It is hard to believe, but it has been 30 years since the publication of the first edition of Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking. The world has changed in many ways over the last three decades. For the first edition, I wrote all of the text long hand (remember that?) and had it typed by a professional secretary who had a sleek new typewriter with a “tape” that allowed her to white out errors and a return key so she did not have to push the carriage return at the end of every line. I am guessing that most readers have no idea what any of this means because they never lived in a world with typewriters or heard of a “carriage return.”
But, despite all of the changes in technology in the last 30 years (yes, there was a time when there was no Internet), the need to think critically has not changed. One might argue that it is even more important now that everyone has easy access to more information than they can possibly use and much of that information is biased in ways that can be difficult to detect. It is to the users of new and emerging technologies that I dedicate this book.
I have many wonderful colleagues, students, and reviewers to thank for their assistance with this edition. I thank Heather Butler, an extraordinary doctoral student who will be Dr. Butler by the time you are reading this. She has helped me question, research, and rethink much of what I know about critical thinking. I also thank Amanda Franco, a doctoral student at University of Minho in Portugal for carefully reading an early draft of this book and offering insightful recommendations. Special thanks to Dr. Heidi Riggio at California State University, Los Angeles, for her careful and creative work on the instructor’s materials and student online exercises in this edition of Thought and Knowledge and in previous editions. This edition has a new publisher, Psychology Press, a division of the international publisher Taylor & Francis. The psychology editor Paul Dukes and the editor assigned for this book, Fred Coppersmith, have been supportive throughout the process of bringing this book to print. In addition, I have been fortunate to have suggestions from some of the top luminaries in the field of teaching critical thinking. Some of the reviewers have chosen to remain anonymous, so I thank them anonymously. Sincere thanks to the following reviewers:
Alan Bensley, Frostburg State University
Michael Bishop, Florida State University
Paul Carelli, University of North Florida
Mary Dolan, California State University San Bernardino
Dana S. Dunn, Moravian College
Frank Fair, Sam Houston State University
Garfield Gini-Newman, University of Toronto
Regan Gurung, University of Wisconsin Green Bay
Ken Keith, University of San Diego
Shari Kuchenbecker, Chapman University
Kenneth Manktelow, University of Wolverhampton
Rob McClary, USMC (ret.)
Joe Morrison, Queen’s University Belfast
Lloyd Noppe, University of North Carolina Greensboro
Steven L. Schandler, Chapman University
Deborah Schweikert-Cattin, Regis University
Eric Stocks, University of Texas at Tyler
This edition benefited enormously from their insightful comments.
I also thank my dear family, who has been supportive of the very long periods of time I spent at my computer writing this edition, my husband, Sheldon Halpern, and my children Evan and Karen Halpern and Jaye Halpern-Duncan. Finally, there are the lights of my life—my incredible grandchildren, who have taught me much about the world, Amanda, Jason, and Belle.
It is my sincere hope that you will enjoy this book and come away with new skills and knowledge that will stay with you for life. Never stop questioning; never stop thinking. Our future depends on it.