Pedagogical aspect of the formation of critical thinking in students of philosophy and theology

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reveal and form pedagogical tools for development of critical thinking of students who study philosophy and theology. Alternative variants existing in pedagogy and philosophy are considered for wider analysis of the subject. Critical thinking is considered from the pedagogical point of view, but is focused and addressed more for teaching students who study philosophical and theological subjects. The article emphasizes not just the ability to receive information but also to critically evaluate it, comprehend and practically apply. Students can get tools to consider information from various points of view, and to draw conclusions about its value and accuracy. For these purposes, the first part of the article contains the analysis of the pedagogical model of the American teacher Robert H. Ennis, in which he suggests some phases of development of critical thinking for learning, namely to care that views and decisions are justified, to be able to introduce your own position and the position of others, and to respect opinions and dignity. The article also introduces and considers a position of the prominent American psychologist Diane Halpern, who is developing a critical thinking program in the USA and is introducing her own model in which she thinks that developing a habit to think critically is no less important than developing a habit to think. The psychologist describes the following qualities of a critically thinking person: readiness for planning, flexibility, persistence, readiness for correcting mistakes, awareness, and search for compromise solutions.This work also presents a technology called “Critical Thinking Development” designed by the International Reading Association of the University of Northern Iowa and the colleges of Hobard and William Smith. The authors of the program are Charles Temple, Ginny Steele, and Kurt Meredith. The peculiarity of this technology is in the presented idea of “three phases of challenge” for critical thinking development for students of philosophy and theology. The last part of this article points out what is not considered to be critical thinking. The author refers to the works on critical thinking by Dr. David J. Klooster.