What I Learned About Myself As A Critical Thinker

Over the course of the last six weeks, I have come to realize that critical thinking is an important asset as I continue my journey in life. I have found this course to be both challenging and rewarding. Most importantly, I find myself viewing problems and conversations in a completely different light. While I would not consider myself an expert at critical thinking, I would assess myself in as a Beginner Thinker. Paul and Elder point out in the beginning thinker stage an individual actively begins to take command of their thinking process across multiple facets of their life (Paul and Elder, 2012). Furthermore, we recognize that there are problems in the way we think and begin to consciously attempt to better understand we can improve our thinking.

2. In the 21st century exposure to media is an everyday event for most of us. Even at the grocery store, we see magazines and newspapers with eye-catching headings that may not be true. Also, the news is everywhere, and with technology on the rise, we even get news alerts on our phones. The media has taken over society. Most of the stories we read about seem to be true but in reality, are they giving a true insight of what is actually happening? Some of the stories cause people to become blindfolded from reality. This is because the stories that people read or see have a profound impact on shaping our reality rather they are true or not. We see the news about events that are going on in the world; rather they are catastrophic events or devastating events that were done by humans.

Self- esteem is used to describe a person's overall sense of self- worth or personal value.

Beliefs, attitudes and values are three little words that have and make a massive impact on who we are as individuals, who we are as people, and even how the world is viewed by ourselves and others. A belief is something that individuals or groups think, such as believing in a god. Where a Value would be the living life in the ways a religion expects, this value will be made from the belief that the person or group has in their God. The attitude towards this would be the feelings, beliefs and behaviour tendencies towards this, for example praying, reading the holy book,

In Chapter One of Becoming a Critical Thinker, by Sherry Diestler, the structure of arguments and how to become a critical thinker is discussed. Critical thinking is necessary to make sound decisions. According to the text “A critical thinker is someone who uses specific criteria to evaluate reasoning, form positions and make decisions” (pg 3). Issues, conclusions and reasons build an argument. Conclusions about an issue need to be supported by reasons.

Aristotle was an ancient Greek scientist and philosopher who sought the answer to our existence and the truth of reality. Aristotle was a pupil of Plato, a Greek philosopher who was famous for his theory of forms, but following his (Plato’s) death, he changed his views from Platonism to empiricism. Where Plato thought that true reality was based in what was abstract and intangible, Aristotle instead thought of

After reading " CLUES to Critical Thinking" in chapter 5, I disagree with the Supreme Court's decision to allow Law enforcements to strip search an arrested individual who had only committed a minor offense. The Fourth Amendment clearly states that, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated. Unreasonable can be defined as not guided by or based on good sense, which in this case, strip searching an individual for a minor offense can be seen as unreasonable. The only time a cop should be able to strip search you is when the officer has a reasonable suspicion that you are either carrying contraband or an illegal weapon, that is what strip searches are for. It is not

While reading Defining Critical Thinking I have found out that Critical Thinking is a mode of thinking about any subject, content, or problem in which the thinker imposes intellectual standards upon them. What this means is that you raise questions upon that subject in which you ask relevant questions that will effectively evaluate the solution upon the complex problem. I have also determined that people who think critically consistently attempt to live reasonable lives due to their strive to improve the world in any way they can. Also Critical Thinkers do not have a destination to be reached they proceed to improve their reasoning abilities since their reasoning abilities will always be put into question by human irrationality. Additionally Critical Thinkers recognize these dilemmas and commit themselves to deal with the society and practice toward self-improvement by doing this Critical Thinkers are able to live a reasonable life. I have also learned what makes a well cultivated critical thinker. To be a cultivated critical thinker, you need to

When the Judge admonished the Jury, he told them they must reach a unanimous decision beyond a reasonable doubt. The "hero" of this movie appears to be Henry Fonda, the first juror to vote "not guilty". He kept challenging the evidence by saying "isn 't it possible?"...that the evidence was wrong. Do some critical thinking on this...using a good paragraph answer if "isn 't it possible?" is the same thing as "beyond a reasonable doubt." Start with a “yes” or “no” and then eleaborate.

Critical Thinking is becoming more understanding to me. I have always been an open minded thinker, whenever it came to looking at different point of views on whatever is in front of me .My mom always told me that I challenged everything she gave me to do, or told me to do. She told me I was very stubborn. If I asked a question and she gave me a answer, I would always question her why! I never knew it was a trait of, what I know now as being a Critical Thinker. Looking at Fair-Minded Thinkers, I possess the quality of having courage. The Courage to question what I was taught growing up, to seek truth and logic in beliefs and everything I knew at this point in my life. I was always taught that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Not saying I don’t believe in god, but I questioned that after reading about Egyptian history. After about 6 months of reading and research I found some very uneasy things that needed some attention.

After completion, I was able to see that I have retained a lot of information through experience and upbringing. Information that should not be used when in an argument, unless the time has been taking out to research and study the facts of said argument. Just because I believe in an opinion strongly doesn’t mean that the opinion is a true statement. Research is key. I may be a good story teller but without substance and facts they are just stories. Some thoughts I take away: Chapter 1: Thinking as Dialogue: Validation and insight - “writing is a way to know, clarify, and enrich our thinking”. Talking and listening to another is person enhances my thinking. Chapter 2: Personal Barriers – “our upbringing shapes our fears, which keep us from facing thoughts. I agree with this totally, most of my past thoughts and ideas are not from educating myself on those thoughts and ideas but relying on memory and past experiences. Chapter 5: Language: Our Thinking Medium – “thinking broadly as the activity of the brain than can potentially be communicated”. This chapter made me analyze, would my thinking change if I did not associate words with pictures. Would I think differently if instead of sight, I associated a sound to a chair or a

In the beginning he was apprehensive. I honestly think he had a preconceived notion of me. I could tell because in the middle of the conversation he started talking about how people are all the same and that color doesn't matter it is about the inside. He made these statements randomly. I'm an open minded person and was accepting of his views. If I didn't agree I would kindly debate with him as to why I don't have the same perspective. My approach to him made him feel more comfortable. In conclusion, he loves classical music. Classical music helps him relax when he has a stressful day. He talked quit a bit. I did not have to say much for him to engage in the conversation. I realized that it was more of a one sided conversation than anything

Critical thinking is a vital task that must be done in our everyday lives. In “Becoming a Critic Of Your Thinking” found at criticalthinking.org, Dr. Linda Elder and Dr. Richard Paul explain critical thinking as “the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances”. Even tough there are many different types of methods to achieve a better quality of critical thinking, Dr. Elder and Dr. Paul discuss four specific ones in the article. All strategies, however, force you to put yourself in an uncomfortable and difficult position to develop a better quality of thinking.

Poldma dissects the Interior Design one element at a time. Her book will assist with the research

What is critical thinking to you? To some it may mean making wiser choices, taking time to critically analyze a situation, or to just put greater thought in your everyday life. According to Dr. Linda Elder and Dr. Richard Pauls’ article, “Becoming a Critic Of Your Thinking”, critical thinking is defined as the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances. To us, critical thinking is a very important aspect of life and something we can all improve on. It allows us to think outside the box and put ourselves in others shoes and really look at things differently. We made sure to think about our own thinking habits while discussing these articles and to notice if we were ever being close-minded.