Critical Thinking Essay Examples

Throughout our lives, we are bombarded with information of many different kinds. Whether found on the computer, seen through television, heard on the radio, read in a book, or told to us by another person, we are inundated with more claims, ideas, and arguments than can be counted. How does one decide what claims are true, what ideas make sense, or what arguments are convincing though? One way to rationally sort through things that we are skeptical of is by using critical thinking. By thinking through the logic behind an argument or the truth of a claim or premise, it is possible to help choose what claims, ideas, or arguments to accept. Thus, I believe that critical thinking is an important skill to learn, that it can be applied in many different

Critical thinking can help one think through ideas or thoughts before acting on them to ensure time and resources are not wasted. Many times ideas are thought up that sound interesting or helpful. Thinking through the logic behind an idea as well as its implications can help sort out truly interesting or helpful ideas from the ones that might not work out if attempted in the real world. Critical thinking can also help one think about the claims behind an advertising pitch or a reported statistic and make more informed decisions about them. Since the main purpose behind advertising is to convince people to purchase some product, many times the claim will be that purchasing the good or service being sold will be beneficial in some way. However, is the product being sold even necessary for what one needs or wants? Can the product do what they claim it is capable of? Are there other options available that could do the same thing better? Being able to answer these questions can help avoid making an impulsive purchase based off of a clever sales pitch and then being disappointed when it is discovered that the salesperson’s claims did not hold up. Similarly, many times statistics are quoted in support of an argument or a claim. Verifying that the statistic supports the argument being made and that there is nothing questionable about the statistic itself can help lend

In his Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes establishes doubt on his beliefs by showing the senses to be fallible since it is not always possible to clearly tell if what we sense is real or not – in the extreme case, he notes that everything we sense could be the deception of an all-powerful, malevolent demon (138). Although I accept what I can see, feel, or hear as real most of the time I am aware that I cannot be absolutely certain about what I know through my senses since, like Descartes, I believe that it is possible for them to succumb to things such as illusions or dreams. I also hold a belief similar to his that there are some abstract ideas, such as mathematics, that can be trusted to be true through reason alone (137). Most knowledge is found through the senses and by interacting with the outside world. Other knowledge is learned purely by critically thinking from starting facts to a conclusion. However, I believe that the most certain knowledge we have comes from that which can be seen to be true both through the senses and through abstract reasoning. For example, the idea of a circle can never be truly realized in the real world. Despite this, the approximations of circles that exist in reality helps to reinforce the abstract idea of a