Examines the theoretical, philosophical, educational & practical aspects. Special emphasis on education.

Foreword -- Introduction -- I. Overview: What critical thinking is and why it is essential -- Accelerating change, the complexity of problems, and the quality of our thinking -- Critical thinking: identifying the targets -- The critical thinking movement in historical perspective -- Pseudo critical thinking in the educational establishements -- Critical thinking: basic questions and answers -- The logic of creative and critical thinking -- Critical thinking in North America -- Why students -- and teachers -- don't reason well -- II. Critical thinking in the strong sense -- Critical thinking: fundamental to education for a free society -- Critical thinking and the critical person -- Critical thinking and the nature of prejudice -- Critical thinking, human development, and rational productivity -- Critical thinking: the background logic -- III. The affective and ethical dimension -- Ethics without indoctrination -- Critical thinking, moral integrity, and citizenship teaching for the intellectual virtues -- Dialogical thinking: critical thought essential to the acquisition of rational knowledge and passions -- Power, vested interest, and prejudice: on the need for critical thinking in the ethics of social and economic development -- IV. Contrasting viewpoints -- McPeck's mistakes: why critical thinking applies across disciplines and domains -- Bloom's taxonomy and critical thinking instruction: recall is not knowledge -- Critical and cultural literacy: where E.D. Hirsch goes wrong -- Critical thinking and general semantics: on the primacy of natural languages -- The contribution of philosophy to thinking -- Philosophy and cognitive psychology: contrasting assumptions -- Appendices -- A. Glossary: aguide to critical thinking terms and concepts -- B. Recommended readings.