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Merits and demerits of critical thinking
The importantance of critical thinking inlife
The importantance of critical thinking inlife
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Throughout history, it has been proven that entertaining ideas that you do not agree with can be challenging for many people. With this observation, Aristotle was able to point to a key aspect that has allowed humanity to evolve with new discoveries. One must have the capability to entertain new ideas in order to expand their understanding. Furthermore, it will allow them to educate themselves on a variety of ideas and beliefs. An educated mind must be an open mind, in which new ideas can begin to be understood. One should not go through life accepting or rejecting ideas without understanding the concept completely. Applying this quote to our lives today is crucial. Today, the world is a very diverse place and new ideas and beliefs are spread through the internet. Each person must do their part in being an informed member of society that neither blindly accepts or dismisses ideas. …show more content…
It is valid to be skeptical because it will open our minds to new beliefs and ideas. One must challenge their mindset and engage fully in conversations with those who they do not necessarily agree with. If you simply reject or accept ideas without giving it thought, an uneducated, narrow mind will result. Being open to new ideas gives you an opportunity to change how you view concepts. However, change is not a mandatory result. It may reinforce what you already believe. Having an open mind to ideas that you do not agree with will help to develop several qualities. It will keep you from making impulse decisions and quick judgements. Another benefit includes being free from your mind's limitations. Not having limitations that keep you from understanding will allow you to educate yourself on various topics and
We as humans tend to have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. We look for knowledge about everybody and everything that surrounds us in our day-to-day life. Sadly though, we must accept that in the grand scheme of life we (as a society) tend to put pleasure above our quest for knowledge. The pursuit of knowledge tends to take time and energy, two things we call invaluable, and it also shows us things that might depress us. Contrastingly, ignorance takes no time and energy.
...ools and skills for skeptical thinking that are essential to survive in society today, many of which rely on critical thinking and common sense. In order for someone to be able to discern between true and false, right and wrong, they must be able to discuss the hypothesis, ignore any position of power, cast aside personal attachment to the subject or hypothesis, create a sound argument, have an understanding of Occam’s Razor, and have the ability to test the subject or hypothesis for falsities. These skills all prove necessary and important when comparing and contrasting anything, whether it’s from a scientific perspective or something that affects one’s daily life.
The idea of skepticism contains many different opinions, viewpoints, and details all within one big topic. Skepticism, in shorter terms, is defined as “the theory that we do not have any knowledge. We cannot be completely certain that any of our beliefs are true.” The two main types of skepticism are known as academic skepticism, arguing that the only thing we can know is that we know nothing, and Pyrrhonian skepticism, which rejects the ideas of academic skepticism entirely. Two philosophers that had very strong attitudes towards skepticism, were René Descartes who was a global skeptic, and David Hume who entertained both global and local skepticism. Due to their theories about skepticism as a whole, we can now understand it and put our own
middle of paper ... ... Our curiosity is what makes our interactions interesting and entertaining. As members of society, it is our innate ability to wander further than what we have in front of us. We want to impose our opinions on everything.
In other words, being a lifelong learner is largely constituted by the possession of various intellectual virtues; but for Aristotle the most significant intellectual virtue is the practical wisdom because it has a precise merit with regard to a peculiar sphere of human concerns and operations. It is especially concerned with the rational cultivation of the sub rational appetitive, emotional, and desiderative aspects of human life and experience to the end of so-called human
Is it possible for human beings to rise above the sensory interpretation about the world and become an intellectual? Both Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” and René Descartes’ “Cogito, Ergo Sum” examine this issue, and come to the conclusion that it is possible, and from this ascent, to become certain and rational. For each author, though, this is accomplished in different ways. Plato’s allegory points out that we need to look beyond the surface of the knowledge we learn and let the idea of good be our basis in life. Descartes expresses that we need to eliminate doubt in order for us to know certainty and feel comfortable in our knowledge.
...s. Society must try new experiences and keep their ears and mind open to new philosophies and ideas, because without them, it cannot learn from its mistakes and will continue to ‘make funeral pyres and [jump] into the middle of them’ (163).
Humans are always reluctant to figure out new information and for this we have had centuries of incredible thinkers, artists, and musicians come about. Some have come across new findings by accident and others have worked their entire lives to figure out something to be remembered by. What makes human beings so distinguishable from other species is we have the ability to think and feel and with this we can act in a way that makes us a superior species. With this kind of view on the world we as humans are subjective to our surroundings and build a system of belief through our experiences. While human beings are all destined to be great at birth, the desire to know who we are, why we behave the way we do, what our nature is, and explaining the
I have holes in my knowledge about subject and looking into more sources can widen my view of the subject. Instead of thinking opinionated I should use more fact and view of others in this topic. This will make my argument more efficient and effective to successfully get others to see my point.
