Critical thinking is the discipline of taking full responsibility for your thoughts and deeds. You are the one who arrives at a conclusion based upon evidence examined by you, actual experiences you’ve had, and logically approaching the world around you. Your beliefs are your own, rather than ideas forced upon you by habit, circumstance, threats, or other external factors. You are taking charge of the ideas and stimuli around you and subjecting them to examination. You may incorporate other people’s ideas, but only when the ideas themselves have been vetted–not because the person giving you those ideas claims to know more, not even if everyone else tells you that they know more.
There is any number of political debates about a slew of topics going on at any time in this country. Just flip on the television or check a social media website, and you can hear someone citing statistics to back up their side in the debate. Next time that happens, try conducting your own research. Check where the speaker may have found their data.
Did the speaker leave anything out? If you can find the source, look into whether that source has any political or economic interest in a particular political outcome for that issue. Then find out if another source has a different set of statistics or even a different interpretation of those numbers. Contrary to popular belief, even though “numbers don’t lie,” they can be conveniently abbreviated or interpreted to suit one side’s needs.
You may find two different interpretations of the statistics, or even two completely different statistics. You may then need to determine which of the two is more reliable according to a neutral source, or if anyone is actually presenting the whole picture. The point of this exercise isn’t for you to establish rock-bottom certainty on an issue (though if you can, good for you). The purpose is to familiarize yourself with not accepting everything at face value, with questioning claims around you and with using your own mind to find out more and draw your own conclusions. That is critical thinking in a nutshell.
The German philosopher Immanuel Kant famously advised people “Dare to know!” This perhaps odd little phrase carries with it a rather subtle definition of “knowing.” For Kant, his fellow Enlightenment thinkers, and critical thinkers throughout history, “knowing” is a deeply personal, self-determined act. Kant was reacting against a culture built around following a certain authority without question. At a time when more voices than ever claim authority, his advice is timely as ever.
