|
1. Critical Thinking Critical thinking is a path to intellectual adventure. Though there are dozens of possible approaches, the process can be boiled down to concrete steps. This article offers some starting points for your journey. Be willing to say I dont know Some of the most profound thinkers of our time have practiced the art of critical thinking by using two magic phrases: I dont know and Im not sure yet. Those are words many people do not like to hear. We live in times when people are criticized for changing their minds. Our society rewards quick answers and quotable sound bites. Were under considerable pressure to utter the truth in 15 seconds or less. In such a society, it is a courageous and unusual act to pause, to look, to examine, to be thoughtful, to consider many points of viewand to not know. When a society embraces half-truths in a blind rush for certainty, commitment to uncertainty can move us forward. This willingness to give up certainty can be hardest to accept when it comes to notions that seem obvious. Many things are certain, some people say. For example, its obvious that two plus two equals four. Think again. When we use the base-three number system, two plus two equals 11. A child learning to write numerals might insist that two and two makes 22. And a biologist might joke that two plus two adds up to a whole lot more than four when were talking about the reproductive life of rabbits. | 
