from: Institute for Critical Thinking 1

Critical Inquiry

Critical Questions to Stimulate

Critical Thinking

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 2

Thinking is driven by questions.

Had no questions been asked by those who laid the foundations

for a discipline, the field would never have been

developed in the first place.

Furthermore, every discipline stays alive

only to the extent that fresh questions are

generated and taken seriously as the driving force in a process of

thinking.

To think through or rethink anything,

one must ask questions that stimulate thought.

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 3

(1)Deep Questions

• Deep questions drive us to delve beneath the surface of ideas.

• They force us to deal with complexity.

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 4

(2)Questions of Purpose

• Force us to define our task.

• Ask “why?”

• Seek to define desired outcomes.

• Ask “What are we seeking to accomplish?”

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 5

(3)Questions of Information

• Force us to look at our sources of information.

• Forces us to assess the quality of our information.

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 6

(4)Questions of Interpretation

• Force us to determine what gives meaning to information

• Force us to examine how we are organizing information.

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 7

(5)Questions of Assumption

• Force us to examine what we are taking for granted.

• Force us to think about how our opinions are informed.

• Force us to evaluate our biases.

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 8

(6) Questions of Implication

• Force us to follow our thought patterns through to conclusions.

• Force us to evaluate our inferences.

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 9

(7) Questions of Point of View

• Force us to examine our perspective

• Force us to consider other relevant points of view.

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 10

(8) Questions of Relevance

• Force us to discriminate between what does and what does not bear on a question.

• Allows us to focus by disregarding the irrelevant

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 11

(9) Questions of Accuracy and Validity

• Force us to test for truth and correctness.

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 12

(10) Questions of Precision

• Force us to give details.

• Force us to be specific

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 13

(11) Questions of Consistency

• Force us to check our thinking for contradictions.

• Force us to examine our ideas for discrepancies or hypocrisy.

from: Institute for Critical Thinking 14

(12) Questions of Logic

• Force us to consider how we are putting the whole of our thought together.

• Force us to evaluate our inferences.

• Force us to ensure that it all adds up and makes sense within a system of some kind.