In this article an analysis is made of how critical thinking is a factor in different and important trends in philosophy and educational psychology. Here we identify three large descriptive frameworks for critical thinking: that of argumentative logic, the axiological framework and the cognitive perspective. All these contributions, as well as the complex bundle of theoretical lines and concepts in which this construct is inscribed, are analyzed from the point of view of theory of education. Based on this, we then discuss how to orient pedagogical action towards training in critical thinking. We conclude by identifying the traits of a critical thinker as an actor who constructs and registers the potentialities of cognition and relates them to praxis, that is, with a reflexive action oriented towards decision-making. © Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.