Critical Thinking

Most of the daily day to day activities is done in a unconscious mind. We just go with the flow. Hardly do we think about the future consequences of our actions. Our actions are a result of our thoughts. These thoughts define us and our personality. Our success, failure, and almost everything in life is the result of our thoughts. Hence it’s extremely important to have control over our thoughts. Controlled thought process brings the ability to think critically.

Critical thinking is the study of facts, evidence and detailed observations. It is logical and well thought out. Critical scrutiny is must to make this world a better place.

Here we let go of the idea that we are right. It’s ego less. Critical thinking negates argument and encourages discussion. It’s about finding the best possible solution. Let’s explore some aspects of Critical thinking.

Personal Evaluation

Honest analysis should also be done in personal relationships wherein we ask ourselves critical questions about our own actions. For this first we should be aware of our own mentality. But how much do we know about ourselves? We may know about our habits, liking or disliking, but are we self aware of our inner characteristics? Inner characteristics define us. Inner characteristics can be known when you become a critic of your own thoughts. You question the origin of that thought. You question the reasoning behind that thought process. If this exercise is done honestly we will find ourselves being illogical on so many occasions, be it personal or political. Critical thinking will lessen those illogical thought processes.

Humans will always go high and low on emotions. With critical thinking we can have control over those fluctuating emotions. We will be able to restrain ourselves from reacting in an emotional manner. Emotional decisions are often unfavorable. We should refrain ourselves from taking any decision when we are in total ecstasy or when being in an emotional turmoil. When we are faced with a conflict, critical thinking will help us in having a composure mindset, which will always fetch a favourable outcome.

Practice Thinking

When we say practice thinking, what does it mean? Thought comes naturally, it’s a twenty four hours process. Practicing thinking means thinking consciously. Conscious thinking is that process that separates our immediate thought from the issue and tries to find more sense on the matter. We don’t react, we evaluate. Immediate reactions are often filled with emotions, hence the outcome could be unfavorable. But the thing about conscious thinking is that it demands patience and time. Results are not immediate. With conscious thinking we can reach new conclusions. But to attain conscious thinking we need to separate our emotions, our personal liking and disliking. This results in seeing things as it is, true to its form.

We might have some immediate thoughts to any incident. With conscious thinking we can prevent our immediate thoughts dictate our actions. If we can try hard we can consciously think positive. Positive thinking will bring positive action. But the reality is that most of our thinking has become reactionary. Most of the conflicts are handled in a negative manner. Be it social or personal. With conscious thinking nobody can influence our thoughts, no matter how influential that person may be. So many issues can be solved if we give our own thought process a thought.

Fixed Mind

A girl asks famous philosopher Jordan Peterson whether climate change issue can unite people. The first word from Peterson was just a “No”. Just hearing the “No” word the audience started to cheer for Jordan Peterson. Even before hearing Peterson’s actual argument the audience started to clap and cheer. Jordan Peterson has a huge fan following because of his philosophical intelligence. People have already made up their mind that whatever Jordan Peterson says it’s pure gold. A simple “No” also gets a loud cheer. Another reason is that people’s lack of capability of giving reasoning a thought. If people applauded after hearing Peterson’s answer, that would have made sense.

We will find many similar debates where the audience has already fixed their mentality on whom to support even before hearing the actual argument. With this prefixed mentality we won’t be able to capture the truth if it comes our way. We must keep our mind open and unbiased.

Social Precedent

Social media is the place where there is a deep lack of critical thinking. Most of the internet users are not mature enough to understand the difference between an opinion and reality. Hence whatever is presented is being perceived as true information. From that perceived notion a certain kind of narration builds up. Ultimately this results in stereotyping a certain communities, groups, organization and also an individual.

Another thing is that people just randomly post anything without giving it much thought. It’s just a reactive attitude. There is minimal thought process before we post anything. Critical thinking would make people more aware of the ground reality rather than believing in fabricated social media content. Before commenting on any issue at Social media platforms we should always ask ourselves these few questions:-

• Have we done atleast a basic research on that particular subject.
• Have we given ourselves enough time on the research.
• Are we well informed on the subject to make an opinion.
• Is there proper reasoning behind our opinion.

If netizens follow these few critical thinking processes, then social media wouldn’t be so toxic place. These processes could also help us in many aspects of our life.

Social Reality

But unfortunately social media is far from ground reality. People’s tweets, opinion and posts lack basic reasoning. To understand this let’s look at a tweet by Swara Bhaskar who is a controversial social media personality.

Here she talks about the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan where she tries to draw similarities between Taliban and Hindutva. This particular comparison was not well thought off, it’s like chalk and cheese. Yes, there have been few instances where minority communities have been targeted. But comparing with the Taliban is just silly a thought process. It just a casual attitude and irresponsible thinking. Her lack of critical analysis can be seen in this particular tweet.

