SOCY 122 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: The Sociological Imagination, Descriptive Statistics, Quartile
19 Sep 2018
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Department
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Professor
Rachel Fox
September.12/18 Critical Sociological thinking
Introduction
• Critical thinking→ thinking that is purposeful, deliberate, and self regulatory and that
arrives at judgements based on well defined criteria and evidence
• Sociologists must acquire critical thinking skills, research skills and theorizing skills
• A critical thinker is someone who takes “discriminating judgements with reference to
criteria” (Van Gyn)
• Applying, analyzing and evaluating information
• Arriving at a judgement based on well defined criteria, especially evidence
• Mindful of the ways in which they accept of reject information, and then use that
information to support a positon
• Position of knowledge is not a constant; your position may change
Critical thinking in historical perspective
• Critical thinking in some senses is the same for all times and places and disciplines
• Critical thinking differs within a given society
• Ancient Greeks used critical thinking as a way to actively question the everyday, taken
for granted beliefs that were commonly held by the members of different city-states
• The search for universal truths was the highest activity to which any human could
aspire
• Greek philosophers looked for the “essence” of all things (starting with Aristotle)
• Believed knowledge could be precise and applicable to all similar cases
• Philosophers in the early modern period questions the Greek philosophers
• Rene Descartes believed reasoning had to produce absolute certainty which could only be
achieved if it was freed from opinion and if thinkers followed a universal method
• Convinced scientific inquiry was the universal method
• Early modern philosophers used critical thinking to strive for ideals of survival and
comfort
• Restricted themselves to what could be tested scientifically
• Objective scientists think about the world and everything in it, often without examining
the basic assumptions and ideas of their particular traditions of thought
• Being a scientific thinker does not guarantee you are a critical thinker. You need ot
challenge established understandings.
Characteristics and habits of a crucial thinker
• Van Gyn uses the word habit for each of the attributes that critical thinkers must display
in their work
• Van Gyn and others have identified several habits characteristic of a critical thinker. They
are:
1. Independence of mind
• Autonomous thinking- thinking for oneself
• We must question the “truth” that we were taught as children
• We must judge for ourselves
2. Intellectual curiosity
• Must be curious about the world we live in and want to know more
• Must ask questions about things that are taken for granted
• Go beyond what is readily available and seek other information
3. Intellectual courage
• Willingness to evaluate all ideas, beliefs, or viewpoints fairly, and the courage to take a
position
• Go against taken for granted opinions
• Recognize familiar views that may seen superior may not be
• Must be able to take a position that may not be the popular one, but because its morally
the right thing to do or the most defensible position
4. Intellectual humanity
• Awareness of the limits of one’s knowledge
• Must be sensitive to the biases and limitations of their points of view
• Evaluate his own ignorance
5. Intellectual empathy
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