Are you a Critical Thinker - I think it takes practice ...

Firstly lets go with a large chunk of cited text from ... http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/critical/ct.php
Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally about what to do or what to believe. It includes the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking. Someone with critical thinking skills is able to do the following : 
  • understand the logical connections between ideas
  • identify, construct and evaluate arguments
  • detect inconsistencies and common mistakes in reasoning
  • solve problems systematically
  • identify the relevance and importance of ideas
  • reflect on the justification of one's own beliefs and values
Critical thinking is not a matter of accumulating information. A person with a good memory and who knows a lot of facts is not necessarily good at critical thinking.
Have you digested the above - does this fit with your thinking, it does with mine.

I believe that we all have the capacity to be critical thinkers - I am aware that we all also have to put it into practice and practice at it as well. I work from a personal and imperfect principle that all facts can be replaced by new facts so be prepared for each truth to have its own lifetime.

Yet, out there so many individuals and articles lack that one crucial element - critical thinking. You only need to read the media to know that the following quote has meaning ...
If you believe everything you read, better not read. Japanese proverb.
It is my personally held view, coming from experience and a modicum of critical thought that critical thinking is a muscle that needs exercise. It is easy to react and respond to ideas without thinking what lies behind. It takes a little practice to see what may be the bigger picture and the valid view on what is actually taking place.

With this in mind - do you think that we should encourage more critical thinking. Thread it into teaching, give it themes. Critical Thinking for Programmers, or Network Engineers. As well as Critical Thinking for Idiots, Policy Advisors and Journalists and so on.


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