This book aims to help readers develop an
understanding of what is meant by critical
thinking and to develop their own reasoning
skills. These skills are essential to those
progressing to higher levels of academic study,
whether at advanced or degree level. However,
the underlying concepts are useful to anyone
who wishes to:
understand the concepts used in critical
thinking;
develop clearer thinking;
interpret and produce argument more
effectively;
be more observant of what they see and hear.
This book focuses mainly on aspects of critical
thinking that can be applied to work and study,
and which help individuals to think about how
they think. It is not intended to be an advanced
study of abstract reasoning or logic. For these,
the reader is referred to works such as
A. Garnham and J. Oakhill (1994), Thinking and
Reasoning, and A. Fisher (1988), The Logic of Real
Argzments. Rather, its purpose is to focus on the
basics of clear thinking.
