Creative Thinking

1. UNDERSTANDING
THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN CRITICAL
AND CREATIVE
THINKING
AN INTEGRATED
RELATIONSHIP

2. “THE CRITICAL & CREATIVE
FUNCTIONS OF THE MIND
ARE SO INTERWOVEN
THAT NEITHER CAN BE SEPARATED FROM THE OTHER WITHOUT AN
ESSENTIAL LOSS TO BOTH.”
ANONYMOUS

3. IN WEBSTER’S
DICTIONARY OF
SYNONYMS
“THE WORD ‘CRITICAL’ WHEN APPLIED TO PERSONS WHO JUDGE AND TO THEIR
JUDGMENTS, NOT ONLY MAY, BUT IN VERY PRECISE USE DOES, IMPLY AN EFFORT TO
SEE A THING CLEARLY AND TRULY SO THAT NOT ONLY THE GOOD IN IT MAY BE
DISTINGUISHED FROM THE BAD AND THE PERFECT FROM THE IMPERFECT, BUT ALSO
THAT IT AS A WHOLE MAY BE FAIRLY JUDGED AND VALUED.”

4. DICTIONARY, THE
WORD ‘CREATIVE’
HAS THREE
INTERRELATED
MEANINGS:
1. CREATING OR ABLE TO CREATE,
2. HAVING OR SHOWING IMAGINATION OR ARTISTIC OR
INTELLECTUAL INVENTIVENESS
3. STIMULATING THE IMAGINATION AND INVENTIVE POWERS

5. CRITICALITY
ASSESSES;
CREATIVITY
ORIGINATES
CRITICAL AND CREATIVE
THOUGHT ARE BOTH
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THOUGHT.

6. CREATIVITY
MASTERS A
PROCESS OF
MAKING OR
PRODUCING
CRITICALITY MASTERS A PROCESS
OF ASSESSING OR JUDGING

7. DISCIPLINE AND
RIGOR ARE AT
HOME WITH
ORIGINALITY AND
PRODUCTIVITY
IN CRITICAL THINKING WE ASSESS THINKING TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS.
IN CREATIVE THINKING WE GENERATE THINKING BASED ON OUR SENSE OF
HOW TO MAKE THINGS BETTER.

8. CREATIVE
COMPONENT: TO
PRODUCE A
BETTER PRODUCT
OF THOUGHT
AND CREATIVE THINKING HAS A
CRITICAL COMPONENT: TO
RESHAPE THINKING IN KEEPING
WITH CRITERIA OF EXCELLENCE.

9. WITHOUT A
CREATIVE OUTPUT
IS MERELY
NEGATIVE
THINKING.
CREATIVE THINKING WITHOUT A CRITICAL COMPONENT IS MERELY NOVEL
THINKING.
IT IS EASY TO BE MERELY NEGATIVE OR NOVEL IN ONE’S THOUGHT.

10. QUALITY REQUIRES
STANDARDS OF
QUALITY---AND
HENCE
CRITICALITY
ACHIEVING USEFUL PRODUCES
OF ONE’S THINKING REQUIRES
A SENSE OF HOW TO MAKE, OR
RECAST, ONE’S THINKING AT A
HIGHER LEVEL.

11. TO ACHIEVE ANY
CHALLENGING
END, WE MUST
HAVE:
CRITERIA, GAUGES, MEASURES,
MODELS, PRINCIPLES,
STANDARDS, OR TESTS TO USE
IN JUDGING WHETHER WE ARE
APPROACHING THAT END.

12. EXCELLENCE IN
THINKING WITH
NO END IN VIEW.
WE DESIGN FOR A
REASON
WITH STANDARDS THAT ENABLE US TO
GENERATE A PRODUCT THAT MEETS
CRUCIAL CRITERIA. OUR CREATIVE
THINKING MUST BE TESTED AGAINST
CRITICAL STANDARDS.

13. THE GENERATIVE
POWER OF OUR
THOUGHT
REPRESENTS ITS
CREATIVITY
• THE JUDICIOUSNESS OF OUR THOUGHT REPRESENTS ITS CRITICALITY.
• GENERATIVENESS MUST BE MARRIED TO JUDICIOUSNESS TO ACHIEVE
EXCELLENCE.

14. EVERY GENUINE ACT OF
FIGURING OUT ANYTHING
IS A NEW MAKING, A NEW
SERIES OF CREATIVE ACTS,
HOWEVER MUNDANE.
TO COME TO UNDERSTAND ANYTHING REQUIRES THAT
THE MIND CONSTRUCT NEW CONNECTIONS IN THE MIND.

15. KNOWLEDGE OR
UNDERSTANDING; THEY
MUST ALL CREATE OR
CONSTRUCT IT FOR
THEMSELVES.
DIDACTIC TEACHING DOES NOT WORK BECAUSE IT VIOLATES THE ESSENTIAL
CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THE MIND LEARNS---BY ACTS OF CONSTRUCTION
IN THE MIND.

