What is Critical Thinking
In: 1151
I got curious about hammering out the actual definition when I noticed other people were using it in a way I assumed was incorrect. But I started considering that there might be more to it than that. So I called a bunch of people and asked them to give me a very detailed explanation of the definition as they knew it. Nobody had the same definition. There were people I’ve known for 20 years whose definitions were not what I expected.
So I read a bunch of definitions online, none were the same. I found a website for an organization specifically dedicated to promoting critical thinking and read the definition on their website. This definition was an ESSAY.
One thing I noticed was that most of the people I talked to gave definitions that were connected to their fields of study/expertise. My scientist friend essentially defined it as applying the scientific method to things, my teacher friend defined it around having conversations with lots of different view points, my programmer friend said something about understanding systems, me (artist) defined it as methodically searching for the most appropriate framework to view a situation.
Anyways I bring this up because the answer is actually complex and a bit amorphous. It’s one of those concepts people tend to assume they have the right definition, or at least the one that everyone else means. But people don’t stop to define it often enough to make sure that that’s true.
Latest Answers