Benefits Of Critical Thinking

810 Words4 Pages
Critical thinking is discriminating “bias from reason and fact from opinion” (O’Neill, 1985, as cited in Bahr, 2010). In this essay, I will be discussing critical thinking and its benefits. I will also be analyzing the quote “I’m sceptical. Of closed minds, mainly. How can you know things if you aren’t looking?” in line with critical thinking. I will firstly discuss what is being conveyed in the quotes. Secondly, I will discuss what critical thinking. Lastly, I will discuss some of the benefits of critical thinking. The quote tries to convey that a closed mind can never learn anything new when you are not looking for new information. As a critical thinker, you have to analyse information around you. In the Watts (2004) article, the discuss…show more content…
This makes critical thinking important to survive in such a world. Critical thinking helps to open your eyes to a variety of values, socioeconomic stratifications and behaviours in the world. This allows critical thinkers to be more involved with their surroundings which in turn make them innovators. Passive thinkers have a limited view of the world and are usually ego-centric (Duron, Limbach & Waugh, 2006, p. 160). They see their perspective as the only sensible ones. This is a dangerous way of thinking because our world is a melting pot of different values. This can result in conflict on a situation that could have been solved by employing critical thinking. A good instance of this is the poaching of rhinos because there is a huge demand for rhino horns in Asian countries. In Chinese traditional medicine, it is believed the grounded rhino horn can be used to cure fever and headaches which can be easily cured by an aspirin. The killing of these majestic creatures is driving them to the brink of extinction. This just goes to show how passive thinking can be…show more content…
LaMartina and Ward-Smith (2014) state that “In 1990, under the sponsorship of the American Psychological Association (APA), the results of a two-year Delphi project concluded that ‘deal critical thinker’ is: habitually inquisitive, well-informed, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in evaluation, honest in facing personal biases, prudent in making judgments, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in complex matters, diligent in seeking relevant information, reasonable in the selection of criteria, focused in inquiry, and persistent in seeking results which are as precise as the subject and the circumstances of inquiry permit”. This means that the quote by Filch was correct because being open-minded is one of the requirements of a critical thinker, therefore, you cannot make a sound decision if you close your mind to new information around you thereby making unsound arguments or decisions in life. Being fair-minded means you have to look at both sides of a situation to make a decision other than relying on personal bias to make a decision. When we gather information on a situation, we can connect them in order to make a good decision. According to Wallace, Schirato and Bright (2009) when you reason you arrive at new information by using the information you already
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