Critical Thinking: Week one

1. After reading the materials for this week, how would you define critical thinking? In your definition, identify at least three components of critical thinking. What are the consequences of not thinking critically? What are some reactions or results you have observed when you (or others) make efforts to think critically? What did Anais Nin mean when she said, "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are"?

Since critical thinking begins with assumptions we must first be aware of the assumption, then make the assumption and finally assess it. Critical thinking is how a person assess the reasons for or against a decision being made so the assumption is neither good or bad until fully assessed. Critical thinking is also done by being completely unbiased. Which can be hard sometimes due to our emotions. Our emotions make up who we are which can sometimes cause barriers when making a critical decision. So the trick is to not ignore or deny our emotions but learn how to manage and handle them. In order to manage our emotions we may need to argue with ourselves or others whether or not something if true or not. An argument will allow the issue to be assessed along with the reasons of why or why not a decision is valid. The argument will also lead to one or more conclusions in determining the what the final decision should be.

If one does not think critically the results will lead to poor judgments. It is important to have the skills to be a critical thinker, because it enables one to analyze, evaluate, explain, and restructure our thinking, decreasing thereby the risk of acting on, or thinking with, a false premise.

A friend of mine was dealing with some problems with the mother of his child. They both have very different personalities. He is very logical and a great critical thinker. She tends to react to situations before thinking. So when it comes to discussing issues that arise with their children it is easy to observe how critical thinking is important. Instead of making irrational decisions based on emotions (like she does) good sound decisions can be made from taking the time to listen and assess what is being discussed (which he does). I feel very fortunate in having these people in my life to observe and learn from so I can make better judgments with my child.

Anais Nin meant that everything we see causes us to come to a conclusion about the specifics we see based on our own experiences.