what is critical thinking?
In: 27
There already is a lot of good answers, which revolve around the idea of checking the validity of facts, the concept they are facts and not just opinions or hypothesis, and how valid the reasoning is.
One thing that is often overlooked is that humans tend to apply critical thinking only on stuff we disagree on, and never do it on stuff we agree on because … well, if we agree/believe in something, it must be right, so no need to check it… right ?
Applying critical thinking to everything, including what you yourself agree on, is a major hurdle, but is something necessary if you want to grow. It hurts the ego when you start doing it, but after a while you realize there is actually no harm in accepting you were wrong about something. It is actually the opposite, while refusing the possibility that you could be wrong, you will most certainly protect your ego right now, but this is where your intellectual growth stops.
Logic is also something humans are seriously not good at. We always lived with the opposite of it actually. Following whoever has the most charisma was the best way to survive physically, and is still the case socially today. You are attracted to people that share the same beliefs, and you will be rejected if you “prove them wrong”, and this reaction gets more violent the stronger the belief. There is no point explaining thermodynamics to people who strongly believe in perpetual devices like motors running of water, or stuff based on water memory like homeopathy.
Which means that critical thinking should only be applied by oneself, on oneself. Never discuss this with someone, unless that someone made it very clear he wanted that.
Using flawed logics deliberately is a very common occurence in speeches. It is way easier to convince people using fallacies than logics.
Latest Answers