The disciplne of critical thinking

Working with complex uncertainty

Iain A MacLeod

This report discusses ideas as to how the thinking modes and principles used by those who achieve success in situations of complex uncertainty can be identified and adopted.

A critical thinker is a person who is constantly looking for and adopting principles that will lead towards successful outcomes. It is suggested that people who seek to solve complex problems need to discipline their minds to be critical thinkers. Critical thinking should also become a discipline in another sense, i.e. a ‘branch of learning’ in education

Background to the Paper

The report follows on from To Engineer that outlines strategies for complex problem solving.