Critical Thinking Revisited?
Critical Thinking
Many lessons are learned in life. Some lessons are instructions on how to be polite, how much of a tip should be given for different services, and how to be professional. Another lesson not often taught in the workplace or at home, are the hows and whys of critical thinking. Critical thinking is an important skill and can be described as the careful and deliberate determination to accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim. In this, critical thinking is the process of evaluating what people say and write in determining whether to believe their statements or not. This paper will provide a concise definition of critical thinking, and examples from personal experiences in the workplace.
Some characteristics of critical thinkers are: being intellectually humble; knowing what ones biases and prejudices are, courage; not accepting what one has learned and open to new ideas, fair-mindedness; holding oneself to the same standards as everyone else and admitting discrepancies and inconsistencies in ones thoughts and actions, and lastly, refusing to give up. This means being able to work on complex issues which cannot be solved easily, and continuing to work on them though they are complicated and you are unsure of how to complete it.
Critical thinking is an imperative part of the decision making process. When a person is unable to think clearly, they are using the form of self-centered thinking, and their perspective is inward; they are unable to understand the needs and thoughts of others. When a person is in this thinking mode, they are concerned more about themselves and they are not fully capable of taking into consideration the viewpoints and problems of others. If one allows his unconscious mind to take over, he will be making decisions based upon what he believes to be right and good. The mind will be selfish and make sure it does not go out of its comfort zone and into the territory where the issue is too complex and complicated and an easy answer cannot be given. One has to try to be fair-minded and rational,