Critical Thinking - Assignment Example

Critical Thinking Critical Thinking Three Characteristics of a Critical Thinker Of the main characteristics that must be possessed by a critical thinker, the three most vital characteristics are:1. Fairmindedness: This trait has its roots in the act of being impartial to any piece of information or to the process of thinking. While the thought process itself cannot be unadulterated, conscious critical thinking can be when a person seeks all sides of a story and does not let personal bias get in the way.

Representing half the picture of construing half the picture is a jaundiced thought process.2. Confidence in Reason: Reason can be strong and valid only when the thought process requires all data inputs with precision, accuracy, relevance and depth. Any one factor missing in the thought process and data collection will not only wane the confidence, it will also render the reason unfruitful.3. Intellectual Perseverance: A critical thinker’s power of perseverance is better than most thinkers as they are more liable to attack by critics.

Their thoughts are never at rest and they are always open to new information and facts. Critics and new knowledge never bogs them down. But critical as they are, they know where to draw the line between new knowledge and ill-founded knowledge.Four Necessities for ReasoningA critical thinker needs to be smart and attentive to details to reason out clearly and sufficiently. Apart from this he has to:1. Raise essential queries and problems and formulate them clearly. This helps define the question at hand.2. Collect all the appropriate information from all possible methods.

This helps address the query at hand and resolve it.3. Come to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions using the relevant materials. Use standards to test the conclusions. This helps verify the correctness of the reasoned out conclusion.4. Communicate effectively to sort out issues that pertain to complex issues. This helps build out effective solutions and the reasoning of a critical thinker is put to use.Four Standards that Determine Quality of ReasoningThe standards are used by all and never done with a conscious attempt.

Four of them are:1. Accuracy: The truth or honesty in a statement is determined by its accuracy. For a critical thinker this means delving into information from a reliable source and a reliable means. 2. Relevance: Any data collected should be relevant to the question or problem. Data that is not relevant is a waste of time for a critical mind. The applicability of data to question and its strength is the domain of this standard.3. Depth: To seek knowledge below the visible. The critical mind while collecting data inadvertently follows this standard, to understand the complexities of a subject.

The requirement of this standard is to get as much relevant information as one can to get a firm understanding of the subject at hand.4. Significance: To be significant for a problem, the data gathered for a problem should be focused. All data collected can be relevant and yet not significant to a problem. For a critical thinker it is imperative to realize the significance of the matter.