RESEARCH ARTICLE
Can One Learn to Think Critically? – A Philosophical Exploration
Christy Raymond-Seniuk*, 1, 2, Joanne Profetto-McGrath1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2011Volume: 5
First Page: 45
Last Page: 51
Publisher ID: TONURSJ-5-45
DOI: 10.2174/1874434601105010045
PMID: 21760871
PMCID: PMC3134988
Article History:
Received Date: 10/1/2011Revision Received Date: 18/5/2011
Acceptance Date: 19/5/2011
Electronic publication date: 21/6/2011
Collection year: 2011
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Within nursing, critical thinking is a required skill that educators strive to foster in their students’ development for use in complex healthcare settings. Hence the numerous studies published measuring critical thinking as a terminal outcome of education. However, an important comparison between different philosophical underpinnings such as person, truth and the nature of nursing, and how one defines and utilizes critical thinking in practice, has been absent from discussions about critical thinking and learning. When one views critical thinking with varying philosophical lenses, important questions are raised and discussion is expanded. These questions illuminate different perspectives of critical thinking and attempt to explore whether critical thinking can be learned in nursing. The implications of taking a single philosophical viewpoint and a pluralistic approach to understanding critical thinking and learning are explored.
