The article raises the problem of the historical and philosophical formation of skills and attitudes, which today are the essential components of critical thinking. Through the selection of the semantic core of critical thinking (discipline and impartiality of thinking, the culture of working with sources, the ability to use the methods of rational knowledge in solving problems), the authors attempt to trace their genesis and compliance with the Western European rational attitude. The authors come to the conclusion that the individual components of critical thinking find their foundations in different periods of history: antiquity, modern times, the Age of Enlightenment and modernity (modern society).