This is not just a one off case. Social media is filled with such similar content where a particular community or a group is being targeted just for their identity.

Today’s youth is highly influenced by social media personalities. Some of their thoughts are built around these personalities. Followers should not believe them blindly and do their own small fact check. Hence it’s imperative that we always put our thinking cap on.

Time Factor

The result of any event or decision takes time. But people always tend to make an immediate opinion. People don’t have the patience to wait for the outcome of that decision. For instance we are very quick in judging our Govt. Any decision by the Govt is quickly lauded or quickly opposed. Some decisions which might seem fully right at the initial stages but when time passes the same decision might fetch negative results as well as some positive results also. For instance

• The 2016 demonetization drive was supported by people initially, but after half a decade later the purpose of ending black money never succeeded. But the positive thing about demonitization is that it paved way for digitization.
• Similarly Arvind Kejriwal’s free electricity scheme was initially lauded but now the same Government is facing critisism for treating electricity as a free commodity. Delhi Govt is now giving free electricity only to those who opt for subsidy.

In both the instances people’s perception about the Govts decision seems to be changing slowly over the course of time. Similarly, our opinion about any aspects of life might change if we give ourselves enough time and gain proper understanding on the matter.

Totality

When we understand the entirety of any issue we will find that nothing is perfect or imperfect. Both merits and demerits might change over the time. But we don’t have the patience to wait for the outcome on the Govts decision. We are just eager to post on social media and trend hashtags.

To understand any issue we must acquire proper information on that subject. Understanding the entirety of the issue is the proper way to make a judgement. But acquiring complete information takes time. The major issue is people lack patience. Their analysis is based on half baked information.

In political scenario most people have a certain kind of fondness for a particular party or a group. Supporters support them blindly and opponents oppose them blindly. That’s a biased attitude and lack of proper analysis. Critical thinking will prevent us from passing judgement based on our liking or disliking. When we apply proper reasoning and logic, in many instances we will find ourselves supporting the party which we don’t like. Similarly we will find ourselves opposing that parties decision which we like. The only way to improve our political system is when people will start to think critically in their political opinion.

Analysis of Available Data

Any kind of information or data helps us to have a critical analysis. General nature of humans is that we say things without giving it much thought. Those words are only perceptions rather than facts. Perceptions could be inaccurate because it’s not supported by proper information. For any conclusion it’s important to find proper information on that subject. Information or data doesn’t support any perceptions, it only supports hard core facts.

Most of the data is available in today’s digital world. But we tend to make our thinking based on popular perception. Popular perception can be manufactured by good PR campaigns, paid media or social media trends. For example, our political fondness or disliking is dependent on our mind predefined thoughts instead of true data facts. Even if genuine facts are presented, our predefined thoughts prevent us from liking that party. We don’t have the patience to find if any data is available to support or disapprove our claim. Even if data is available, we don’t have the time and patience to analyse it. We are only interested in giving quick biased judgement and trend it on social media.

India is still a developing country, most of its population are illiterate. So it would be impractical to expect that everybody will understand the importance of data. But the sad part is most of the literate population’s decision is based on emotions, popular perception and social media noise rather than genuine information.

Source of Information

The best way to gain information is when we ourselves do ground level research. But this is practically not possible, hence we are always dependent on various news agencies for information.

When we talk about any news, do we check the authenticity of that information or do we blindly believe it? In today’s world of print media and social media lots of information is circling around. Unfortunately most of the information is being converted into a theory which supports a particular agenda. It’s not that all the information is false but it’s half information. It’s fabricated to support a particular narration. Humans tend to follow only those information which supports their ideology and interest. Critical thinking would make us pause in making any irresponsible step based on media information. Critical thinker will try to see beyond what media is trying to hide.

We should always question or cross check any information that is coming out. It’s crucial to give yourself time to understand the entirety of that topic. If we don’t know anything about any topic, then we should be honest enough to admit it. Be it any issue, but the practicality is people casually debate, even without acquiring a simple basic information.

Critical Thinking Importance

Curiosity is a major component of critical thinking. We should not be satisfied with the answer presented. We should be eager enough to know more. Because of humans ability to think critically we have made progress in our civilization. All the inventions and discoveries are a result of critical thinking. Voices against society’s unacceptable practices are also a result of critical thinking.

Critical thinking brings Healthy questioning attitude. In simple terms critical thinking means thinking right. When we apply critical thinking generally we come to an ideal solution.

Critical thinking is so important that humans can achieve solutions to all the problems in today’s world. Be it social or personal. Countries wouldn’t go to wars, Nobody wouldn’t starve to death, no broken relationship, no territorial conflict, no racism, no caste and religion discrimination, in short a happy and peaceful world.