Different Angles ! - critical thinking

'Critical thinking' originated almost 2500 years ago when it's teachings by the Greek philosopher Socrates, were documented by his student Plato. The main purpose of establishing critical thinking was to avoid accepting ideas by people in 'authority' 'influence', without asking them deep questions, that probe profoundly into thinking, whether or not the idea is, worthy of belief.

'Critical thinking' is based on a method of questioning called the Socratic questioning which is the best known critical thinking strategy, based on the foundation, that thinking has a structured logic, and it allows underlying thoughts, to be questioned. The fundamentals of which are as follows:

1.Systematic

2.Disciplined

3.Deep &

4.Focused, on fundamental concepts, theories, issues or problems.

So what is critical thinking? It may be defined as the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue, in order to form a Judgement or in other words a disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.

The ability to think critically involves three elements:

a. An attitude of being disposed to consider in a thoughtful way, the problems and subjects, that come within the range of one's experiences.

b. The knowledge of methods, of logical inquiry and reasoning.

c. Some skill, in applying those methods.

Why should we think critically?

'Critical thinking' allows people to think with more logic and get a clear understanding, to process sophisticated information by getting to the root cause of things, and to look at the various sides or angles of issues and come out with various ways of solving them, so that they can produce, more solid conclusions.

The seven main features of critical thinking are as follows:

1. Being Inquisitive
2. Being open minded
3. Being able to think systematically
4. Being analytical
5. Being persistent to truth
6. Being confident about critical thinking itself &
7. Being mature

Now, more importantly, let us understand the various applications of critical thinking, in almost any given situation:

a. To explore complex ideas.

b. To recognise problems and find workable means for meeting those problems.

c. To get to the truth of things, by analysing concepts.

d. To uncover assumptions.

e. To distinguish, what we know from what we do not know.

f. To reconstruct ones patterns of belief, on the basis of wider experience.

g. To understand the importance of prioritisation and order of precedence in solving a problem.

'Critical thinking is not only applied to solve complex problems, but was even applied in developing world class products, such as the apple products, by Steve jobs.

It can also be related, to the way of approach, by the scientist or even by the investigators of crime!

Here, is a comparison between problem solving, decision making and critical thinking, even though the earlier two have not been dealt with, in this article.

Problem solving - helps us to overcome a problem on hand.

Decision making - helps us find the best possible solution to the problem.

Critical thinking - Improves the overall understanding of a problem, giving in-depth knowledge of the subject and experience, which can be applied else where too.

And finally, above all 'Critical thinking' helps us to take a deeper look at things and from different angles in systematic way, before arriving at a conclusion, just like (in a lighter sense) when we are choosing our best dress for the best occasion in a shopping mall, we usually go for a trial, and after wearing the chosen one in the trial room, we take a look at that dress, from many angles, front, side, back to see if it fits well, the pattern, its design, overall appearance, before, we decide to own it!

The writer of this article Rajesh C.R. is a freelance soft skill corporate trainer and can be contacted by logging on to the website www.aguidetoinnerjoy.com or email: [email protected]

Reference sought: Wikipedia