Understanding Critical Thinking- What is Critical Thinking?
Critical thinking involves employing logical reasoning and experiments in order to differentiate truth from fact. For one to write a critical thinking paper effectively, having an open mind plays a significant role. To unravel the truth, you must be willing to ask questions even on what seems to be obvious.
The question of what is critical thinking also requires the writer or the reader to address views that support and oppose his/her argument without bias. Critical thinking requires presenting facts that support your work, and willingly dropping your argument if evidence stating otherwise is presented.
Understanding different terms in critical thinking
Truth
It is a belief about something. Although there is objective and subjective truth, more often than not people present subjective truth. Objective truth can be tested through scientific methods, although not all objective truth is testable.
Argument
It is a statement or a premise from which a conclusion can be drawn. There are two types of conclusions: inductive and deductive. An inductive argument gives tentative support while the deductive argument gives complete support.
Logic
There are two categories:
ü Formal logic involves applying a specific formula in order to test how true a statement is.
ü Informal logic revolves around testing our thoughts and ideas for biases caused by our environment.
Fallacies
Fallacies result from deducing conclusions that are neither true nor false, or errors in reasoning. Fallacies can also arise when there is not enough facts to prove the argument raised or misrepresentation of the facts.
To understand what is critical thinking, you need to internalize different aspects that contribute to errors in logical thinking and how to avoid them. When addressing the query, what is critical thinking, it is also important to differentiate between forming judgment and being judgmental; the former involves deriving conclusions through investigating facts, while the latter involves having an emotional attachment to opinions raised.