To some extent, critical thinking is a matter of logic--of being able to
spot weaknesses in other people's arguments and to avoid them in your own.
It also involves related skills such as distingguishing fact from opinion,
judjing the credibility of statements, andassessing the soundness of evdence.
In the broadest sence,critical thinking is focused, organized thinking--the
ability to see clearly the relationships among ideas. It has often been said
that there are few new ideas inthe world, only reorgnized ideas. The greatest thinkers,
scientists, and inventors have ofen taken information that was readily available
and put it together differently to produce new insights. That, too, is critical thinking.