Abstract:

One of the first conceptual influences regarding critical thinking with consequences in education comes from Socratic philosophy. Socrates' thought converges in Plato's and Aristotle's ideas, in a denial of excessive rhetoric, criticizing those who do not have the humility to recognize their ignorance. Also, Descartes questions his beliefs from reflective processes that lead him to question the fidelity of established principles and rules. Later, John Dewey enriched educational philosophy with his reflections concerning thinking, introducing the concept of reflective thinking, in which essential dimensions of critical thinking are highlighted. Since then, many other authors, such as Paulo Freire, Robert Ennis, Benjamin Bloom, Stephen Norris, among others, have contributed to the construction of the concept of critical thinking. This study focuses on an in-depth reading of scientific articles by these and other authors that allowed us to discuss the evolution of the concept of critical thinking, as well as its current expression in education. Methodologically, the study focuses on a qualitative approach, which intends to assess the conceptions of the authors through heuristic and hermeneutic processes.

In this sense, the investigative process followed the following steps:
(i) search and systematization of relevant literature;
(ii) organization of relevant texts on critical thinking, diachronically, in order to analyze the evolution of the concept in education;
(iii) collection of the most relevant ideas for education, expressed by the authors, and historically framing them;
(iv) establishing relationships between the different conceptions and ideas;
(v) analysis of the most impacting concept of critical thinking today.

This study looks at critical thinking with a very strong relation to the promotion of global citizenship, so a cross-reading with some defining documents of this problematic will also be done. The data that emerge from the analysis refer the importance of knowing deeply the origins and evolution of the concept and to understand the different dimensions that integrate it in order to develop formative strategies that allow educators and teachers to understand its impact on the construction of global citizenship.

Keywords:

Critical thinking, education, global citizenship.