generated from a psychological need to defend what they already believe. This is called "egocentricity" or "sociocentricity." Egocentric thinking effectively separates people into "me and you." Sociocentric thinking effectively separates people into "us and them." Piaget concluded that children think they are the center of the world. Many adults think in roughly the same way. The beliefs, values, attitudes, and actions of one's group are seen as better than those of other groups. According to Vincent Ruggiero, people who do not acknowledge a world-view become victims of it.

Richard Paul writes that students typically find it very easy to question just, and only, those beliefs, assumptions and inferences that they have already "rejected" and very difficult, in some cases traumatic, to question those in which they have a personal, egocentric investment.

The weak sense critical thinker will use reason in a limited way. They will use it only to defend their position. This is not the same as seeking the truth. The weak sense critical thinker will only look for those reasons which strengthen their position and weaken their opposition. They will systematically ignore any evidence that tends to weaken their position or strengthen their opposition.

They will use argumentation for the purpose of winning, where winning is defined as maintaining the current position and defeating their opposition.

Why is this kind of thinking considered weak?
Because this kind of thinking is not concerned with truth or virtue. It has the potential of preventing humane, beneficial, and true propositions from coming to light. Any time a proposition is maintained which is not true, then the world suffers. To the extent that an untrue proposition is accepted because of weak sense critical thinking, that weak sense critical thinker is morally deficient.

Are you a critical thinker in the weak sense?
Here are some questions to help you find out:

• First, do you tend to start with a position that you already "know" is true and then look for reasons which support it? This is called rationalizing and is backwards from the proper reasoning method.
  
• Second, do you find your reasons by only looking to sources which will agree with you?
  
• Third, do you tend to ignore criticisms of your positions or become very defensive?
  
• Fourth, do you mentally suppress evidence that might make your opposition look good?
  
• Fifth, are you unwilling to change your mind about things, even when presented with good evidence?