Critical Thinking - Assignment Example

CRITICAL THINKING Critical thinking simply refers to the systematic procedure of applying of intellect in order to examine, investigate and analyze the information one has gathered, collected or received through his observation, study, experience, evidence, communication or sources regarding some specific event, incident, belief, strategy, policy, action or activity. Critical thinking provides the individuals with the opportunity to make distinction between right and wrong on the one hand, and reading between the lines on the other. In addition, it is highly supportive in respect of visualizing the social, cultural, political, economic, religious and technological phenomena with a broader perspective. “Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” (criticalthinking.org) Absence or lack of applying critical thinking serves as a great hurdle in respect of apprehending the nature, scope and consequences of serious problems and issues, which results into putting the world into grave jeopardy subsequently. The theorists are of the opinion that lack of critical thinking was responsible for several intelligence failures for the last many decades at national and international levels. “For example, key assumptions have been made in the past that negated our ability to foresee important changes in the world, such as the unification of Germany, the fall of the Soviet empire and the testing of nuclear weapons by Pakistan.” (myedison.tesc.edu) Hence, critical thinking is extremely helpful in analyzing different situations, establishing propositions, developing hypotheses, articulating theoretical frameworks and making future plans in the light of information obtained through various channels. Various approaches have been presented time and again in order to define critical thinking, which include argumentative approach, logic, pedagogy and listing of components etc. Argumentative approach to critical thinking looks for applying and presenting arguments in favor of as well as against some specific information in order to accept or reject the validity of that information. For instance, it was a misconception that Iraq had obtained her access to the weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which could be used to destroy Israel. Critical thinking lays stress upon the solid reasoning to support this concept through debates, discussions and arguments, so that the world could be saved from destruction and turmoil. But by propagating this disinformation, the USA-led coalition of the allied forces invaded Iraq and inflicted worst possible atrocities on the poor subjects of Iraq in cities, towns and prison-houses. An overwhelming majority of the world arranged demonstrations and raised slogans against the war, and asked the USA to apply mind and sources to prove the presence of WMD in Iraq, but the USA-led coalition turned a deaf ear to the facts and figures, and stuck to the condemnable act of invading the Arab country, from where the USA could explore nothing, but caused the killing of thousands of men belonging to various countries of the world. Hence, observing of critical thinking to judge the validity of a fact is essential in order to foresee and predict the consequences of a thought, an idea, a hypothesis and an action. Observing and adopting of argumentative approach, before getting involved into an activity, protects the people from harm, hurt and humiliation. Logic is another approach to critical thinking, which suggests providing of a certain reason for performing an act or doing an action. Any action, taken without adequate reasoning, may pave the way towards damage and ruin. “For thinkers”, Moon submits, “in the past, logic was the main method associated with critical thinking. The application of logic was seen to maximize the ‘objectivity’ of critique and argument.” (2007: 38) For instance, when the Allied forces inflicted unjust restrictions on the Central Powers in the aftermath of WWI, Germany had got a reason to rearm herself in order to take revenge of the injustices committed against her in Versailles in 1919. But she did not apply logic appropriately, and pretended vindictiveness towards her weak neighboring countries from 1935 onward. As a result, she had to undergo another humiliation because of not adopting proper logic regarding fighting a decisive war against her opponents. Thus, logic is a very important phenomenon of critical thinking, the proper submission and observing of which decides the fate of individuals and nations alike. Pedagogy is also one of the imperative approaches to critical thinking, where the teaching methodology vehemently requires critical approach of thinking in order to control the classroom and provide appropriate reasoning to the students to satisfy their curiosity and to answer their questions in an apposite mode. “Critical Thinking and Critical Pedagogy”, Burbules and Berk state, “share some common concerns. They both imagine a general population in society, who are to some extent deficient in the abilities or dispositions that would allow them to discern certain kinds of inaccuracies, distortions, and even falsehoods. They share a concern with how these inaccuracies, distortions, and falsehoods limit freedom, though this concern is more explicit in the Critical Pedagogy tradition, which sees society as fundamentally divided by relations of unequal power.” (1999: 3) Hence, critical pedagogy aims to explore the disposition and views of the students in order to solve their problems and quench the thirst of their curiosity and inquisitiveness. Critical pedagogy is also helpful in the learning process, where the teachers and instructors teach the students how to manipulate and influence upon the classroom on the basis of critical thinking. Arguing is an art, and requires complete concentration and contemplation particularly in teaching, so that the teachers always adopt critical thinking in their teaching methodology, so that they manners of teaching could be declared as convincing and impressive. Though all the above-described approaches of critical thinking are imperative and considerable ones in nature and scope, yet argumentative approach is the most impressive and formidable one. It provides an open opportunity to the thinkers and policy makers to analyze the situation with a broader perspective, and take initiative on the basis of the examination of both positive and negative aspects of a theory, a notion, an observation or an evidence, so that the consequences of the action taken in the light of the information could be assessed and estimated, and the world could obtain benefit out of such actions, rather than becoming prey to the wrong and inaccurate steps taken haphazardly without making appropriate judgment of the state of affairs at large. REFERENCES: Burbules, Nicholas C. and Berk, Rupert 1999 Critical Thinking and Critical Pedagogy: Relations, Differences, and Limits Department of Educational Policy Studies Published in Critical Theories in Education, Thomas S. Popkewitz and Lynn Fendler, eds. NY: Routledge (Quoted in http://faculty.ed.uiuc.edu/burbules/papers/critical.html) Moon, Jennifer A. 2007 Critical Thinking: An Exploration of Theory and Practice Routledge Scriven, Michael & Paul, Richard 1987 Critical Thinking (Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org/aboutCT/define_critical_thinking.cfm) A Tradecraft Primer: Structured Analytic Techniques for Improving Intelligence Analysis. Vol. 2, No. 2, June 2005, Sherman Kent School, Central Intelligence Agency (Quoted in http://myedison.tesc.edu/tescdocs/Web_Courses/HLS-355-OL/Summaries/Mod1.htm) http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/suppmat/103chap7.pdf Read More