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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