Critical Thinking

 

Critical thinking is being able to judge whether the statement someone is asserting is actually true, by analysing the underlying argument. It is not a talent, but a skill that you can develop. This training will teach you to focus your mind by asking critical questions. This will strengthen your position during discussions, decision-making and advice.

 

Is this training for you?

Are you a manager, consultant, editor, teacher, journalist, politician, student, scientific or other researcher, or do you work in an intelligence or investigation service? Or are you expected to make well-considered decisions and give a strong presentation of your opinion in public? Then this training is designed for you.

 

You do not need an academic background to learn to think critically.

 

What will you achieve with the training?

After completing the training, you will be able to determine in a structured manner whether your assertion, or someone else’s, is correct or plausible. And therefore whether a policy, decision or advice is good. Or not! In addition, you will be able to use valid arguments to convince others of this.

Which competences will you train?

With this course you will increase your:

o Consultative skills

o Power of persuasion

o Analytical capacity

o Ability to judge

o Self-confidence

o Daring

o Decisiveness

 

What is the subject matter?

During the training we will train your ability to make judgements by making you aware of:

o Fallacies

o Ambiguities

o Presuppositions

o Missing information

o The strength or weakness of evidence and arguments

o Alternative conclusions and alternative explanations

 

In addition to this rational dimension, we will deal with the socio-psychological elements that frustrate critical thinking: group conformity, selective perception and cognitive dissonance. What happens in a group for example when you ask a truly critical question? What hinders you from actually asking such a question?

 

The training is structured as follows:

- Introduction

The origin of the concept of critical thinking, its historical development and its role in western society.

 

- Asking the right questions

What is it about? What is the conclusion? Which argument forms the basis of the conclusion? Which presuppositions does it contain? Does the argument contain fallacies? How strong is the evidence? Are there alternative conclusions or explanations? Is there missing information?

 

- Socio-psychological aspects

You will learn to think critically using current cases that have actually occurred. In addition to the cases you introduce, we will present disconcerting findings from the social psychology of the functioning of groups and people in groups as well as examples of disasters and near-disasters from the business community and government.

 

During the course we will use materials that you have brought along, such as a short article or fragment about a current issue that you find interesting or challenging. You can choose from: scientific reports, government campaigns, advertising, police investigations, judgements by judges or the Supreme Court, theses, opinion polls and questionnaires, political statements or decisions, policies from organisations, newspaper and magazine articles, marketing and organisations. (the latter in the invitation letter?)

 

All participants will receive the book Asking the right questions – A practical handbook for Critical Thinking by M. Neil Browne and Stuart M. Keeley.

 

For six weeks after the course, you will be able to complete one exercise a week and send it in by email.

 

 

Who are we?

The training will be given by Gijs van Beeck Calkoen and Paula Steenwinkel from the Practice for Bold Thinking.

 

Gijs has years of experience with the structural development of thinking skills. From his passion for creative thinking, there will be many unexpected successes from logically planned arguments.

 

Paula has given hundreds of Structural Writing training sessions and performed an evaluation of the logic of thousands of policy documents and theses. Her experience is always a guarantee for a rigorous investigation.

 

 

How long does the training take?

 

This intensive training takes two days. The training will then be continued by email for six weeks. Each week you will be presented with a current issue on which you can practice your skills.