Critical Thinking and the Society - Case Study Example

April 12, Unit Final Draft Critical Thinking and the Society Dewey defined critical thinking “Active, persistent and careful consideration of a belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds which support it and the further conclusions to which it tends.”(9). Thinking critically is to analyse the present believes and evaluate them with an abstract vision and then portray our thoughts correctly. Apart from food, water, air and shelter, the one think that differentiates man from animals is thinking. God has gifted this ability only to human beings. Thinking is an ability gifted by god to every human but critical thinking is the art which needs to be learned and nurtured correctly to get the desired results. History has witnessed geniuses like Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci and so on. But even these geniuses were not born with the art of critical thinking but learned it and came up with extra ordinary theories. Thus critical thinking is not a part of nature but is learned. We unconsciously keep training our minds by communicating in our day to day lives. This communication could be within the society, school, home or workplace. Critical thinking thus helps individuals or a society as whole to bring about a social change. Critical thinking develops the ability to question an established point of view, examine it and re-examine the ideas that may be obvious. It enables the society to distinguish between facts and opinions, ask good questions make detailed observations, uncover assumptions and define the terms on assertions based on sound logic and solid evidence. Thus as said by Ray Marshall and Marc Tucker, “The future belongs to societies that organise themselves for learning. Nations that want high incomes and full employment must develop policies that emphasize the acquisition of knowledge and [thinking] skills by everyone, not just a select few.” (73). TOOLS OF CRITICAL THINKING The thinking process in every human being is divided into two main activities. Firstly gathering information or collecting data and secondly drawing conclusions based on the collected information. However there is a thin line which differentiates a critical thinker from a non-critical thinker. A critical thinker evaluates the data collected and the conclusions drawn from it. Non-Critical Thinker Critical Thinker To evaluate the information and the conclusions drawn from it, the critical thinker should have the “questioning power.” To think critically the thinker must ask questions to get as much information as possible and to judge how far the information collected is relevant, applicable, important and significant. Then after the thinker needs to ask questions in regards to the conclusion drawn from this information. Using logic he needs to think if the conclusion is fair, logical, reasonable and consistent with all the collected information. There are different kinds of questions for critical thinking related to different activities. There are tools for Getting the Facts, Evaluating the Facts, Drawing a Conclusion and Evaluating the Conclusion. SKILLS REQUIRED FOR CRITICAL THINKING. Critical Thinking is an art which can be learned over time and needs special skills for its successful implementation: Rationality. It’s about reply on the reasons and facts rather than emotions. Rationality is more based on known evidences and follows them where it leads. Self-Awareness. One can think critically when recognizes his/her own point of view without being biased. Honesty. One can think critically if he/she recognises emotional impulses, selfish motives, purposes or other modes of self-deception. Open-mindedness. Critical thinking demands reasonable inferences, variety of point of views or perspectives open to alternative interpretations. Critical thinking needs to be open to new explanations, model or paradigm if they explain the evidences better with more simplicity with more data. Judgement. Critical thinking always recognises the relevant and/or merit of alternative assumptions and perspectives. It also withholds the weight of evidences. IMPORTANCE OF CRITICAL THINKING. Critical Thinking is important in every aspect of life. Critical thinking plays a fundamental role in making any choice: from choosing a correct answer from multiple choices in an exam to making major decisions in life like choosing a life partner. A child taught to think critically is less likely to make wrong choices thereby being less harmful to one self and others. A child who thinks critically is far more responsible than the child who is non critical thinker as he knows the outcomes and the possibilities of his actions. Mastering critical thinking skills allows one to take greater advantage of the opportunities provided by the constitution. The precious rights of free expressions can be used by the proper use of critical thinking. Critical thinking lets a person become wiser by listening to and reading about all that is been said against one’s views and by subjecting the thinkers ideas to other’s perspectives. Critical thinking is most important in all the professional fields and varies academic disciplines. Critical thinking is important in every aspect of life whether it be personal or professional. Critical thinking does not necessarily give a correct answer at all times but it provides range of options for the decision maker. Some options would be more appropriate them the others depending on the situation. As rightly said by Fiore, Kadolph and Ogle, “Implicit here is the notion that there is no absolute right or wrong answer, but rather shades of gray in the merit of a response.”(317) CRITICAL THINKING AND SOCIETIES. As stated by Mander, “a critical society is a community of people who value critical thinking and value those who practice them.” This kind of society improves continuously by emphasising on thinking as the key to emancipation of the mind, to creation of just practices, to the preservation and development of the spices within it. Unfortunately there are no critical societies anywhere in the world. No culture in the world promotes critical thinking as a part of personal and social life. Today’s world is far away from characteristics of critical thinking. The world is filled with superficial, prejudice, bias with close-minded people who are responsible for all the problems such as negativity, sadness, hopelessness and hypocrisy. Though that’s the reality of today’s world, the society still has room for rationality and reasonability. It has documented historically that human beings can accomplish, achieve and contribute a lot to the development of the society. The society needs to get into a habit of critical thinking. If the society turns towards critical thinking it can get rid of human tendencies like of self- gratification, self-interest as well as self protection. This critical thinking within society will kill the human nature of being bias and develop open mindedness amongst the society which would in turn help to eradicate the present problems. Once the society starts thinking critically all the problems will be solved routinely based on proper reasoning, open mindedness and mutual respect. Thus critical thinking needs to become the first nature of the society CONCLUSION Thus critical thinking is used in all our important decisions in our daily life. It affects one’s growth personally as well as professionally. The concepts and principles of critical thinking can be applied to any context. Thus critical thinking is based on one universal principal but its application to different disciplines requires reflective conceptualisation. Critical thinking is gaining importance in academics as well as to judge professional’s potential within a professional environment. Academically, Critical Thinking enables the students to analyse, evaluate, explain and restructure their thinking, thereby decreasing the risk of adopting, acting on and thinking with a false belief. However this kind of academics is only introduced in the West whereas in the East it’s still not prevalent. Introducing critically thinking into the curriculum would help the students to build thinking skills which would not only benefit them as individuals but would benefit the democracy as well. Professionally, the people who think critically are called the clear thinkers and are in high demand as they whittle down solutions for the company. As said by Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon, “If you dont have the right amount of quality thinking in a complex growth company like ours, it will manifest itself in terms of marginalized discussions that rely on wrong inputs and unskilled questions. Thats what drags down businesses. Thats why companies that dont have good minds throughout their ranks get stuck at $100 million and dont get to $1 billion.” Critical thinking would play a very important role in today’s alarming decline of the earth’s natural resources. We as the natives of this planet, Earth, have already seen the effects of global warming. This would be the best time for the societies to turn into critical societies which promotes critical thinking as the first nature of human being. The society can turn towards critical thinking only if thinking is considered as primary and not as a complex phenomenon. If the existing problems in the world are critically thought over with a open mind and unbiased natured, these problems could definitely get a solution. Work Cited Fiore, A.M, Kadolph, S.J & Ogle, J.P. “Promoting Critical Thinking in Product Development: Connections between Textile Science and Consumers’ Aesthetic Value.” Clothing and Textile Research Journal 23.4 (2005): 307-321. Print. Mander, A.E. “Clearer Thinking: Logic for Everyman.” In Thinker’s Library. 3rd Ed. London: Watts & Co. 1938. Print. Ray Marshall & Marc Tucker. Thinking for A Living: Education And The Wealth of Nations. New York : Basic Books, 1992. Print. The Critical Thinking Community. n.d. Critical Societies: Thoughts from the Past Web 11 April 2012 < http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-societies-thoughts-from-the-past/762> Read More