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CRITICAL THINKING AND THE STUDY OF HISTORY
Taken from World History: Continuity and Change. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Harcourt Brace & Company. Austin, Texas. 1999.
Critical thinking is the reasoned judgment of information and ideas. People
who think critically study information to determine its accuracy. They
evaluate arguments and analyze conclusions before accepting them.
Using the following 14 critical thinking skills throughout your study of world
history will help you better understand the forces that create global events.
1. Using Historical Imagination is mentally stepping into the past to consider
an event or situation as people at the time would have considered it. Bu
putting yourself in their place, you might note whether they lived before or
after historical turning points. Ask yourself: Did these people live before or
after major medical advances such as penicillin? Did they live before or after
technological advances such as the automobile? Did they live before or after
World War II? Keep in mind what the people of the time knew and did not
know. For example, to grasp the experience of a soldier in the trenches of
World War 1, you need to understand that little was known about how to deal
with medical problems and surgery on the battlefield.
2. Gaining a Cultural Perspective means viewing historical events and
situations in ways that are fair and sensitive to all cultural groups affected. A
broad cultural perspective widens your understanding of cultures while
deepening your appreciation of the variety of beliefs and traditions around the
world. For example. Studying American Indian cultures before the arrival of
Christopher Columbus helps you to understand that Europeans did not
“discover” the Americas. They encountered a land already settled by peoples
with rich cultures.
3. Recognizing Point of View involves identifying the factors that color the
outlook of an individual or group. A person’s point of view includes beliefs
and attitudes that are shaped by factors such as age, gender, religion, race, and
economic status. This thinking skill helps us examine why people see things
as they do and reinforces the realization that people’s views may change over
time, or with change in circumstances. When a point of view is highly
personal or based on unreasoned judgment it is considered bias.
4. Comparing and Contrasting is examining events, situations, or points of
view for their similarities and differences. Comparing focuses only on the
differences. For example, a comparison of the Umayyad and Abbasid
dynasties might point out that both sought to establish governments that were
grounded in Islam. In contrast, the Abbasids relied more on Persian
influences in government that did the Umayyads, who followed Arab
traditions.
5. Identifying Cause and Effect is part of interpreting relationships between
historical events. A cause is any action that leads to an event; the outcome of
that action is an effect. To explain historical developments, historians may
point out multiple causes and effects. For instance, population decreases
during the Black Death combined with new farming techniques to produce a
surplus of agricultural products, which in turn led to lower prices, a higher
standard of living in Europe and increased demand for trade goods.
6. Analyzing is the process of breaking something down into its parts and
examining the relationships between them. Analysis enables you to better
understand the whole. For example, to analyze how Roman law developed,
you might study the conflicts between plebeians and patricians in Rome, as
well as how those conflicts were resolved.
7. Assessing Consequences means studying an action, event, or a trend to
predict its long-term effects and to judge the desirability of those effects.
Consequences are effects that are indirect and unintended. They may appear
long after the event that led to them. An example of assessing consequences is
an analysis of the decision to impose war reparations on Germany after World
War I. Consequences included economic instability that contributed to the
Great Depression and led many Germans to seek a leader who would restore
their country to power and prosperity.
8. Distinguishing Fact from Opinion means separating the facts about
something from what people say about it. A fact can be proved or observed;
an opinion, on the other hand, is a personal belief or conclusion. We often
hear facts and opinions mixed in everyday conversation-in advertising, in
political debate, and in historical sources. Although some opinions can be
supported by facts, in an argument they do not carry as much weight as facts.
9. Identifying Values involves recognizing the core beliefs held by a person or
group. Values are more deeply held than opinions and are les likely to
change. Values commonly concern matters of right and wrong and may be
viewed as desirable in and of themselves. In Hinduism, for example, the
fulfillment of moral duties is highly valued, and Hindus believe that each
person will encounter consequences for his or her actions.
10. Hypothesizing is forming a possible explanation for an event, a situation, or a
problem. A hypothesis is not a proven fact. Rather it is an “educated guess”
based on available evidence and tested against new evidence. A historian, for
instance, might hypothesize that Galileo argued that earth revolved around the
sun in order to weaken the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. The
historian would the organize the evidence to support this hypothesis and
challenge other explanations of Galileo’s actions.
11. Synthesizing involves combining information and ideas from several sources
or points in time to gain a new understanding of a topic or event. Much of the
narrative writing in a textbook is synthesis. It pulls together historical data
from many sources into a chronological story of the world. Synthesizing the
Great Depression, for example, might involve studying photographs and
economic statistics from the 1930s, together with interviews of people from all
parts of the world who lived through the period.
12. Problem Solving and Decision Making is a process of reviewing a situation
and making recommendations for improving or correcting it. Before
beginning, however, the problem must be identified and stated. You then need
to be able to gather information on the issue. For instance, in seeking a
solution to the problems caused by the international drug trade, you might
state the issue in terms of the relationship of drug addiction to violent crime.
You would then list and evaluate possible solutions or courses of action,
selecting the one you think is best and giving the reasons for your choice. If
possible, you would evaluate your situation.
13. Evaluating is assessing the significance or overall importance of something,
such as the success of a reform movement or the impact of a president on
society. You should base your judgment on standards that others will
understand and are likely to consider valid. An evaluation of international
relations after World War II, for example, would assess the political and
economic tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and the ways those
tensions affected other countries around the world.
14. Taking a Stand is identifying as issue, deciding what you think about it, and
persuasively expressing your position. Your stand should be based on specific
information. In taking a stand, even on a controversial issue such as
international terrorism, state your position clearly and give reasons to support
it.