16. EARLIEST AGE OF
LEARNING, THE LEARNER
MUST ACTIVELY
CONSTRUCT (CREATE) TO
LEARN.
WE MUST ABANDON THE NOTION THAT KNOWLEDGE
CAN BE “TRANSMITTED” WITHOUT ACTIVE CREATIVE
CONSTRUCTION ON THE PART OF THE LEARNER.

17. LEARNING, THE LEARNER
MUST ACTIVELY ASSESS
ITS CONSTRUCTION TO
TAKE GENUINE
OWNERSHIP.
AM I BEING CLEAR?
AM I BEING ACCURATE?
THESE ARE MINIMAL CRITERIA FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE.

18. CRITICALITY AND CREATIVITY
APPLIES TO THE WORK OF
THE MOST HUMBLE
STUDENT AS WELL AS THAT
OF THE GREATEST GENIUS
IF WE STUDY THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREATEST MINDS---ARISTOTLE, BEETHOVEN,
CURIE, DA VINCI, GALILEO, MICHELANGELO, NEWTON, DARWIN, EINSTEIN---WE WILL
DISCOVER THAT EACH WENT THROUGH A PERIOD OF GROWTH IN WHICH THEY
INTERNALIZED HIGH STANDARDS OF CRITICALITY THAT PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN
THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY WENT ABOUT THEIR LATER CREATIVE PRODUCTION.

19. THE
DEVELOPMENT OF
CRITICAL AND
CREATIVE
THINKING IS:
A QUESTIONING MIND

20. UNDERSTANDING THE
MIND OF ISAAC NEWTON
AT THE AGE OF 19 NEWTON DREW UP A LIST OF QUESTIONS UNDER 45 HEADINGS. HIS TITLE,
QUAESTIONES, SIGNALED HIS GOAL: TO CONSTANTLY QUESTION THE NATURE OF MATTER, PLACE,
TIME, AND MOTION. HE WORKED HARD TO UNDERSTAND THE THINKING OF OTHERS WORKING ON
HIS LIST OF PROBLEMS. FOR EXAMPLE, HE BOUGHT DASCARTES’S GEOMETRY AND READ IT BY
HIMSELF. AFTER TWO OR THREE PAGES, WHEN HE COULD UNDERSTAND NO FURTHER, “HE BEGAN
AGAIN AND ADVANCED FARTHER AND CONTINUED DOING SO TILL HE MADE HIMSELF MASTER OF
THE WHOLE.”

21. UNDERSTANDING THE
MIND OF CHARLES
DARWIN
LIKE NEWTON (AND EINSTEIN) DARWIN HAD A CAREFUL MIND RATHER THAN A QUICK ONE: “I
HAVE AS MUCH DIFFICULTY AS EVER IN EXPRESSING MYSELF CLEARLY AND CONCISELY; AND
THIS DIFFICULTY HAS CAUSED ME A VERY GREAT LOSS OF TIME, BUT IT HAD HAD THE
COMPENSATING ADVANTAGE OF FORCING ME TO THINK LONG AND INTENTLY ABOUT EVERY
SENTENCE, AND THUS I HAVE BEEN LEAD TO SEE ERRORS IN REASONING AND IN MY OWN
OBSERVATIONS OR THOSE OF OTHERS.”

22. UNDERSTANDING
THE MIND OF
ALBERT EINSTEIN
EINSTEIN FAILED HIS ENTRANCE EXAM TO ZURICH POLYTECHNIC. WHEN HE FINALLY PASSED (BY ATTENDING A CRAM
SCHOOL) HE DID NOT WANT TO THINK ABOUT SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS FOR A YEAR. HIS FINAL EXAM WAS SO NON-
DISTINGUISHED THAT AFTERWARD HE WAS REFUSED A POST AS AN ASSISTANT.

23. UNDERSTANDING THE MUNDANE
NATURE OF CRITICAL AND CREATIVE
THINKING
CREATIVITY SHOULD NOT BE MYSTIFIED.
Much of what appears to be inexplicable can be explained by
mundane accounts. The great creative thinkers were great critical
thinkers, and vice versa. The interrelation and interdependence
holds for all learners and thinkers at all levels.

24. STIMULATING INTELLECTUAL WORK DEVELOPS THE INTELLECT AS
BOTH CREATOR AND EVALUATOR: AS A CREATOR THAT EVALUATES
AND AS AN EVALUATOR THAT CREATES. THE RESULT IS FITNESS OF
MIND, COMPREHENSIVE INTELLECTUAL EXCELLENCE.

25. THE FOUNDATION FOR CRITICAL THINKING
WWW.CRITICALTHINKING.ORG