Strong Sense Critical Thinking

A strong sense critical thinker is similar in some respects to a weak sense critical thinker and different in others.

First, strong sense critical thinkers and weak sense critical thinkers know the value of supporting claims with reasons. However, a strong sense critical thinker would see no point in winning an argument if there was reason to believe the position being argued was wrong. The strong sense critical thinker is aware that learning is an interior transformation of a person's mind and character, a transformation which can only occur when thinking is done fairly and properly. A strong sense critical thinker is aware that there are certain irrational pressures which tend to undermine the ability to be fair minded in the assessment of an issue.

Second, like the weak sense critical thinker, the strong sense critical thinker understands logic. They would be able to find the strong reasons supporting one position and the weaknesses in the other. But unlike the weak sense critical thinker, they would be will to seek out the strong reasons for the opposition and the weaknesses in their current position.
A fair minded person must acknowledge their bias and work to overcome it. This means being intellectually humble. In other words, it requires admitting up front the possibility that whatever is currently believed to be true could be false. It requires that one seek out the very best evidence for all sides of an issue. Then it requires accepting the conclusion that is supported best by the evidence. This could mean changing one's mind. Weak sense critical thinkers and even non-critical thinkers might admit that changing one's mind would be necessary given the right evidence. But those people have already stacked the deck in such a way that they will never allow themselves to encounter such compelling evidence. The strong sense critical thinker structures the entire reasoning process in such a way that they will be exposed to the best possible evidence, thereby putting themselves in the best possible position to be able to make the best possible inference.

A Moral Dimension to Reasoning
The strong sense critical thinker is the moral superior of the three groups. Strong sense critical thinkers seek truth and virtue and are willing to accept that they are wrong given the appropriate evidence.

What are some other qualities of strong sense critical thinkers?

• Intellectual humility: an awareness of the limits of one's knowledge, including the tendency to be self-deceptive and biased.
  
• Intellectual courage: the willingness to face and fairly assess ideas, beliefs, or viewpoints to which they have not given a serious hearing, regardless of one's strong negative reactions to them.
  
• Intellectual empathy: recognizing the need to imaginatively put oneself in the place of others to genuinely understand them.
  
• Intellectual good faith (integrity): recognition of the need to be true to one's own thinking, to be consistent in the intellectual standards one applies, to hold one's self to the same rigorous standard of evidence and proof to which one holds one's antagonists.
  
• Intellectual perseverance: willingness to pursue intellectual insights and truths despite difficulties, obstacles, and frustrations.
  
• Faith in reason: confidence that in the long run one's own higher interests and those of humankind at large will be served best by giving the freest play to reason.
  
• Intellectual sense of justice: Willingness to entertain all viewpoints sympathetically and assess them with the same intellectual standards, without reference to one's own feelings or vested interests, or the feelings or vested interests of one's friends, community, or nation. (Richard Paul; 1 through 7)
  
• Willingness to be decisive when the evidence warrants it. In other words, strong sense critical thinkers are not relativists. They acknowledge that there is an answer, though it may be difficult to find. And when they find that answer, they are willing to accept it.

To determine if you are a strong sense critical thinker:

• First, go through the list above. How many of the characteristics describe you?
  
• Can you think of examples where you used to believe one thing, then through your own initiative researched a subject and realized that the only intellectually honest thing to do was to change your mind? (This does not count if the position was one where you came into conformity with the predominant beliefs of your peers. That could be better explained by the bandwagon effect.)
  
• Can you say you did this when you had a vested interest in holding the first position?
  
• Do you have a genuine sense of curiosity regarding the beliefs of others?