The Value of Critical Thinking

[LightSun]

"What is the benefit of critical thinking? How can one develop needful critical thinking skills? What are in place in society from us learning critical thinking, a.k.a., the education system? What is the role of Belief systems with regard toward critical thinking?

What is the role of knowing about Cognitive distortions in (C.B.T. (Cognitive Behavior) and irrationally believed ideas in R.E.B.T. (Rational Emotive Behavior) with critical thinking? How does Dogma manifest in relationship to learning critical thinking? What is Fallacious thinking? How must all these be overcome to learn to think, speak and write free of cognitive fallacies?"


"For those who think love is the answer and the only answer we evidently have problems in this country. Agape love has to be balanced with Reason. This is a taught skill. There's no two ways about it. Think of mental discipline as akin to the martial arts. Our brain is a muscle that must be taught how to use critical reasoning. It is a learned discipline. It is not innate. Those that don't embrace changes with the introduction of cognitive discipline and empathy skills being presented to our young are resistant to change.

They don't know that if the changes were developed it would become the norm and we would have a healthier society mental health wise as well as happier. We can not rely on our own opinion for we are blinded by blind spots. We don't have a 3D greater picture of society. What I ask you can we do to evolve as a society? Remain with the status quo? Each generation contributes to these alarming statistics with us blindly as ostriches having our head in the sand not prepared to make real changes. It starts with children and education. The main problem with education is it forces regurgitation and rote memorization.

It does not exist to teach critical thinking skills and how to independently think. If we as a society could think without the use of distortions in the thought process I would see it apparent in society at large. I see in the media and on Facebook the use of cognitive distortions in thought, speech and writing. Our own president is not a reasonable man nor can he communicate effectively without having such distortions as generalizations and labeling contaminating his message. Yet we as a society picked a man who uses no critical reason based on emotionalism.

Absolute, and much needed skills of reasoning must need be taught. There is a need for critical thinking to be taught with a minimum of distortions of thought. Hence my penchant for an educational system being given far more priority as well learning and teaching in a new paradigm change of how we are taught as children. One must absolutely be able of a persuasion to think independently as well in a creative fashion. It's a problem. I possess an analogy, we have the seed within to fully evolve if not distorted and be unduly pressured in a way of thinking that is not natural for the individual.

It is such a belief I do have that parents are custodians, not tyrants and impose their reality unto a child. Now an outside the box thinking thought I possess. We are like some computer software; we are only able to have a thinking capacity of the data entered into our self. We can't easily have a capacity to think outside our box, and then we'd be out our reality. This is conjecture from my own view as well standpoint.

Indoctrination into dogma comes from multiple sources. Dogma conceivably can occur in a family's system of beliefs as well mores. It also comes from another from another direction like patriotism and religious beliefs, all of this before the person possesses or can be taught critical thinking. What actually does this mean? It is up to us to walk a path may it be a fine one and follows the teachings without losing his or her mind. We need to critically think and use the teachings in the spirit they were intended for its The Path of Love.

Reason needs to be in the mix, for without it we truly do not understand what is taught. We can corrupt it for our own use. The critical teachings used fables to teach lessons. They are not in fact truth but only a lesson to think upon. We cannot use or corrupt, what is described to use in as a discriminatory sense when we are teaching people. Another factor is the person has been taken hold of a worldly illusion which sustains their esteem. I like asking questions, see all of our most responses i can relate to. Really it’s a jig saw puzzle, more reason utilized, a larger mixture in truth resides. I do like your answer (as well the responses given from the angle of other people's responses).

Yes with unreason, this is saying loss of control as in being loud, argumentative, and not utilizing listening skills, a fear has triggered an ego (which in the ultimate sense is of illusionary qualities).
As far as educating a self, i have been relieved i had education and learned so very many things in classroom as well keeping an open mind in life experiences, I’ve learned, grown and hopefully will continue doing so."

 

[yeghor]

"What is the benefit of critical thinking? How can one develop needful critical thinking skills? What are in place in society from us learning critical thinking, a.k.a., the education system? What is the role of Belief systems with regard toward critical thinking?

"For those who think love is the answer and the only answer we evidently have problems in this country. Agape love has to be balanced with Reason. This is a taught skill. There's no two ways about it. Think of mental discipline as akin to the martial arts. Our brain is a muscle that must be taught how to use critical reasoning. It is a learned discipline. It is not innate. Those that don't embrace changes with the introduction of cognitive discipline and empathy skills being presented to our young are resistant to change.

Absolute, and much needed skills of reasoning must need be taught. There is a need for critical thinking to be taught with a minimum of distortions of thought. Hence my penchant for an educational system being given far more priority as well learning and teaching in a new paradigm change of how we are taught as children. One must absolutely be able of a persuasion to think independently as well in a creative fashion. It's a problem. I possess an analogy, we have the seed within to fully evolve if not distorted and be unduly pressured in a way of thinking that is not natural for the individual.

