Most of us go through life hearing about the value of learning, of educating ourselves and helping others to do the same. Less commonly, however, are we encouraged to think critically about the knowledge that we gain. What precisely do we mean by “critical thinking?” Does that refer to have a negative attitude, or criticizing others for something of which we do not approve? The answer is a resounding NO!
Critical thinking is “the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas” (SkillsYouNeed, 2017). This is hardly a new concept. In fact, ancient philosophers like Plato and Socrates made it the subject of considerable debate! The world we live in today is so deluged with information, that making sense of it all has become nearly impossible. For example, did you know that worldwide in 2019, 23 billion text messages were sent each and every day? Or that 294 billion emails were sent…every day? In many countries, internet users spent an average of at least two-and-a-half hours per day on social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram. To quote psychologist Herbert Simon, “The wealth of information means a dearth of something else…a poverty of attention.”
Historian Richard Hofstadter once wrote: “the complexity of modern life has steadily whittled away the functions the ordinary citizen can intelligently and comprehendingly perform for himself. When he sits down to breakfast and looks at his morning newspaper, he reads about a whole range of vital and intricate issues…and acknowledges that he has not acquired the competence to judge most of them.” Would you believe that he wrote that 50 years ago?!
This expansion of knowledge has created (or at least exacerbated) other challenges. With so much knowledge and so much complexity, how do we go about sifting through it all in order to form sound opinions that lead to good decision-making? That’s where critical thinking comes in. Critical thinking is described as engaging in reflective and independent thought about an idea. Critical thinking is about using your rational mind to question ideas and assumptions instead of simply accepting those ideas at face value.
People typically think about problems in one of two ways: systematically or intuitively. While our intuition may serve us well in some cases, sometimes intuition does not serve us well. Instead, by thinking systematically, we can consider the entirety of a problem. By being open to other perspectives and in seeking to obtain all of the facts, we can expect to reach a more informed decision about what is needed to solve the problem at hand.
A good critical thinker: “understands the links between ideas; determines the importance and relevance of arguments and ideas; recognizes, builds and appraises arguments; identifies inconsistencies and errors in reasoning; approaches problems in a consistent and systematic way; and reflects on the justification of their own assumptions, beliefs and values” (SkillsYouNeed, 2017).
Some of the skills that are needed in order to think critically include observation, analysis, interpretation, reflection, evaluation, inference, explanation, problem solving, and decision making. But we will save that discussion for the next blog post! Read more at:
https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/critical-thinking.html