Critical Thinking : An Introduction

    If you want to become an Intellectual or a Smart person who can't be brainwashed and fooled easily then you must develop the skill of Critical Thinking. The ability to think Critically is a factor that differentiates humans from animals. An animal like sheep usually acts as per the prevailing condition which makes it easy for intelligent animals to exploit it.

 If you will tie a sheep with a rope, he will come with you submissively without finding a way to become free of the knot of the rope and run to save its life. It is because a sheep lacks Critical Thinking and is unaware of his interests and ways to work for them. But this isn't the case for humans because all humans have basic Critical Thinking Skills which is more than others which makes them the most dominant species on the planet. However, these skills vary from person to person and thus create a difference of Intellect and Ignorance among humans. The difference between an ignorant and an Intellectual person is the difference in Critical Thinking Skills. Now it is up to you, whether you want to stay ignorant like an animal who follows something blindly like a Sheep follows the Herd, or become a Critical Thinker who is wisest of all.

Critical Thinking can be called an antonym of Ignorance and a source of Wisdom and True Knowledge. It is defined as "Disciplined Thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by Evidence." It should be that mode of thinking through which, we will get to the conclusions that don't have contradictions, which are supported by logic meaning which are not baseless, and which are supported by some sort of evidence. Also, the thought process should be open to other ideas and opinions, i.e. one can understand other's opinions and ideas and review them to find their validity.  We will discuss this all in detail in the next post. In short, Critical Thinking means analyzing things and ideas with an open mind, understanding them, and evaluating them in the light of clarity, rationality, and evidence. They also include your personal ideas, beliefs, values, and worldview. There is no scope for Blind Belief, Dogmatic thinking, and emotions when it comes to Critical Thinking. If you are taught to hate something or believe in something, then to become a Critical Thinker, you have to review those sentiments and beliefs and check whether it was right or wrong in light of logic and evidence and then accept the truth you found out. It will lead you to the truth and protect you from brainwashing and false propaganda. 

When it comes to the History of Critical Thinking, two cultures come to mind. One is the Western Culture and another is the Eastern Culture. Let's talk about Western Culture first :

Ancient Greek Civilization has been called the cradle of Western Civilization. It all started from there. The importance of Personal Agency and Individual Liberty was encouraged there. In Ancient Greece, People placed more stress on the importance of their own ideas and individual existence than on Society and Authorities. The culture of debating was at its peak there. The most famous method of debating and critical thinking in recorded history was the Socratic Method which originated in Greece. It involves continuous questioning of things to redefine things with the best answers which helps us to get more close to truth. Most Greeks lived in Port Cities and were involved in Trade and Merchandise activities for their living. Traders from different places arrived in those cities and they brought different cultures, ideas, values, beliefs, and thinking with them. It gave rise to debates on answers to many questions like What is Reality? How Justice should work? What is the role of the State and ruler? What exists beyond earth? Is there one God or many Gods or none? How to be a moral person and why? and things like that.

Many ideas were conflicting and opposite of each other leading us to evaluate both ideas to find the best idea among them and know the limitations of those ideas to reduce them. This became the backbone of Western Critical Thinking. Different ideas were evaluated in light of logic and evidence and those with the most weightage were regarded as the best and were adopted. This led to advancement in many subjects in Greece like Political Science, Natural Sciences, Theology, Metaphysics, and Wisdom concentrating on the betterment of the individual and society as a whole.

On the Other Hand, Eastern Civilizations placed less stress on individual liberty and personal agency but more on social harmony and tolerance of one idea. Following the herd (Society) was considered a good thing while thinking out of the box and having rebellious thoughts was considered a bad thing. There is a Japanese proverb says that "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down." This means those who don't follow society face opposition first. This depicts the mentality and preference of Eastern Culture. Whoever thinks differently from others is condemned and criticized. This is still evident in many societies following Eastern Culture including our own. A girl who plays football instead of following the decided gender role is condemned and discouraged. People prefer to go with the majority. I remember a video of a Convent School where students were reciting a prayer in English and people were criticizing them in masses on the internet because they thought it was a Christian Prayer. If the Majority thinks something, a person will prefer to follow the majority without worrying about right and wrong. Those who think differently and have different opinions face condemnation, baseless opposition, false allegations, and even death threats if the case is sensitive. Our culture considers questioning dominant ideas supported by authorities like Religious Preachers, Teachers, Elders, Leaders, etc. as a bad thing. While the West chooses logic as the basic principle of thinking and values, the East chooses Authority and Societal biases as it. 

This has resulted in the difference between both civilizations. Western Scientists and Thinkers have contributed to the majority of Science, Technology, Knowledge, Progress, and Inventions while we remained more concerned with criticizing and opposing girls for wearing jeans and makeup and not covering their heads with clothes. Students prefer protesting against schools not allowing girls to wear Abayah instead of uniform instead of protesting against the decision to delete the topic of Evolution from the Class 10th Science Textbook. The Scientific and Progressive temperaments of both cultures have been different from each other because of differences in preference for Critical Thinking. West achieved heights and we remained busy criticizing western culture because it allows things that are against our outdated and irrational values. This is the reason why Critical Thinking is important for a society's betterment. In the next post, we will discuss the procedure of Critical Thinking in detail.