Critical reading is a form of skepticism that does not take a text at face value, but involves an examination of claims put forward in the text as well as implicit bias in the text's framing and selection of the information presented. The ability to read critically is an ability assumed to be present in scholars and to be learned in academic institutions.
There are no simple relations between these levels. As the "hermeneutic circle" demonstrates, the understanding of single words depends on the understanding of the text as a whole (as well as the culture in which the text is produced) and vice versa: You cannot understand a text if you do not understand the words in the text.
The critical reading of a given text thus implies a critical examination of the concepts used as well as of the soundness of the arguments and the value and relevance of the assumptions and the traditions on which the text is based.
"Reading between the lines" is the ability to uncover implicit messages and bias.
Read more about Critical Reading: Symptomatic Reading, The Reciprocal Nature of Reading and Writing, Epistemological Issues, A Famous Example, Literature
Famous quotes containing the words critical and/or reading:
“To take pride in a library kills it. Then, its motive power shifts over to the critical if admiring visitor, and apologies are necessary and acceptable and the fat is in the fire.”
—Carolyn Wells (1862–1942)
“When I have seen fine statues, and afterwards enter a public assembly, I understand well what he meant who said, “When I have been reading Homer, all men look like giants.””
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)