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Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the discipline of responsible examination.

It is not cynicism, reflexive disbelief, or criticism for its own sake. It is a disciplined process for bringing our beliefs into closer correspondence with reality.

Truth

Truth is what is actually the case, independent of whether anyone recognizes, understands, believes or denies it.

Evidence

Evidence includes observations, measurements, records, experiences, data and other information available when evaluating a claim.

Fact

A fact is a proposition about reality sufficiently established by reliable evidence to be responsibly treated as factual while remaining open to correction if the evidentiary situation changes.

Precision matters: Rather than saying “facts change,” we prefer: “What societies accept as established fact can change when the evidence changes.”

Belief

A belief is something a person accepts as true. Belief itself does not establish whether the proposition corresponds to reality.

Certainty

Psychological certainty and evidentiary justification are not the same thing. A person can be completely certain and completely wrong.

The goal is not perpetual skepticism. It is proportioned confidence.

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