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In our last critical thinking column we introduced the idea of intellectual standards and pointed out that all natural languages are repositories for such standards, which, when appropriately applied, serve as guides for assessing human reasoning. We argued that intellectual standards are necessary for cultivating the intellect and living a rational life, are presupposed in many concepts in modern natural languages, and are presupposed in every subject and discipline. In this column, the second in the series, we introduce and explicate some of the intellectual standards essential to reasoning well through the problems and issues implicit in everyday human life.
Some Essential Intellectual Standards
We postulate that there are at least nine intellectual standards important to skilled reasoning in everyday life. These are clarity, precision, accuracy, relevance, depth, breadth, logicalness, significance, and fairness. It is unintelligible to claim that any instance of reasoning is both sound and yet in violation of these standards. To see this, suppose someone were to claim that her or his reasoning is sound regarding "x," though, at the same time, admittedly unclear, inaccurate, imprecise, irrelevant, narrow, superficial, illogical, trivial, and unfair with respect to "x." Beginning with these nine intellectual standards will help set the stage for conceptualizing intellectual standards (more broadly) and for appreciating the essential role of intellectual standards in human reasoning.
Essential Intellectual Standards: An Explication
Clarity: Understandable, the meaning can be grasped; to free from confusion or ambiguity, to remove obscurities.
Clarity is a "gateway" standard. If a statement is unclear, one cannot determine whether it is accurate or relevant. In fact, it is impossible to tell anything about a statement without knowing what it is saying. For example, here is an unclear question: "What can be done about the education system in America?" To adequately address the question, a clearer understanding of how the person asking the question is conceptualizing the "problem" Is needed. A clearer question might be "What can educators do to ensure that students learn the skills and abilities which help them understand the world in which they live and function as ethical persons in that world?"
Thinking is always more or less clear. It is helpful to assume that one does not fully understand a thought except to the extent that...