What is Critical Thinking?
Before we get into why let's dissect the word part by part
to understand the etymology behind the words critical thinking.
When I run workshops on problem solving, decision-making,
creativity etc. I ask the participants to share their understanding about the
term critical thinking, to my surprise in most of my workshops Participants
have related the term with crisis, which is not right.
Before we define what, it is, let's go to the past to
decipher the words.
Let's cull out the word critic from the word critical and
take a journey into Greek, in Greek critic is kritikos “able to make judgments,”.
Let’s play with words for a while. The word critical has two meanings.
When the word
critical is used along with situation, it denotes the below meaning:
1.Critical - saying that someone or something is bad or
wrong
When the word
critical thinking is used along with thinking, it denotes the below meaning:
2.Critical-expressing adverse or disapproving comments or
judgements.
Now let's put the above words to understand what is critical
thinking
The U.S. National Council for Excellence in Critical
Thinking defines critical thinking as the "intellectually disciplined
process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analysing,
synthesizing, or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by,
observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to
belief and action.
In simple words Critical thinking is the ability to think
clearly and rationally about what to do or what to believe
by: M.L.Narendra Kumar
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