All thoughts need to be rethought at certain point of the time. In that case, skepticism is a great tool as it makes one to question and rethink about pre-existing information. However, too much skepticism may not always be helpful in acquisition of knowledge as well. The skeptics may have the tendency to not believe in anything and show behaviour that is similar to that of the pessimistic. There has to be a balance between having too much or too less skepticism.
“Properly open mind is just the most enjoyable way to live” Ronald Geiger said in his article about skepticism. Skepticism is one of the first steps on the road to open, creative and critical thinking that young people should take in their lives. It is important for the people in adolescence period, like high school students, to learn how to think properly and be critical toward some of the aspects in society. The course in skepticism in high school will allow students to have positive effects on their intellectual level, ethical standings, physical conditions and psychological status. Skepticism should be included in high school curricular and be one of the requirements for graduation because of its tremendous amount beneficial factors in
The difference between comfort and open-mindedness is the difference between cowardliness and truthfulness. The mind that is open is open to the truth, whereas the close mind invents whatever truth it is comfortable with, so that it may persist in its delusions. To be truly open-minded, we must renounce the religion of our parents, and deny our cherished beliefs. Comfort is seduction. Better it is to suffer the pains of uncertainty, and the insanity of lost identity, so that we might open our minds to a firmer foundation, a deeper truth. Close-mindedness is afraid of reality. We need reality. Therefore, close-mindedness is a form of death worship. It denies our needs. Open-mindedness allows us to embrace the alien and discover what others will not discover. The distinction is between fear and love; life and death.
Mill presents one possible criticism of this view. He writes that it could be asked whether it is essential for "true knowledge" for some people to hold erroneous opinions. Mill replies that having an increasing number of uncontested opinions is both "inevitable and indispensable" in the process of human improvement. However, this does not mean that the loss of debate is not a drawback, and he encourages teachers to try to compensate for the loss of dissent.
Socrates once stated “Strong minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; weak minds discuss people”. According to this quote individuals with closed minds and biased thoughts have the propensity1 to develop gossip about what people are supposed to be doing, what they might be doing or what others said they are doing. Strong minds usually don’t care too much what others think, therefore when it comes to building up an opinion they are not malleable2 thus they don’t let what others think shape what they think. These individuals make their own decisions not letting others judgments and experiences hamper them from doing what they want to do and they do not second guess themselves. Weak minds, on the other hand, lack strength so they are easily influence by what others think instead of building their own opinion. Instead of thinking for themselves they just follow the crow because it is easier for them. These individuals often avoid making important decisions because they are afraid of any type of change or mistakes as well as the consequences, and let the experiences and judgments form others engender3 their own opinion. Gossip are equivocal4 statements that travel through a lot of people and each individual that hears or reads a gossip can interpret it in their own way causing the gossip to become distorted5 as it goes from one person to the other. The strong minds form their own opinion while the weak minds just copycat what everyone thinks. This idea can be seen through an analysis of various literary terms in Leonardo Sciascia’s novel entitled To Each His Own as the gossip that is formed, subsequently to the death of the pharmacist, is passed through many individuals, each interpreting the gossip according to what they be...
Experiencing new things all the time can definitely improve one 's knowledge, but reason helps determine how much of this knowledge is accumulated through experience which can be useful. Our brain retains information on a daily basis, but how much from that we can consider knowledge? If that information teaches us something it can be considered knowledge that we can pass it on to others. Most of the times people tend to believe everything they hear and consider that they know more than others. This give a person the belief that they have the right to tell others what they know. It results in becoming more an opinion if one did not experiment with it themselves leading to knowledge lost in the end. To pin point an absolute truth is very difficult to identify from all the information gathered throughout life. It can be useful knowledge if just experience is enough. This is the beauty of being human after all, as humans we acquire knowledge till the day we die, regardless what the source. The bigger the well of knowledge we accumulate, the better chances we will understand our world and to try to live a harmonious life. If knowledge is indeed power, then we might get the power to avoid misunderstanding each other, which can head off a lot of problems. Richard Rorty in the Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature said it best, “The eventual demarcation of philosophy from science was made possible by the notion that