Epistemic thinking, criticality, and reflexivity: challenges and opportunities in graduate studies

Abstract

Navigating reality and the multiplicity of content produced in academic contexts presents a major challenge for graduate students. This qualitative literature review operationally characterizes epistemic thinking, criticality, and reflexivity, integrating both cognitive and dialogical elements. It emphasizes competencies required for the construction of original knowledge, achieved through a deep and sensitive engagement with a dynamic, everchanging world that demands renewed interpretations to pave the way toward new scientific horizons. The results suggest that intellectually confronting circumstances demands a keen sense of awareness, evaluative attitudes, and a disposition capable of engaging with the unknown—relying on critical reasoning and contemplative distance to enable theorization. Ultimately, the construction of both theoretical and practical knowledge must be a central objective to foster transformative outcomes across disciplines.