إشكالية التعدد المفاهيمي للتفكير الناقد: تحليل ابستمولوجي تركيبي

Abstract

The term critical thinking exhibits a remarkable multiplicity in its definitions, raising an epistemological problem regarding the possibility of constructing a comprehensive and precise definition that accommodates this diversity without falling into a reductive simplification that distorts the structure of the concept. Within this problematic horizon, the study aims to deconstruct the conceptual structure of the most prominent definitions of critical thinking and to conduct a comparative analysis among them, focusing on the levels of essence, mechanisms, criteria, and purpose, with the aim of uncovering their internal logic and theoretical limits, as a prelude to formulating a composite definition grounded epistemologically. To achieve this goal, the study adopts a descriptive, analytical, and comparative approach as an appropriate tool for tracing conceptual differences within their theoretical framework. The results of the analysis reveal that definitions of critical thinking converge around reflection, rationality, and purposiveness; however, they diverge in the degree to which they explicitly articulate the criteria governing the act of thinking, its procedural mechanisms, and its emotional extensions. The study recommends the necessity of presenting a composite definition that seeks to incorporate these shared components while overcoming some of the shortcomings revealed by the comparison, with an awareness of its epistemological limits and without claiming to resolve the conceptual debate surrounding critical thinking.