-->

ANALYTICAL THINKING

ANALYTICAL THINKING

by

Dr. Ayman Amer

Assistant Professor

Faculty of Literature, Cairo University

Version Two

January 2004

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Definition of Analytical Thinking                                                   5

1.1Introduction                                                                                                 5

Chapter 2: Analytical Thinking vs. Synthetical Thinking                                 7

2.1 Importance to Use Synthetical Thinking with Analytical Thinking                          7

2.2 Difference between Analytical Thinking and Synthetical Thinking                          8

Chapter 3: Analytical Thinking as a Component of Systemic Thinking              10

3.1 Definition of Systemic Thinking and Its Importance                                               10

3.2 Distinctions of Systemic Thinking.                                                                        10

2.3 The Fundamental Assumption of Systemic Thinking.                                              10

3.4 The Systemic Thinking Process                                                                             11

3.5 Barrier to Systemic Thinking                                                                                  12

3.6 The Systemic Thinking as a Combination of Analytical Thinking and Synthetical Thinking.                                                                                                               12

3.7 A Comparison of Systemic and Analytical Thinking                                                 13

3.8 Moving From Analytical to Systemic Thinking                                                        14

Chapter 4: Analytical Thinking as a Component of Critical Thinking                  15

4.1 Definition of Critical Thinking                                                                                     15

4.2 The Role of Emotions in Analytical Thinking and Critical Thinking                                    15

Chapter 5: Analytical Thinking and Creative Thinking                                             17

5.1 Definition of Creative Thinking                                                                                   17

5.2 Analytical Thinking Assists Creativity                                                                           17

5.3 Difference between Analytical Thinking and Creative Thinking                                       17

5.4 Analytical Thinking as a Component of Creative Problem Solving                                    21

Chapter 6: Analytical Thinking as a Style                                                                     23

6.1 Characteristics of Analytical style                                                                             23

6.3 Characteristics of Critical Thinking                                                                           26

6.3 Characteristics of Creative Thinking                                                                         27

Chapter 7: Analytical Techniques                                                                          30

7.1 Decomposable Matrices                                                                                       30

7.2 Dimensional Analysis                                                                                          32

7.3 Input-Output                                                                                                      35

7.4 Organized Random Search                                                                                  37

7.5 Relevance Systems                                                                                             38

References                                                                                                               42