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Critical thinking is a valuable tool, but not everyone knows what it is or even how to do it. Critical thinking will not only help those trying to read through all the bullshit that is found the pagan community, but it will also help throughout one's daily lives.
So just what is this critical thinking?
Well, the word critical comes from the Greek word, krinein, meaning "to separate," "to choose"; it implies conscious, deliberate inquiry, and especially it implies adopting a skeptical state of mind. There's that word skeptical. Skeptical here is not being used in a negative way. Instead, it means that we should question everything. EVERYTHING. Even ourselves. Critical thinkers should be sufficiently open-minded that they can question
their own ideas,
their own assumptions, and even the evidence
they themselves tentatively offer, as well as the assumptions and evidence offered by others.
Critical thinkers should also ask themselves the following questions:
~Do I insist on examining an idea from all sides?
~Do I resist easy solutions that are being pushed at me?
~Do I resist facing up to uncomfortable truths?
~Do I insist on factual accuracy?
~Do I remain open to ideas that don't fit with that I'm used to believing?
~Do I insist on clarity when confronted with vague language?
~Do I insist on hearing "the whole story," not just one point of view?
~Do I resist being hurried to make up my mind?
Here are some guidelines for critical thinking:
~Ask questions (be willing to wonder)
~Define the problem
~Examine the evidence
~Analyze assumptions and biases
~Avoid emotional reasoning ("If I feel this way, it must be true.")
~Don't over simplify
~Consider other interpretations
~Tolerate uncertainty (Its ok to look over and consider different view points and reevaluate your thoughts)
Try to see the topic from all sides
~What can be said for the proposition?
~What can be said against it?
Thinking critically involves imagination, analysis, and evaluation.
Critical Reading
You can learn much about a selection if you preview the work. Clues come from
~Author of the work
~Place of publication
~Title of the essay
Sources:
-Current Issues and Enduring Questions: A guide to Critical thinking and Argument, with Readings by Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau
-Quick Access: Reference for Writers by Lynn Q. Troyka and Douglas Hesse
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