what is critical thinking?
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It means being critical—literally criticizing—one’s own conclusions.
In many cases, when you are using reason to arrive at a conclusion about something, you are not a disinterested observer. You have a stake in the outcome. IOW, you would *like* to arrive a certain conclusion because it favors you.
For instance, if your friend starts a company and you want to see your friend succeed, you might convince yourself it’s a good idea to invest a lot of money in the company. It supports your friend, and when the company succeeds, you’ll get rich. So you might focus too much on all the positive aspects of your friend’s company and not give the negatives the weight they deserve.
If you’re thinking critically, you’ll recognize all of the things that could lead you to a false conclusion, and instead of asking yourself only about what could go right, you’ll approach the conclusion you want to be true skeptically: What are all the things that could *go wrong* that would prevent the outcome you would like to be true?
Once you give a full treatment to *both* sides, what could go right and what could go wrong, do you have a good view of all of the relevant information. You got there by thinking critically about your own desired outcome. This will lead you to make decisions that are aligned more closely with reality, as opposed to what you would like to be true.
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