The Four Principals of Critical Thinking
1. Are there any ideas “above” critical thinking?
Rarely, there are ideas that forego empirical testing. There are very few ideas that are self-evident. Religion and ethics come immediately to mind. Both moral values and religious beliefs are considered to be universal truths, which means that they are accepted as fact by many people. These, of course, are unable to be subject to empirical testing.
2. What is the quality of evidence?
In other cases we must use empirical testing to evaluate and critically test an idea. Interpreting these things can be much more difficult. We must ascertain how these ideas were tested. We must ask ourselves if the results show absolute proof of the claim.
3. What are the qualifications of the expert that is supporting the idea.
This means to ask the expert how or why they came to their conclusions about the idea. Now this does not mean that you should be closed minded, but rather that you should look for the logical answers. This is the key to being a critical thinker.
A good example of this is a doctor that tells a person to have a medical treatment. Many of us would ask the doctor many detailed questions, and we would probably get a second opinion. Some of us would check to see that the doctor was in good standing at the AMA. We would check out the doctor’s “expert” opinion and his credentials before considering his idea.
Another example:
If a researcher claims that children that watch television are more violent, then you should see WHO is doing the research. Is it a organization against television violence? Is it a survey paid for by a television company? Maybe it is a completely unbiased survey.
We critical thinkers need to make ourselves aware of how the “expert” got their information. Do the people conducting the study have the appropriate credentials? Are they at the top of their field? Only the evidence will answer these questions for you.
4. Keep an open mind
This means that you must consider the possibility that the proposed idea is correct. You must be willing to look at things that you may even consider impossible. We must be willing to go with the flow so to speak.
We must follow the logical progression of the empirical evidence that is presented to us. This does not mean that critical thinkers should be gullible or naive in their search for the truth, but that they should use an open mind. Critical thinkers try to avoid skepticism and becoming cynical.
What can I use critical thinking to accomplish?
You can use this type of process to evaluate almost every kind of idea or hypothetical concept. Whether it is a tried and true approach or an innovative new technology, you can use these critical thinking techniques to help analyze the situation.
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