This is a qualitative study on the concept of critical thinking, the skills that compose it and the strategies for its teaching. It is based on a questionnaire applied to a dozen humanities professors from Chilean universities whose responses are examined through a Critical Discourse Analysis methodology. An important part of the responses is organized around metaphors that present critical thinking as a conflict, while others refer to text analysis or reflections around the subject and its relationship with society. The consistency and hermeneutic circle of the concepts that underly those metaphors, as its consequences for the interpretation of the humanities didactic strategies, point to an ideological configuration beyond the disciplinary discourse, while belongs to the academia discourse itself.