Logic as a Tool for Developing Critical Thinking
Authors:   Comenius University, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Institute of Mediamatics, Bratislava, Slovakia, Vartiak Lukas , Jaseckova Galina ,   Comenius University, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Institute of Mediamatics, Bratislava, Slovakia, Konvit Milan ,   Comenius University, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Institute of Mediamatics, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Published: July 2023

A characteristic feature of modern society is the ever-expanding information space. Hidden information attacks harm the lives of individuals and society in general. In this regard, studies of critical thinking seem particularly important to us. Therefore, critical thinking is interpreted in the academic discourse mainly in connection with the effort to cope with the growing amount of misinformation and hate speech. While teachers and policymakers consider critical thinking an important educational goal, many are unclear about developing this competency in a school setting. For many key competencies, the question is whether and how they can be acquired through planned educational courses/programs. Although there are specific training programs for critical thinking as a core competency, their design and effectiveness are scientifically controversial. Instruction in critical thinking becomes extremely important because it allows individuals to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the information they encounter and promotes good decision-making and problem-solving in real-world applications. Despite the ambiguity of the term critical thinking, its close connection with logical culture is evident. Logical culture is the culture of thinking manifested in the culture of written and oral speech. The starting point for developing critical thinking skills should be logic. Logic as a science of correct thinking is the basis on which the program for developing critical thinking is based. The paper’s main aim is to identify the status of critical thinking as an independent discipline. A partial aim of the paper is to define the relationship between critical thinking and logic. The paper is divided into six parts, while the main findings are summarised in conclusions. In its purest form, logic does not teach how to work with a changing context or apply it to the subject realities of various disciplines, but such characteristics as precision, clarity, provability, and persuasiveness are key for this science. It is through logic that the basic principles of thinking, which we call critical, are revealed, the rules of argumentation and definitions are explained, and misconceptions and errors are displayed. Logic is distinguished from other sciences by the fundamentality of the discussed problems. Logic is the only science that combines mathematics, computer science and humanities education. We believe that modern logic is only the beginning of the first of the sciences of a new generation, which will be invited to combine the analyticity of the scientific method with the synthetics of perception of the humanitarian point of view. Therefore, we believe that the development of critical thinking skills appears to be productive in combination with the study of logic and is a priority in the modern educational process. It is difficult to imagine the formation of critical thinking in isolation from the building of the logical culture of the individual, which gives him a solid foundation for understanding the essence of critical thinking.