Nature of Logic and Perception - Essay Example

Whether mental blocks interfere in critical thinking and its influence on nature of logic and perception is crucial in understanding human behavior. Thinking is most important in relation to life as we grow we start thinking more, and thus, we change our future ability to think. Ancient Greek, the Roman rhetoricians, medieval thinkers, the renaissance thinkers, the British empiricists, and even twentieth-century thinkers encourage us to think and ponder deep into the intricacies of open, unfolding, and marvelous arena of the mind.

Following the words of Socrates, "Know thyself," Plato thought that we are born with ideas and with the pure power of the mind and innate ideas we could achieve divinity. "Descartes echoes Anselm-"I think, therefore I am"-and challenged our pride by telling us that "it is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well." (Kirby & Goodpaster, 1999, p. 2). As thinking cannot be useful unless it is communicated through the media of language, images, art, scientific formula, and mathematics, thinking is defined as "the activity of the brain that can potentially be communicated.

" (Kirby & Goodpaster, 1999, p 5). At the same time, there are unexpressed thinking that is stored in the brain and we use it often before speaking or acting. Writing and talking are the best media for expressing our thinking process as "our thoughts can resound and rebound with new shape and vigor from the thoughts of others" and "our ideas can intermingle, cross-fertilize, and become the seeds for whole new species of thoughts." (Kirby & Goodpaster, 1999). It implies that, we should use our mind and head rationally and constructively to become successful humans.

Our thinking process is influenced by our upbringing, and it shapes our fears, our self-concept, and our emotions. At the same time our psychological world is shaped by our exposure to cultural and genetic forces, which often negatively influence and hinder our sound thinking process. Our self-concept, the way we view ourselves, also blocks critical and creative thinking. Self-concept includes not only intelligence and attractiveness, but our liking for home, friends, religion, state, country, values, possession, sports, and so on, which my influence our ego-defense mechanisms, self-serving biases, and individual identity.

Ego-defenses, the psychological coping strategies, comprising denial, projection, and rationalization also impact on our thinking process. Critical thinking requires that when analyzing and assessing thinking we should take into account that human thought is rational and selective and it is impossible to understand any person, event, or phenomenon from different angles simultaneously.The word "logic" covers a range of related concerns all bearing upon the question of rational justification and explanation and it is the study of correct reasoning and its foundations.

Humans identify things using ideas, meanings, and thought -- some sense of what is relevant, what supports a belief, what should we assume, what we know, what is implied, what contradicts, and what should we believe, and vice-versa -- and this intellectual