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Our Mission



About the Foundation for Critical Thinking


The Center for Critical Thinking and Moral Critique and the Foundation for Critical Thinking — two sister educational non-profit organizations — work closely together to promote educational reform. We seek to promote essential change in education and society through the cultivation of fairminded critical thinking.

   Critical thinking is essential if we are to get to the root of our problems and develop
reasonable solutions. After all, the quality of everything we do
is determined by the quality of our thinking.

Whereas society commonly promotes values laden with superficial, immediate "benefits," critical thinking cultivates substance and true intellectual discipline. Critical thinking asks much from us, our students, and our colleagues. It entails rigorous self-reflection and open mindedness — the keys to significant changes.

Critical thinking requires the cultivation of core intellectual virtues such as intellectual humility, perseverance, integrity, and responsibility. Nothing of real value comes easily; a rich intellectual environment — alive with curious and determined students — is possible only with critical thinking at the foundation of the educational process.

We do not just advocate educational and social reform based on critical thinking, we develop and build practical alternatives. In a world of accelerating change, intensifying complexity, and increasing interdependence, critical thinking is now a requirement for economic and social survival. Join us as we strive to make critical thinking a core social value and a key organizing concept for all educational reform.

The work of the Foundation is to integrate the Center's research and theoretical developments into resources and learning opportunities that help educators improve their instruction, and that empower learners to systematically develop critical-thinking abilities as well as indispensable intellectual traits like intellectual autonomy, intellectual humility, confidence in reason, and intellectual courage. 

Resources and learning opportunities developed through the Foundation for Critical Thinking include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. The Center for Critical Thinking Community Online, an interactive learning and communications platform. This website features the world's largest library of critical thinking publications, videos, activities, and more. It also features access to exclusive guided study groups, webinars, a critical thinking blog, and a social media component.
  2. Our YouTube channel.
  3. Webinars.
  4. Research.
  5. Publications.
  6. Online courses in critical thinking.
  7. Online and in-person critical thinking events.
  8. On-site and online professional development for educational institutions, businesses, government and military entities, and more.
  9. Critical thinking tests, questionnaires, and other assessment tools.

We invite you to help the global critical thinking movement by making a charitable contribution today.



Please do not pass this message by.

CRITICAL THINKING IS AT RISK.

Here are some of the big reasons why:

  1. Many people believe that critical thinking should be free and that scholars qualified to teach critical thinking should do so for free. Accordingly, they do not think they should have to pay for critical thinking textbooks, courses, or other resources when there is "so much free material online" - despite how erroneous that material may be.
  2. There are many misguided academicians, and some outright charlatans, pushing forth and capitalizing on a pseudo-, partial, or otherwise impoverished concept of critical thinking.
  3. Little to no funding is designated for critical thinking professional development in schools, colleges, or universities, despite the lip service widely given to critical thinking (as is frequently found in mission statements).
  4. Most people, including faculty, think they already know what critical thinking is, despite how few have studied it to any significant degree, and despite how few can articulate a coherent, accurate, and sufficiently deep explanation of it.
  5. People rarely exhibit the necessary level of discipline to study and use critical thinking for reaching higher levels of self-actualization. In part, this is due to wasting intellectual and emotional energy on fruitless electronic entertainment designed to be addictive and profitable rather than educational and uplifting.
  6. On the whole, fairminded critical thinking is neither understood, fostered, nor valued in educational institutions or societies.
  7. People are increasingly able to cluster themselves with others of like mind through alluring internet platforms that enable them to validate one another's thinking - even when their reasoning is nonsensical, lopsided, prejudiced, or even dangerous.
  8. Critical thinking does not yet hold an independent place in academia. Instead, "critical thinking" is continually being "defined" and redefined according to any academic area or instructor that, claiming (frequently unsupported) expertise, steps forward to teach it.

As you see, increasingly powerful trends against the teaching, learning, and practice of critical thinking entail extraordinary challenges to our mission. To continue our work, we must now rely upon your financial support. If critical thinking matters to you, please click here to contribute what you can today.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO CONTINUE OUR WORK.

Thank you for your support of ethical critical thinking.