Critical thinking is a process that you have to master. It has several components that define how critical thinking works and how it can help you think critically. The main components of critical thinking are briefly discussed in the following paragraphs.
Perception
People have varying perceptions with regard to the experiences that they go through. Something exciting to one individual might be regarded as less thrilling to another person. Therefore, perception is the way people interpret their observations, ideas, experiences, etc. Your perception will have an impact on how you think. If you are happy about a certain experience, you will think positively about it. On the contrary, if you are not happy, you will have all the reasons to detest a particular activity.
Assumptions
Assumptions also define how you think. They form an integral part of critical thinking. Often, the assumptions that we make are normally implied. Therefore, some people might not notice that they are making assumptions before deciding to do something. It is easy for people to make assumptions because they are comfortable with them. Usually, they are derived from how we perceive the world around us. They are based on our beliefs and how we choose to understand certain concepts.
Emotion
Emotions also evoke thoughts. For that reason, you cannot think without having any emotions. Folks who are critical thinkers have mastered the art of learning how to think without allowing emotions to get in their way. What they do is develop self-awareness. They recognize the presence of these emotions and learn to let go.
Argument
In addition to the above elements, critical thinking also requires you to develop an argument. You will be debating against yourself on whether something is true or not true, valid or not valid. After thinking critically, you should be able to come up with a reasonable argument.
Logic
Logic brings into the picture the aspect of deductive and inductive reasoning. The former relies on hypothesis or general statements. Deductive reasoning pushes you to evaluate the likelihood of reaching a specific goal. On the other hand, inductive reasoning takes into account the observations made and makes broad generalizations. In other words, for you to come up with conclusions, you have to make observations. Both forms of reasoning will transform you into a smart decision-maker.
Understanding Claims, Issues And Arguments
After looking into some of the elements of critical thinking, it is imperative that you grasp how claims, issues and arguments form an important aspect of critical thinking.
Claims
Depending on the beliefs that people have, they could say something about what they choose to believe. In politics, for example, people will choose to support a particular candidate over the other because of what they believe about the candidate. Therefore, their statements are claims. This is something that a few people will agree to. Claims are the things that people say to express their opinions about a specific matter at hand. Claims are not facts. Thus, they are arguable.
There are different kinds of claims. Some claims are debatable whereas others are simply obvious that they are true or false. This means that some of the claims we make will require careful examination. Others will not because of their obvious nature. Claims concerning the personal decisions that you should be making should be carefully evaluated. For instance, a decision to marry the person that you are dating. Such a claim will demand that you evaluate its viability before doing anything. Additionally, claims that touch on societal issues will also call for a thorough assessment. The government cannot just decide to provide free healthcare services to its citizens.
Issues
After expressing your views by making claims, you will want to question these claims. For instance, the claim of whether or not to marry the person you are dating can be questioned. Questioning your claim raises an issue. This is where critical thinking comes in. The way you will think to evaluate your claims and come up with a reasonable argument will tell a lot about your critical thinking skills. To solve your issue, this requires you to answer the question raised on your claim. Should you marry or not?
This brings up an argument. However, for your claim to be considered as an argument, you have to provide solid evidence relating to your issue as whether to marry or not. This means that if you lack evidence to support your claim, then it wouldn’t call for further examination. For example, your claim will not be debatable if you haven’t met the person you intend to marry. It’s so obvious that this cannot happen. Therefore, there is no argument about an issue that can’t be raised.
Arguments
After raising an issue, the next thing would be to evaluate whether to move toward the left or right. As mentioned earlier, arguments are an integral part of critical thinking. This is the point where you determine whether a claim is true or false, valid or not valid. Usually, people tend to complicate arguments. In the real sense, they are quite simple. Giving out your argument means that you should only provide reasons why you think your claim is valid or not valid depending on what the issue is about. If an individual argues that they should marry because they fell in love, this is just but their argument. To this point, you cannot tell whether their argument is valid.
Determining whether arguments are valid or invalid is what critical thinking is all about. Many things should be taken into consideration before claiming that an argument is good. To ensure that you make sound decisions, critical thinking mental models should help you out.
