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Can you count how many times you have encountered a person who, for one reason or another, has the belief, or thinks a certain way, that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.\u00a0 As you listen to them spout off what they think to be truth you realize that there is no logical reasoning to what they are saying or believing.<\/p>\n
\u00a0In our daily interactions with the strange beings we know as fellow humans, we encounter specimens that have a basis of defining their worldview or their religious\/spiritual views on faulty logic.\u00a0 Just today I heard of a woman who believed in reincarnation because she had a dream\/vision of her being taken back to her previous life. The dream was so intense and real to her that she now holds the belief that reincarnation is absolutely a fact.\u00a0 Or, take for instance that family member of yours who always seems to base their logic on some old wives tale.\u00a0 You know those beliefs or practices that stem from the days of yesteryears that have been handed done through the generations and passed off as fact or common knowledge.\u00a0 If you are one of the \u201cnon-believers\u201d you are made to feel ignorant and not in sync with the Universal truths, of, well, the Universe.\u00a0 Yet, have we really ever taken the opportunity to approach these so called Universal truths with some kind of critical thinking?<\/p>\n
\u00a0In the small guide by Richard Paul and Linda Elder Critical Thinking Concepts & Tools<\/em>, we gain just the tools we need to properly address the myriad of non-logical \u201ctruths\u201d around us.\u00a0\u00a0 The problem, as Paul and Elder put it, is that \u201cour thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced.\u201d\u00a0 Makes ya feel kind\u2019a small doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Well, truth does hurt at times.\u00a0 Since our entire existence as one of the specimens of the human race is based on our ability to think, cogito ergo sum – <\/em>I think, therefore I am, we need to think properly.\u00a0\u00a0 Our very quality of life depends on our quality of thought.\u00a0 Yet this quality of thought does not come without effort.\u00a0 It must be systematically cultivated.\u00a0 This \u201ccultivating\u201d process will keep us from pulling old wives tales into today\u2019s world without any critical analysis given to the statement.<\/p>\n There are three levels of thought:<\/p>\n Level 1 \u2013 Lower Order Thinking.\u00a0 This level is defined as unreflective, frequently relies on gut intuition, \u00a0and is largely self-serving and self deceived.\u00a0 Kinda like that relative of yours, Bubba, who bases his life on what he read in one of those check-out-counter-magazines.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s got to be true, it\u2019s in print, right \u2018cheer.\u00a0 And I can feel it in my bones.\u201d There you go, level 1 thinker.\u00a0 Not to sure about his humanness, but he is thinking, albeit not much.<\/p>\n Level 2 \u2013 Higher Order Thinking:\u00a0 This level is defined as selectively reflective, though lacks critical thinking vocabulary.\u00a0 Is inconsistently fair and may be skilled in sophistry (use of arguments based on mistaken belief).\u00a0 This is the character that will argue with you based on a point of fact that lacks intellectual integrity, but he will swear by it to his grave. \u00a0I liken this thinker to the pseudointellectual teenager that has caught wind of some fancy that he believes to be correct and is determined to convince and convert you.\u00a0 Sit done son, let the adults talk for a while.<\/p>\n Level 3 \u2013 Highest Order of Thinking:\u00a0 This level is defined as explicitly reflective.\u00a0 This thinker routinely uses critical thinking tools in analyzing and assessing thinking.\u00a0 He is consistently fair.\u00a0\u00a0 Now before we all go crazy and assume that each one of us reading this falls into this category we must look at some of the critical thinking tools.<\/p>\n Critical thinkers routinely apply intellectual standards to the elements of reasoning in order to develop intellectual traits.\u00a0 The standards are such things as clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance, and fairness.\u00a0 These standards must be applied to the elements of purpose, questions, points of view, information, inferences, concepts, implications, and assumptions. By applying the standards to these elements we will eventually develop intellectual traits such as intellectual humility, intellectual perseverance, intellectual autonomy, confidence in reason, intellectual integrity, intellectual empathy, intellectual courage, and fair-mindedness.<\/p>\n \u00a0Critical thinking is not something that one gains in a passive manner. \u00a0I do not think that I find myself in the highest order of thinking all of the time.\u00a0 Ok, I have been there once or twice.\u00a0 Critical thinking is self-directed, self-discipline, self monitored, and self corrective thinking that requires systematic cultivation.\u00a0 If we are to battle the illogical statements of our fellow human beings that swarm around us on a daily basis then we need to cultivate within ourselves a critical thinking that is excellent in thought.\u00a0\u00a0 I am reminded of the admonition that Paul gave to the Thessalonians \u201ctest all things; hold fast what is good.\u201d 1 Thessalonians 5:21.<\/p>\n \u00a0Let us be a people who, with excellent in thought, test all things with a critical thinking process that allows us to cut through all the crazy beliefs and hold fast to that which is true wisdom.\u00a0 For that true wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.\u00a0 (James 3:17).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Can you count how many times you have encountered a person who, for one reason or another, has the belief, or thinks a certain way, that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.\u00a0 As you listen to them spout off what they think to be truth you realize that there is no logical reasoning to what they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[293],"class_list":["post-746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp-lgp4-elder","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2936,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions\/2936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}