Before you start to look at the true meaning of critical thinking, it is helpful to first have a look at how the dictionary defines the term.
“The objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment”
As is apparent from the definition, the meaning of the word is pretty clear cut. It stands for the in depth analysis of a problem in order to arrive at the best possible solution in order to solve it.
So it is safe to assume that critical thinking is meant to be used as a tool to solve everyday problems, regardless of their size and nature.
Here is another definition, to help you understand the concept better. This definition is courtesy of The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking:
“intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action”
This definition goes a step further and explains, in detail, the various steps that are involved in critical thinking. It speaks of the various elements of consideration, in terms of the number of things that you must consider, before arriving at a decision.
So, to put it simply, critical thinking refers to a person observing a situation, identifying the problem, analyzing it through the lens of experience and arriving at a conclusive decision to solve it rationally.
It will allow the individual to arrive at clear cut solutions to tackle these
everyday problems head on and to solve them. A critical thinker will have a data bank of the various problems and will only have to think a little to retrieve the data, which will help tackle problem posed by the current situation.
Critical Thinking and Intelligence
Critical thinking and intelligence are believed to go hand in hand. Unfortunately, that is one of the biggest misconceptions in regard to the subject. Intelligence refers to a person being extremely capable of solving difficult problems, just with maximum use of his/her brain.
Critical thinking, on the other hand, refers to people critically analyzing a situation and arriving at feasible solution, which may not necessarily be prompted by intelligence. So the two thought processes can differ in many ways and are not interdependent.
An intelligent person might have lots of memories, data and information stored up, which he/she can immediately access in order to arrive at a solution.
A critical thinker might not have such data readily available and will have to thoroughly analyze the situation and spend a little time in thinking of a solution. Both aspects can be critical in helping a person attain an applicable solution to the problem in question and it is just the process of getting there might differ.
For example, when presented with similar problems, an intelligent person might think for just a few minutes and devise a plan to tackle the problem. A critical thinker, on the other hand, might have faced a similar problem in the past and will immediately put into action a preset solution to the problem.
Aspects of Critical Thinking
There are many elements that are part of the critical thinking process. Each of them is explained below:
Arguments
The most important aspect of critical thinking is coming up with feasible arguments. Arguments are nothing but premises and conclusions. Although this is seen as being the last step, it is also one of the most important. A critical thinker is required to set up arguments and draw logical conclusions from it.
Analyzing arguments
Once the various arguments are finalized, a person must identify the vague and incoherent arguments. In order to do so, the thinker must view the argument through the lens of suspicion and identify the solutions that are most vague.
Safeguarding the facts
The next step for a critical thinker involves identifying all the facts and making
sure that nothing has been left out. It will be important to safeguard the facts so as to avoid losing any crucial data and also not allowing it to get mixed with illogical arguments. Once all the facts have been established, the thinker can safely move to the next step.
Evaluation
Critical thinkers are required to analyze if the existing premises point toward conclusions. That is to say, if the premises hold any truth to them, then so should the conclusions. They need to be interdependent and, more or less, extremely similar in nature. If they are too vague, then that might cause problems during the implementation of the solution.
Implementation
Once all the solutions have been arrived at through critical evaluation, viz. evidence collection, argument formation, fact differentiation etc. they need to be applied practically. This is one of the main steps, as no problem can be solved without practical application of feasible solutions.
Arguments against critical thinking
Many people argue that critical thinking will diminish a person’s creativity as he/she will always apply a preset or predefined solution. That will, in turn, not allow him/her to think laterally, thereby not promoting creativity.
That is not true. No critical thinker will apply the preset solutions as is. They will have to modify it to suit the current situation. There can never be a proper and preset solution that will be readily available and only an outline or a skeleton will be present. It will be the thinker's duty to fill in the muscles and the organs.
There is also the argument that states how critical thinking might throw a person off course and cause him/her to complicate a situation rather than to solve it.
That statement, however, is also completely false. The very concept of critical thinking is to help a person deduce the most feasible solution and not waste time with unwanted ones. The process of critical thinking will allow a person to go through all types of solutions and only implement the best one.
These arguments cannot possibly diminish the value of critical thinking and only help in promoting its true value.
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