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Critical Thinking
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Give someone a fish and they'll eat that day
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Teach them how to catch a fish and they'll never go hungry
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Proverbs like these remind us how learning skills
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helps to move us towards self-reliance
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This is never more true than with critical thinking
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Memorize the solution to a problem and you may master that particular problem
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Improve your critical thinking and you'll give yourself the tools
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to create your own effective solutions to a multitude of unfamiliar problems
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Critical Thinking refers to a diverse range of intellectual skills and activities
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concerned with evaluating information
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has well has our own thought in a disciplined way
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When we're willing and able to examining our own capabilities as thinkers
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acknowledging problems and weaknesses
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this can help us refine our thought processes
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so that we learn to think and assess information in a more comprehensive way
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that increases our ability to identify and reject false ideas and ideologies
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Critical Thinking isn't just thinking a lot
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a person may spend a great deal of intellectual energy
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defending a flawed position or pursuing a question
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that actually needs reformulating before progress can begin
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if they never examine possible flaws and biases behind their approach
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that's not thinking critically
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we must want to be better at thinking
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to pinpoint and minimize any biasing influence on our thought
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from culture and upbringing
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to seek out and be guided by knowledge and evidence that fits with reality.
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even if it refutes our cherished beliefs
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indeed when we think critically
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beliefs tend not to be cherished but held on the understanding
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that if they are shown to be unfounded
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a change of position is the most appropriate response
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critical thinkers cultivate an attitude of curiosity and eagerness
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to widen their perspective and broaden their knowledge
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and they're willing to do the work required
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to keep themselves properly informed about a subject
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they recognize that explanations must actually explain and be testable
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to be worthy of serious consideration
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and that legitimate theories clearly define the circumstances
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in which they'll concede defeat
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Critical Thinking embraces scepticism.
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Skepticism doesn't mean an indiscriminate rejection of ideas
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as some mistakenly believe
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it refers to doubting
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and suspending our judgement about claims with which we are presented
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so that we don't simply accept claims which might be unjustified
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but first take the time to understand them
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examining the reasoning and possible assumptions and biases behind them
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Reasoning behind factual claims should be based in sound, consistent logic
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not on emotions and social pressure
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because the truth value of factual claims
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isn't determined by the emotion that accompanies them
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or the fact that they may be believed by certain social groups
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sometimes people try to persuade us that reason has no value
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but that an untenable position
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arguing against reason is cutting off the branch on which you sit
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using the very thing you're dismissing in order to construct a case against it
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reason has an intrinsic role
in the decisions and judgements we make
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as we negotiate our way through life
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whether they be momentous or trivial.
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If a particular line of reasoning is flawed
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What will increase our understanding?
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Dismissing the value of reason?
Or looking honestly at the flaws?
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A lack of respect for reason or evidence
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or any number
of obstructive character traits
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will sabotage one's capacity for critical thought
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One of the biggest barriers to critical thinking
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is an unwillingness to see complex issues
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in anything other than black and white terms
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if one sees only two options when more exist
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this constitutes a false dichotomy
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Consciousness is often presented as something that's either
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an eternal immaterial entity
or reducible and identical to brain states
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when in fact there are various other positions.
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Many divide people into those who accept evolution
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and those who believe in specific gods
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when these categories are not mutually exclusive
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if we think in false dichotomies we'll tend to draw false conclusions
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for example by judging that if option A is false, option B must be true.
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We may also misrepresent others
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by wrongly assuming that if they don't hold attitude X
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they must hold attitude Y
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Black and white thinking often reflects an underlying reluctance or refusal
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to deal with the uncertainty that results from complexity
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and an absence of definite answers
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but leaping to flawed conclusions
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because you can't tolerate the ambiguity of not knowing
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is not about truth or curiosity
but comfort
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the critical thinker can handle uncertainty
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preferring to be aware of their own areas of ignorance
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and they can wait for valid evidence and evidence-based answers
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Critical thinking provide each of us
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with the keys for unlocking our own intellectual independence
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leaving us willing and able to explore and solve problems for ourselves
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it moves us away from rash conclusions, mystification,
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and a reluctance to question received wisdom, authority, and tradition
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it moves us towards intellectual discipline,
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the clear expression of ideas,
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and the acceptance of personal responsibility for our own thinking
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communities in which individuals are eager to acquire
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and apply the best knowledge and reason in all fields
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and willing to acknowledge and correct flaws in their own thinking
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are better equipped to create more profoundly effective solutions
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to the challenges we face in living, and living together
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When we teach and encourage critical thinking
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we empower individual lives and invest in our collective future
