critical thinking books

critical thinking books

The Importance of Critical Thinking in Today’s World

1. Introduction

This book is about the importance of critical thinking in today’s environment. Although critical thinking produces many advantages that can make an individual’s life more comfortable and enjoyable, there will be resistance from those who do not wish to employ it. The vast range of knowledge, the complexities of issues, and the pace of change in today’s world often requires citizens to think critically about issues that affect their lives. Because of the fast pace of change and the information that bombards them, they must be actively engaged in constantly monitoring, rethinking, and reassessing their own thinking processes if they are to be successful at solving problems and making decisions that will affect the quality of their lives. This may create cognitive dissonance and make life a bit more uncomfortable, as they are often forced to abandon popular yet ineffective solutions and make difficult decisions in the face of overwhelming alternatives. While critical thinking may not necessarily make a person’s life more comfortable, it is a valuable pursuit that will give one a better understanding of oneself and the world, as well as the abilities to make sound decisions, to effectively solve problems, and to live a productive and fulfilling life.

2. Understanding Critical Thinking

Critical thinking can be seen as having two components: a set of skills to process and generate information and belief, and the habit, based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behavior. It is thus to be contrasted with: 1) the mere acquisition and retention of information alone, because it involves a particular way in which information is sought and treated; 2) the mere possession of a set of skills, because it involves the continual use of them; and 3) the mere use of those skills “as an exercise” without acceptance of their results.

It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue; assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions; implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and frame of reference. Critical thinking – in being responsive to variable subject matter, issues, and purposes – is incorporated in a family of interwoven modes of thinking, among them: scientific thinking, mathematical thinking, historical thinking, anthropological thinking, economic thinking, moral thinking, and philosophical thinking.

Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.

Critical thinking is a rich concept that has been developing throughout the past 2,500 years. The term “critical thinking” has its roots in the mid-late 20th century. We offer here overlapping definitions, together which form a substantive, transdisciplinary conception.

3. Developing Critical Thinking Skills

For each of these steps, it is important to evaluate relative and must give honest reflection concerning how well you are applying/have applied these concepts into your day-to-day life. By doing this, the thinker can assess the quality of their thought and can develop viable goals in order to progress in their aim of developing critical thought.

In understanding the information, it is likely that a conclusion will be formed. Suspending judgment allows the thinker to take a small step back from the conclusion and look at the information from a different perspective. Humility has a significant effect here, as individuals who are less humble will be less likely to change an opinion that they have already voiced and are emotionally invested in.

The critical thinker must be skeptical. This means that they must have a certain level of mistrust, and doubt the information they are given. This isn’t to say that all information should be considered false, but in order to validate the information, one must take the time to truly understand and learn it. This is where open-mindedness comes in. In order to uncover the information and determine its validity, one must be open to the fact that the information might be false, and be prepared to modify their opinion when provided with good reason to do so.

Skepticism, open-mindedness, suspending judgment, and looking beyond the surface are the keys to developing critical thinking skills. Not everyone can immediately comprehend these on first attempt, but for those who complete Step Two in the development of critical thought and take the time to understand these qualities, it is possible to learn to incorporate them into our thought processes.

4. Applying Critical Thinking in Various Areas

Most of our decisions and plans are made to bring about some sort of change or maintain a desired state, and there is almost always more than one way to go about it. The authors suggest that thinking through such actions and making the best possible decision to increase the chances of a desirable outcome is what separates ‘good’ critical thinkers from others. To assist in this line of reasoning they present a critically controlled sequence of five problem-solving steps that people can use for problems of nearly any size or complexity, ranging from choosing the best pre-school for a child to making an important business decision.

The authors begin with the assumption that individuals’ behavior in everyday practical reasoning and decision-making situations is largely based on habits, some of which are helpful and others harmful. They define practice as any intentional activity that has a specific goal, and suggest that reasoning is most likely to occur when a person is planning this activity or evaluating the outcome while considering the possibility of doing it differently next time. This is an important insight because undoubtedly there are some problems in everyday life, such as a conflict with a spouse or child, that people would not even consider re-evaluating but would instead deem a lost cause and file it away as a bad memory. The authors’ primary interest is in helping people to gain more from these practical activities by reasoning them through more effectively.

Kirk and Grupper (2009) were interested in applying critical thinking to a wide variety of real-life situations, “from everyday decision-making and problem solving in personal and professional life to more formal (but still practical and real-life) endeavors, such as education, work, and healthcare.” They present a framework that’s specifically directed at the kind of reasoning that comes up in these practical situations, aimed at improving the outcomes of decisions without slanting them toward preconceived theories or self-serving interests.

5. Conclusion

This primitive analysis that has been introduced here usually begins with the question “What’s the problem?” This is vague though, so it is better to translate it into the question “What’s the question trying to get us to do?” or “What are we trying to accomplish by answering this question?” We should be asking these questions to a specific end; there is no use in answering questions or solving problems that are not important or useful. Our reasoning or lines of thought are typically the means by which we try to answer some question. So the asking of these questions should give focus to our lines of thought. These are types of questions that, if asked by a surgeon who is operating, could make the difference between losing and saving a life. This will in turn affect the probable quality, if not viability, of the end achieved. With practice, it is an automatic process, unconscious, which is where answers are attempted, and so what we must cultivate is the ability to trace this art back to its origins. Answer A has been reached from B by the use of C. This last statement is most important reason is the final thing. We can take this to another level by offering a few interrogative questions to A: Do I really believe I know the desirability and the probability of my supposed consequences on action adequately? Do I know what the inferred hypothesis with direction to obtaining specific information is?

This means learning not to take the textbook or the instructor at their word, but to test everything in the crucible of their own reason. Critical thinking is the ability to think about one’s thinking in such a way as to recognize its foundations and, to the extent possible, free them from; to realize his thinking from its egocentric nature; to do away with the social conditioning; to reconstruct his thinking; to raise it to a higher level. The final step is to apply our abilities to what common sense and scientific research tells us are the best solutions to our problems. And the more any of these steps are made explicit, the easier it is to analyze and integrate our abilities. People get out of critical thinking in proportion to the care with which it is cultivated.