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Thinking Critically, 13th Edition

John Chaffee

  • Copyright 2026
  • {{checkPublicationMessage('Published', '2025-08-13T00:00:00+0000')}}
Starting At $77.95 See pricing and ISBN options
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Thinking Critically 13th Edition by John Chaffee
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Overview

Empower students to become sophisticated thinkers with Chaffee/Carr/Proctor’s “Thinking Critically” 13th Edition, which teaches the fundamental cognitive process allowing students to develop higher-order thinking needed for academic and career success. Students learn to think critically and creatively about subjects drawn from academic disciplines, current issues and life experiences. The authors begin with basic skills related to personal experience, then progress to more sophisticated reasoning skills required for abstract contexts. Chapters provide an overview of a significant aspect of critical thinking such as problem-solving, perception and the nature of beliefs. Activities and writing assignments invite active participation, where students critically examine others' thinking, as well as their own. Readings engage students to think about complex issues from various perspectives.

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Meet the Authors

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John Chaffee

John Chaffee, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at The City University of New York, where he has developed a Philosophy and Critical Thinking program that annually involves 25 faculty and 3,000 students. He is a nationally recognized figure in the area of critical thinking, having authored leading textbooks and many professional articles. He also has conducted numerous conference presentations and workshops throughout the country. In developing programs to teach people to think more effectively in all academic subjects and areas of life, Dr. Chaffee has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He was selected as New York Educator of the Year and received the Distinguished Faculty Award for Diversity in Teaching in Higher Education.

What's New

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  • New readings speak to contemporary debates about gender, families, race, climate and more. Instructors can engage students in challenging conversations about these issues, eschewing the binary thinking represented by other textbooks, while helping them develop their critical reasoning skills at the same time.
  • A fully updated chapter on key concepts in critical reasoning and argumentation comes earlier in the text and allows students to develop these key skills so that they can be used throughout the rest of the semester.
  • A new approach to critical thinking about moral dilemmas introduces students to moral reasoning -- without depending upon a deeper philosophical knowledge of moral theory -- and emphasizes the development of one’s moral compass.
  • A new chapter on creative reasoning connects the power of reasoning to the lived experience of creativity.
  • There is an expanded discussion of the interconnections between critical thinking and freedom (both at the conceptual and lived dimensions of experience).

Features

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  • Each chapter includes the feature, Thinking Critically About Visuals, that engages students in comparing and evaluating images drawn from current events and popular culture.
  • Chapters 1 and 11 link critical thinking and creative thinking. Chapter 1 analyzes the creative process and develops creative thinking abilities, creating a template for approaching issues and problems, both critically and creatively. Chapter 11 reinforces these connections and encourages students to create a life philosophy.
  • Chapter 3, "Reasoning Critically," includes a section on "Constructing Extended Arguments" that presents a clear model for researching and writing argumentative essays.

Table of Contents

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1. Thinking.
2. Thinking Critically.
3. Reasoning Critically.
4. Solving Problems.
5. Perceiving and Believing.
6. Constructing Knowledge.
7. Language and Thought.
8. Forming and Applying Concepts.
9. Relating and Organizing.
10. Thinking Critically About Your Moral Compass.
11. Reasoning Creatively.
12. Thinking Critically, Living Freely.

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Textbook Only Options

Traditional eBook and Print Options

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  • ISBN-10: 8214144787
  • ISBN-13: 9798214144788
  • RETAIL $77.95

  • ISBN-10: 8214144701
  • ISBN-13: 9798214144702
  • RETAIL $139.95
Instructor Next Steps
Students: Buy now