Indoctrination into dogma comes from multiple sources. Dogma conceivably can occur in a family's system of beliefs as well mores. It also comes from another from another direction like patriotism and religious beliefs, all of this before the person possesses or can be taught critical thinking. What actually does this mean? It is up to us to walk a path may it be a fine one and follows the teachings without losing his or her mind. We need to critically think and use the teachings in the spirit they were intended for its The Path of Love."

It is a rude shock to have our fantasy of mbti punctured by critical thinking. This is called cognitive dissonance which is emotionally painful but is necessary if further learning is to take place,

It is sad to reflect there are those here who don't want further learning to take place, and they have a visceral reaction against higher learning.

Some more discussion here:

https://www.typologycentral.com/for...thinking-self-respect.html?83577=#post2656106



This clip illustrates what critical thinking is quite well and how to develop it:

 

[Lark]

What are those quotes from?

I tend to think the best, short, writing about critical thinking that I've read was in On Liberty by JS Mill, he spells it out in discussions on free speech, free thinking, individual sovereignty, a whole discussion of the value of contrary opinions, even, at one point, if I remember it right, single mindedness (the whole in the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is king thing).

In some ways I think Mill was a better guide than a lot of psychology sources I've read since, there's a hell of a lot of sources that assume a lot, including shared and popular comprehension and understanding of what is meant by critical thinking. It easily filters out into the wider culture without much deliberate effort at dissemination.

A hell of a lot of the time people talking about critical thinking dont engage in it much themselves, you'll find at least one or two core beliefs that they have absolutely no doubts about, they're convinced and think everyone else should find whatever it is as just as self-evident as they do, if you dont its because you've been duped, conditioned, brainwashed, whatever.

 

[yeghor]

Those definitely are a lot of words.

Mole lives on or so it seems.

I dont think the people working to create some sort of soviet union style hypernormalization in the west are going to succeed, they will fail. People are already losing interest in that project.

I do not know what the text says or how it relates to soviet style.

I am more focused on the need to strengthen the critical thinking faculty. It relates to introspection and is critical to move towards self-actualization.

 

[Lark]

I do not know what the text says or how it relates to soviet style.

I am more focused on the need to strengthen the critical thinking faculty. It relates to introspection and is critical to move towards self-actualization.

If you check out Hypernormalization or Bitter Lake or any of the documentaries by the guy who created either of those you'll be pretty enlightened I'm sure.

Thanks for the opportunity to post this as a counterpoint to your own. If you had not posted this Mole-ish thread I'd maybe not have had a chance to promote those documentaries and ideas to the "gallery". Something to mull over I guess.

 

[yeghor]

If you check out Hypernormalization or Bitter Lake or any of the documentaries by the guy who created either of those you'll be pretty enlightened I'm sure.

Thanks for the opportunity to post this as a counterpoint to your own. If you had not posted this Mole-ish thread I'd maybe not have had a chance to promote those documentaries and ideas to the "gallery". Something to mull over I guess.

I am not the original poster.

 

[yeghor]

If you check out Hypernormalization or Bitter Lake or any of the documentaries by the guy who created either of those you'll be pretty enlightened I'm sure.

Thanks for the opportunity to post this as a counterpoint to your own. If you had not posted this Mole-ish thread I'd maybe not have had a chance to promote those documentaries and ideas to the "gallery". Something to mull over I guess.

How do those documentaries relate to the Critical Thinking concept?

 

[Lark]

How do those documentaries relate to the Critical Thinking concept?

Check them out and see

Also. I see you.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

It’s not a Mole dupe. Posting styles and ways of responding to other posters are completely different

Also, mole didn’t usually necro old threads, he just spammed the forum with a million new threads, posting in that general soapbox rant where he kind of just talked into the void and never actually responded directly to anyone

 

[Kephalos]

I wonder why we need to qualify thinking with the word critical here.

I do believe there is critical thinking, but it's not just using logical reasoning from premisses, which I would say is thinking, without qualifiers. This can be "dogmatic", if you want to call it that way, in the sense that you accept or assume that the premises of your reasoning are true, and so whatever you logically conclude from them is also true.

Critical thinking would concern itself with whether the assumptions that one makes are true: but here you have to be careful not to argue in a circle. I believe this would restore some of the meaning of critical as used, for example, by Kant's critical philosophy. And also, I'd like to draw a very sharp distinction between how people come to believe the things they do believe (a psychological phenomenon) and how we justify what we believe is true to other people, who may not share the same psychology that produces beliefs in us (a logical and linguistic issue).

 

[Coriolis]

I wonder why we need to qualify thinking with the word critical here.

To answer this simple question: because plenty of thinking is not critical. Daydreaming and even brainstorming fall into this non-critical category. I include the latter because every time I have been involved in brainstorming sessions, we have been strictly enjoined not to make any judgments or evaluation of the ideas presented; just throw them out "uncritically", for later analysis.

 

[yeghor]

I wonder why we need to qualify thinking with the word critical here.

I do believe there is critical thinking, but it's not just using logical reasoning from premisses, which I would say is thinking, without qualifiers. This can be "dogmatic", if you want to call it that way, in the sense that you accept or assume that the premises of your reasoning are true, and so whatever you logically conclude from them is also true.

