Secrets of Mind and Reality

Critical Thinking Skills

The classic view of education up until recently was that being educated meant mastering a series of facts. No matter what area you are studying, the history, mathematics, engineering, or one of the arts, you are expected to know certain dates and a set interpretation.

Although this is still the case to some degree, in some ways the predominant wisdom has begun to shift. Nowadays, people value critical thinking skills more than ever before. Thinking critically is seen as one of the most important skills in basically any profession. Logical thinking, after all, lies behind the best decision making. You can have an encyclopedic knowledge of any area of human endeavor and still act on emotions. Then again, you can have a much more modest knowledge-base and a better understanding of the principles of logic and be a better asset to most businesses.

The main problem is that there is still some debate about what critical thinking skills are. Some of it goes down to formal logic. Many people think that thinking critically means understanding logical implications and their validity or lack thereof. A lot of people use bad logic to convince opponents of their point, and being able to see around this faulty reasoning is key to being able to see what arguments are spurious.

Other people take a more holistic approach to critical thinking skills. For them, critical thought has more to do with interpreting interpersonal relationships, hidden implications, and broader social context. They draw from sociology, anthropology, and even advertising. They don’t emphasize the heavy logical principles so much as a holistic understanding of communication and language itself.

Then again, many of the best critical thinking skills tend to emphasize pattern recognition above almost everything else. A lot of critical thinking exercises involve complex logic problems that don’t have so much to do with the implications of statements as how to accomplish a process in the fewest steps possible. For this type of critical thinking skills training, learning to program is a better foundation than studying the works of sociology. The goal is to be able to plan out complex logical processes in a straightforward, unambiguous way. If nothing else, training in these critical thinking skills can definitely sharpen your thought process. It may also help you become a better leader, more effective person in your personal relationships, and all around happier fellow. Who knows where the possibilities end!