Theory - Critical Thinking skills - Reflections

In Stella Cottrell's book, Critical Thinking Skills, (2011), (MacMillan Publishers Limited), I have found an excellent source of information and tuition which can be followed together with examples and self evaluation forms within the book which can be filled in to help develop my critical thinking abilities.

Some of the areas that I have found particularly useful to think about, is that often we are so eager to express our own opinion about a particular matter that we do not listen to other people's points of view or positions on topics. As a result an argument rather than a debate (in their normal everyday senses of these words) and skews. It's vital that I learned to listen more to a point of view and try hard to understand someone else's position in order for me to weigh up and evaluate any evidence that they may have presented. By listening carefully to other people's presentations and positions, it puts you as a listener in a much better position if you have an open mind, which will allow you to start to "read between the lines" of their own argument. It also allows you to start to understand particular techniques that people may use in their attempt to persuade you that their point of view is the correct one; rhetorical persuasion and false logic can manipulate a listener to agree on something even though the listener may have a completely different initial view or indeed no view at all.

It is often difficult to listen to other people's points of view without getting wrapped up with your own emotions, which may be based on individual idiosyncrasies or life events that may have influenced you at the time in the biased way. It is quite common for opinions to be made almost automatically in the heat of an emotional event. Whether we have arrived at the situation through frustration, distress or sadness, or anxiety or even rage and anger, we need to check those emotions at some stage, even if it is days weeks months or years after a particular event in order for our logical response and rational thought to be given the chance to formulate an unbiased position.


Conclusions:
In critical thinking situations this self management of our emotional reactions is vital, so that we can form rational and well thought out responses to any points or arguments that are put forward to us. This is true during our everyday transactions with other people, as well as in our attempts to write essays and dissertations for academic review.

By listening properly to all the points of view that you can gain and then by reflecting on each of those positions in a logical and structured approach will allow you to judge whether an argument is valid and justified, or if it is fabricated and whimsical perhaps. Finally by using the Aristotle approach of hypothesis antithesis and synthesis, you are able to synthesise your own opinion and develop your own point of view with careful judgement of the facts that you have been able to obtain, in order for you to formulate your own individual statement or argument.

By going through the right approach and process of critical thinking it puts you into a position where you can present an argument that is clear to the listener is very well structured and logical and is truly persuasive based on well formulated facts that will leave the listener in no doubt that you understand your own position fully, and ultimately will change their own beliefs as a result of the new information that you have imparted to them.