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Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the factors affecting critical thinking and empathic disposition of nursing students and the relationships between the empathy and critical thinking disposition in nursing education. Methods: The study was carried out on undergraduate students at nursing school during 2011-2012 academic years. The sample consisted of 276 students who had agreed to participate in the research, 30.7% of them were the first year students (freshman),  27.4 % were the second year students (sophomore), 20.2% were the third year students (junior) and 20.9% were the fourth year students (senior) of nursing program.  California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) designed by Kökdemir and Empathic Tendency Scale invented by Dökmen were used to assess the research data. Furthermore, an “Individual Information Form” questioning the grades, genders and parental education levels of the nursing students was prepared and applied by the researcher. Results: The mean score for the Empathic Tendency Scale was 53.25±6.57, the mean score for the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale was 209.95±25.26.  Correlation analysis revealed significant relationships between the students' scores of Empathic Tendency Scale and total score of Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (r=0.186 p<0.05). Significant differences were observed in total scores for the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale, Empathic Tendency Scale and Analytical Thinking Sub-scale of student groups (p<0.01). The differences were especially distinctive in fourth year students of nursing program. However, there was no relationship between the nursing students’ critical thinking disposition sub-scales and empathic tendencies (p>0.05). It was detected that nursing students’ critical thinking ability was not affected by their genders and parental education levels. Conclusion: A significant relationship was observed between the Empathic Tendency and general Critical Thinking Disposition and Analytical Thinking skills. The differences were also observed between the class levels in terms of Empathic Tendency and Critical Thinking Disposition and it was also observed that nursing students’ critical thinking disposition scores were considerably low. These findings suggest that these skills can be enhanced with education. Current findings revealed that emphasis should be placed on practical works to develop students’ ability of empathy and critical thinking disposition in class levels. Key words: Critical Thinking Disposition, Empathic Tendency, Nursing student

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