Philosophical foundations of the concept of critical thinking

Abstract

The article considers the development trends of the concept of «critical thinking» in philosophical and educational discourse, which today has become important as one of the cross-cutting abilities that a future IT teacher should possess, as one of the various factors of success in the professional area and the personal development in the conditions of society modernization. It was established that the concept of critical thinking dates back to the ancient times. Scientists attached the great importance to the ability of thinking, critical world cognition, logical thinking, paid attention to the man’s critical attitude to the subject and process of cognition, and proposed their own methods of finding the truth, based on mind, thinking. Critical thinking, as a term, appeared in the second half of the last century and it was regarded by researches as a certain type of thinking. It was defined that a key role in the development of critical thinking belongs to education. During the educational process between the teacher and the student there is a constructive dialogue, in the process of which the problematization of a certain situation, phenomenon , the search for optimal ways to solve the problem are taken. Critical thinking transforms ordinary learning into a productive educational process.It was found that the critical thinking personality is characterized by the ability to search for facts, analyze them on their own, make conclusions based on reliable data,objectively assess various facts, argue their own position, admit and correct their mistakes, resist to negative informational influence and manipulations. Such skills characterize a critical-thinking person, promote to professional self-realization,provide an opportunity to change their lives and the lives of others for the best.