Abstract

The subject of this dissertation is critical thinking and good reasoning. The problem is: what are the basic principles of critical thinking and good reasoning? Views range from only general principles specifically provided by formal logic to no general principles, only subject-specific ones with a variety of views in between. We will critically examine these views. ;Principles of good reasoning, according to some philosophers, are provided by formal logic only. They believe that any principles that are not reducible to logic are not needed at all. There is another group of philosophers who think that no general principle can cover all fields of study and subject-specific principles are required for good reasoning in each field. Our position is that abstract general principles of logic hold good in all fields; abstract principles of logic are not adequate for good reasoning in all fields; in every field of study there are unique subject-specific abstract principles of reasoning that are good in that particular field only. We argue for the following theses: Logic provides us principles of reasoning that hold good in all fields and all subjects in determining the validity or invalidity of arguments, and the logical truth of statements. Logic does not deal with all the principles of good reasoning in all fields, simply because like all other subjects logic has a subject matter of its own and, it does not include all the principles of good reasoning in all specific subjects. It simply deals with principles of good reasoning that are good across the disciplines or fields. In every discipline, there are many subject-specific principles of good reasoning that are not deducible from or reducible to logic. This is not to say that the factual truth of premises are subject-specific. The factual truth or falsity of premises in different subjects are not determined by logic. Beyond that, there are principles of reasoning in each subject that are unique to that subject and, are not deducible from or reducible to logic. Also, those subject-specific principles of reasoning may not be good across disciplines. Our examples of subject-specific principles of reasoning in various fields show that in addition to the general principles of logic there are subject-specific abstract principles of reasoning in different fields