Sixteen-year-old Ivy didn’t like to use her brain. She much preferred to agree with whatever her friends said, and disagree with whatever her enemies said. It was so easy! Critical thinking was boring. She might have been misinformed, but truth wasn’t as important as fitting in with everyone else.
What Is Critical Thinking?
Critical Thinking – disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence
Ivy allows her biases to cloud her thinking, making it very difficult to actually think about things critically and look at the evidence. Critical thinking is about truth, and about what can we verify as true.
Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates was a very influential thinker, and he’s the one who really came up with the idea of critical thinking. The Socratic Method encourages people to not just trust authority figures to think for them, but for everyone to think for themselves.
Good thinking is about seeking evidence, analysing concepts, exploring implications, interpreting what is really said, and generating further questions, always with the use of logical reason. Understanding why you believe what you believe and having facts to back that up is super important and it will always come in handy.
People think they think, but it’s not true. It’s mostly self-criticism that passes for thinking. True thinking is rare – just like true listening. Thinking is listening to yourself. It’s difficult. To think, you have to be at least two people at the same time. Then you have to let those people disagree. Thinking is an internal dialogue between two or more different views of the world.
JORDAN B. PETERSON
So critical thinking is understanding both sides of an argument, and debating them in your mind until you decide which you believe to be the truth. That’s one of my favourite critical thinking examples.
I’m sure you can think of critical thinking examples in your own life, where you examined the evidence before forming an opinion or making a decision. It’s something we all must do in this world. The most important thing is how to do it well.
But…
Why Think Critically?
It’s a valid question! So many people like Ivy don’t care about truth as much as fun. When she hears something she doesn’t want to believe, she ignores it. Thinking is hard, so why would I do it?
Because what Ivy doesn’t understand is that if you want to think freely, you have to think for yourself.
Thinking critically is a crucial life skill. If Ivy slows down and just thinks sometimes, that will make her a better problem-solver, decision-maker, and logical thinker. It also promotes curiosity and creativity.
Being critical and thinking independently is always going to be challenge, no matter what your age and level of intelligence. It’s difficult and often uncomfortable, but if you really want to think clearly, to make good decisions, and to stand up for the truth even if it’s not the most popular thing, thinking critically is one of the most important things you can ever learn how to do.
It’s so important to have an inquiring mind. Really, good thinking is using logical reasoning to decide what you believe, and to question all ideas – especially your own. It’s identifying your own biases, figuring out where your opinions are driven by emotion instead of rationality, and fixing it.
And emotions can have a huge part to play in this, stopping us from thinking before we act.
So…
How Do I Practice Critical Thinking?
One day, Ivy is invited to go see a movie with her best friends. They can either watch the time travelling movie, or they can sneak into the R-rated one about the mushroom apocalypse. Really she doesn’t mind…
Ivy has a few options here:
- She can choose to say nothing, and just go with what everyone else does
- She can claim they should watch the first movie, because she doesn’t think it’s good to illegally watch scary movies
- She can rant that they should be rebels and see the mushroom movie, because it looks so good
- She can choose not to go at all
Any if these options would be easy, and perhaps a good idea, but which should she do? Perhaps she should just see what the others are saying, and then decide. But if she really wants to find the best option, I think the wisest plan would be to do some research. How? Well she may find reviews for each movie and see what people are saying; she may write down – or at least think up – potential pros and cons of each plan; or she may counsel her conscience. If she thinks about it before acting, she will be able to find out what she truly feels to be right.
Some good critical thinking examples would be to first ask yourself why you believe a piece of information before accept it. Not believing things just because you want to and it makes you feel good, but listening to opposing viewpoints and trying to understand them before you dismiss them. Be a listener, be open-minded, really pursue true knowledge by finding out as much as possible and making informed choices.
Thinking may be hard work, but it’s so important to shut out all distractions and just think sometimes. Your mind is like a muscle, it needs to be exercised. So question, analyse, interpret, and evaluate every single thing you see, hear, and read. And let’s hope Ivy makes this choice too!