Jennifer Wilson: The Purpose Of Critical Thinking

Each and every day people come face to face with lots of decisions to make and problems to solve. Solving problems and making decisions are very important skills to have in life, yet some decisions can be very difficult to make. How is one to make life changing decisions? By using critical thinking. Critical thought is an important skill to have. When a person has this skill; they will be able to make an appropriate decision based on logical facts and process them in a reasonable manner. To think critically one must first ask the question of, what is critical thinking? According to the reading “Thinking critically about critical thinking” by Jennifer Wilson, Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively
For a person to be a good critical thinker they must be able to identify the issue, ask thought provoking questions, find new solutions, and it helps to be a good listener. Critical thinkers also are more likely to be better in the workforce. Think about it, if a worker only follows orders and doesn’t ever ask any questions yes they are doing their job but they wont ever help the company grow. If an employee was a critical thinker and showed the same hard work they most likely would get promoted because they think more logically and are more likely to help the company make better decisions. Some of the things that we do in our lives, such as sleeping, eating and blinking, happen automatically and we don’t have to think about them. Others however need more thought and our full attention, such as where and when to eat and how long I should study or watch tv. Critical thinking is a skill rather than a process and if it is used as if it were a muscle eventually the process will become initiate to the
First, if everyone thought critically then we would prosperer as human beings. If we all came together and thought about decisions logically we could create innovative new things and advance technology and our economy would be better for it. Secondly, if we all thought critically crime rates might come down because criminals would think about the consequences and how it is morally wrong, and they might choose to not commit the crime. Lastly, if everyone in society was able to think critically we might be able to avoid mass wars because people would be able to talk things out and not have their opinions clouded by emotions and make a mistake of having a war and losing thousands of lives. Most of the worlds problems however stem from a lack of understanding or a lack of intelligence’s. Which brings me to my next point,