Critical Thinking
Norma Swenson
University of Phoenix
Critical Thinking
Introduction
Critical thinking uses a persistent effort to look at the belief or form of knowledge of the evidence that supports a problem or the conclusion to which it tends. It requires the ability to see the problem, to find a way to come up with solutions to the problem, to know how to collect and keep track of the information, to recognize missing pieces to the problem, to understand and speak with clear, accurate, and discriminate language, to work through the data, to look at evidence and evaluate arguments, to recognize if there is any logical relationships between the proposals, to come to a warranted conclusion and generalization, to test the conclusions and generalizations anyone may come to, to reconfigure ones beliefs, and to be able to give accurate judgments about the problems one may come across. This paper will show a description of critical thinking. This paper will also show an example from my personal experience in applying critical thinking in a work related decision. Then, finally, this paper will show an example of the importance and benefits of critical thinking in the decision-making processes.
Describe Critical Thinking
According to Schafersman (1991), critical thinking means correct thinking in the pursuit of relevant and reliable knowledge about the world. It can also mean the art of thinking about thinking to make one self think harder. There are three phases to critical thinking. The phases are as follows: (a) analyze thinking, (b) evaluate thinking, and (c) improve thinking. When a person analyzes thinking, it is said he/she can focus on any part of thinking during any situation. When a person evaluates thinking, it is said he/she can figure out the strengths and weaknesses of critical thinking. It has to be accurate, clear, fair, and logical. When a person improves thinking, he/she can reduce the weaknesses while building the strengths....