Information Management Effect on Critical Thinking - Essay Example

Critical Thinking Critical thinking can be defined as a process of thinking that is directed at establishing the extent to which a topic, text, idea, or concept is trustworthy, realistic, practicable, and reliable. Since this kind of thinking is about judging the subject, results fundamentally depend upon the mindset, norms, values, and culture of the thinker. Thus two thinkers, one from the modernistic open-minded Western culture and the other from the conservative Eastern culture, if made to sit and decide whether a policy is justifiable ethically, are very likely to come up with contrasting results, one approving of the policy and the other disapproving of it.

This is the right definition of critical thinking because as the name of the term suggests, “critical” thinking leads to a critique on the subject, and a critique is essentially opinionated. Critical thinking is inherently linked with reasoning (Petress, 2004, p. 3). Critical thinking is different from just thinking about something in that the former is much deeper and analytical than the latter. Critical thinking is deep thinking which is similar to deep reading in which, “we make our own associations, draw our own inferences and analogies, foster our own ideas” (Mauk and Metz, 2013, p. 323). While critical thinking often leads to the formation of an opinion, ordinary thinking is more about thinking what can be done on the basis of the opinions formed in the process of critical thinking.

Hence, critical thinking leads establishes whether it is reasonable to give a patient euthanasia whereas just thinking is about actually giving or abstaining from euthanasia depending upon what decision was reached before. References:Mauk, J., and Metz, J. (2013). The Composition of Everyday Life. Cengage Learning. Petress, K. (2004). Critical thinking: an extended definition. Education. 124(3), 461-466.