Critical thinking would concern itself with whether the assumptions that one makes are true: but here you have to be careful not to argue in a circle. I believe this would restore some of the meaning of critical as used, for example, by Kant's critical philosophy. And also, I'd like to draw a very sharp distinction between how people come to believe the things they do believe (a psychological phenomenon) and how we justify what we believe is true to other people, who may not share the same psychology that produces beliefs in us (a logical and linguistic issue).

The word critical is used because fine-tuning the thinking faculty requires making a "critique" and audit of it along the way for accuracy and consistency and then writing over it when errors and inconsistincies are found.

That would require developing another faculty within the brain distinct from the parts related to thinking, reasoning and decision making, that would audit and supervise the reasoning process independently.

 

[LightSun]

“It is the duty of every man, as far his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error.” Thomas Paine

“It is the mark of an educated man to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Aristotle

“Bra feee thinker and don’t accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and evaluate what you believe in.” Aristotle

“Free thinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs.

This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking.” Leo Tolstoy

“If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change.

I seek the truth, which never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance which does harm.” Marcus Aurelius

“Don’t believe everything you think. The mind creates its own illusions by linking thoughts that share no connection.” Unknown

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it. Unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” Buddha

“The majority of men…are not capable of thinking, but only of believing and…are not accessible to reason but only to authority.” Arthur Schopenhauer

"What is the benefit of critical thinking? How can one develop needful critical thinking skills? What are in place in society from us learning critical thinking, a.k.a., the education system? What is the role of Belief systems with regard toward critical thinking?

What is the role of knowing about Cognitive distortions in (C.B.T. (Cognitive Behavior) and irrationally believed ideas in R.E.B.T. (Rational Emotive Behavior) with critical thinking? How does Dogma manifest in relationship to learning critical thinking? What is Fallacious thinking? How must all these be overcome to learn to think, speak and write free of cognitive fallacies?"


"For those who think love is the answer and the only answer we evidently have problems in this country. Agape love has to be balanced with Reason. This is a taught skill. There's no two ways about it. Think of mental discipline as akin to the martial arts. Our brain is a muscle that must be taught how to use critical reasoning. It is a learned discipline. It is not innate. Those that don't embrace changes with the introduction of cognitive discipline and empathy skills being presented to our young are resistant to change.

They don't know that if the changes were developed it would become the norm and we would have a healthier society mental health wise as well as happier. We can not rely on our own opinion for we are blinded by blind spots. We don't have a 3D greater picture of society. What I ask you can we do to evolve as a society? Remain with the status quo? Each generation contributes to these alarming statistics with us blindly as ostriches having our head in the sand not prepared to make real changes. It starts with children and education. The main problem with education is it forces regurgitation and rote memorization.

It does not exist to teach critical thinking skills and how to independently think. If we as a society could think without the use of distortions in the thought process I would see it apparent in society at large. I see in the media and on Facebook the use of cognitive distortions in thought, speech and writing. Our own president is not a reasonable man nor can he communicate effectively without having such distortions as generalizations and labeling contaminating his message. Yet we as a society picked a man who uses no critical reason based on emotionalism.

Absolute, and much needed skills of reasoning must need be taught. There is a need for critical thinking to be taught with a minimum of distortions of thought. Hence my penchant for an educational system being given far more priority as well learning and teaching in a new paradigm change of how we are taught as children. One must absolutely be able of a persuasion to think independently as well in a creative fashion. It's a problem. I possess an analogy, we have the seed within to fully evolve if not distorted and be unduly pressured in a way of thinking that is not natural for the individual.

It is such a belief I do have that parents are custodians, not tyrants and impose their reality unto a child. Now an outside the box thinking thought I possess. We are like some computer software; we are only able to have a thinking capacity of the data entered into our self. We can't easily have a capacity to think outside our box, and then we'd be out our reality. This is conjecture from my own view as well standpoint.

Indoctrination into dogma comes from multiple sources. Dogma conceivably can occur in a family's system of beliefs as well mores. It also comes from another from another direction like patriotism and religious beliefs, all of this before the person possesses or can be taught critical thinking. What actually does this mean? It is up to us to walk a path may it be a fine one and follows the teachings without losing his or her mind. We need to critically think and use the teachings in the spirit they were intended for its The Path of Love.

Reason needs to be in the mix, for without it we truly do not understand what is taught. We can corrupt it for our own use. The critical teachings used fables to teach lessons. They are not in fact truth but only a lesson to think upon. We cannot use or corrupt, what is described to use in as a discriminatory sense when we are teaching people. Another factor is the person has been taken hold of a worldly illusion which sustains their esteem. I like asking questions, see all of our most responses i can relate to. Really it’s a jig saw puzzle, more reason utilized, a larger mixture in truth resides. I do like your answer (as well the responses given from the angle of other people's responses).

Yes with unreason, this is saying loss of control as in being loud, argumentative, and not utilizing listening skills, a fear has triggered an ego (which in the ultimate sense is of illusionary qualities).
As far as educating a self, i have been relieved i had education and learned so very many things in classroom as well keeping an open mind in life experiences, I’ve learned, grown and hopefully will continue doing so."