People usually engage in self-deception when they make ethical decisions involving themselves by structuring their arguments in ways that serve their best interests. For example, someone might say "all good friends loan their friends money" when asking a friend for money. Then, at a later date, that same person might say "you shouldn't expect your friends to give you money" when asked for a loan. By examining their own thought processes, people who engage in critical thinking make more objective decisions regarding themselves.
Some people can assess the quality of ideas better than others who seem to take ideas at face value. Talented critical thinkers can make ethical decisions more effectively because they can better assess ethical situations by questioning the premises and assumptions involved in the thinking process. Those who struggle to think critically can use various tools to spark deeper analysis. These tools are mostly questions designed to spark analysis, such as "can you be more specific," and "what factors make this problem difficult."
When making ethical decisions, the decision-maker often has multiple people giving them ethical arguments to choose from. These arguments can be contradictory. Those with critical thinking skills can look at the structure of an argument underlying a particular ethical perspective and can assess whether the argument has sufficient support.
Support is essentially the reasons for the particular argument. For example, someone might argue that neglecting a child is wrong. The person can then use the support "neglect statistically leads to emotional problems," as the support for the argument. Critical thinkers can determine when an argument has a sound premise and logical and empirical support.
Since ethical decision-making depends on situations, critical thinkers can look at a variety of alternative responses to a particular circumstance and can better assess what effects each decision might have on others. For example, when choosing a form of energy to use for a machine, decision-makers can better consider the consequences of each energy source and determine which decision has the best consequences by questioning assumptions about which energy source is better and why.
Critical thinking fosters an overall attitude that supports greater inquiry. Decisions that seem ethical on the surface can turn out to be unethical and irrational in fact. Thus, critical thinkers seek information and perform analysis that allows them to determine whether a decision really is ethical.