During the Renaissance (XV-XVI centuries) in Europe, many scientists began to think
critically about religion, art, society,
human nature, rights and freedom. They proceeded with the
assumption that most areas of human life need research analysis and criticism. Among these
scholars were Colet, Erasmus and Moore in England. A little later, in France,
Descartes wrote a
book on the study of critical thinking, The Rules of Reason. In it, Descartes emphasized the need
for a special systematic arrangement of the mind in order to direct it to thinking. In his work, he
expresses the need for thinking for awareness and accuracy, he developed a method of critical
thinking based on the principle of systematic doubt. Descartes emphasized the need to base thinking
on careful thinking through reasonable assumptions, and mentions
that every part of thinking
should be questioned, tested with doubt.
During the Italian Renaissance, Machiavelli's "The Prince" critically evaluated the politics
of the time and laid the foundation for modern critical political thought. He refused to consider it as
a job for those in power. On the contrary, he critically analyzed the accusations of the authorities
and laid the foundation for a policy thinking that reveals the real agenda of the politicians there, and
from it the many contradictions and inconsistencies of a harsh, cruel world.
This term began to take root in pedagogy in the middle of the 20th century. In 1933, John
Dewey emphasized that the main purpose of education is to evaluate thinking.
After that time,
scientists stopped to develop learning, not memorization and learning. For example, Michael
Scriven introduced the idea that "teaching critical thinking should be a part of education". In the
1950s, quality workforce and physical education, critical thinking were taught as part of the school
curriculum and were accepted as "essential" skills for life.(Parmal Mukesh)[2]
At the beginning of the 20th century, many scientists abroad conducted their scientific work
on critical thinking. , John Dewey was one of the first to reveal the meaning of critical thinking. In
his 1910 work, How to Think, Dewey noted, "If we accept a new opinion or a new instant, we do
not think critically and use our reflections to a minimum." Dewey has repeatedly emphasized in his
work that after critical thinking.[3]
In the last thirty years, foreign scientists in the USA Kory Rusch "Development of critical
thinking in education", Jennifer h. Reed "Effects of a cognitive thinking model on students",
Susanna Massa in Italy "The role of the teacher in developing critical thinking in young children in
primary education", Merinda Rose in Australia "Thinking critically about critical thinking: Teachers
in a private institution Examining Their Concepts of Critical Thinking" by Parimal Mukesh Bhatt
"What are teachers' concepts of critical thinking and how do they develop students' critical
thinking? Problem Solving in London Secondary Schools", Y. Nakagawa's
own understanding of
critical thinking in his works entitled "A Phenomenographic Study of Critical Thinking in Japanese
Primary Education" and developed their views.
The topic of critical thinking has also attracted the attention of Russian scientists.
Researches on critical thinking were analyzed by L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, S.L. Rubinstein. In
particular, L.S. Vygotsky in his work "Thinking and speech" evaluates this term as a type of
intellectual activity of a person and defines critical thinking as a high level of understanding,
acceptance, objective approach to information. In his opinion, a person who begins to think should
set a goal for himself and develop such a setting for himself to achieve the right result, a person
should be able to motivate himself in his independent work. When there is a huge stream of
information, a person should be able to think rationally and separate important material from it and
understand it independently.