Critical Thinking Against Pseudoscience

Abstract

This review article analyses the literature on critical thinking and pseudoscience and characterises critical thinking as an instance of scientific thinking and a tool for the criticism of pseudoscience. The authors of the review work on the assumption, first made in a 1998 presentation, that critical thinking lies at the interface of logic and anthropology. The concept of critical thinking is shown to be widely used of late in the Russian and international discourse on research and education. The term also frequently occurs in public statements by politicians, economists, lawyers, and even members of the clergy and the army. An emphasis is placed on critical thinking being a value of society in and of itself, which should be considered along three dimensions, namely as a philosophical concept, a methodological approach based on that concept, and an academic discipline either independent or embedded in some other subject area. Sources in the references aid in analysing each of these dimensions. The section dealing with critical thinking in its relation to pseudoscience surveys various approaches to demarcating and defining pseudoscience and gives an overview of the literature analysing the role of critical thinking in detecting and fighting pseudoscience and fakes in science. This analytical review of works on critical thinking and its role in distinguishing science and pseudoscience is concise compared to the almost inexhaustible body of literature on the topic. Yet, it demonstrates the importance of the subject matter for Russian and international research.