|
Register | Sign In |
|
QuickSearch
EvC Forum active members: 64 (9163 total) |
| |
ChatGPT | |
Total: 916,419 Year: 3,676/9,624 Month: 547/974 Week: 160/276 Day: 34/23 Hour: 0/1 |
Thread ▼ Details |
|
Thread Info
|
|
|
Author | Topic: What Does Critical Thinking Mean To You? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1426 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
... all it tells us is why Faith is so often wrong. Are you sure that this is not your biases talking rather than just taking it as an "uncontroversial statement" ? Seems to me that you are reading more into it than is there. by our ability to understand Rebel American Zen Deist ... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ... to share. Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
PaulK Member Posts: 17825 Joined: Member Rating: 2.2 |
quote: Yes. I'll grant that I'm using background knowledge, but that's hardly an objection.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NoNukes Inactive Member |
Finally, critical thinking alone is not sufficient to lead to acceptance of only valid things. There is still the garbage in/garbage out problem. And also the problem with factors that are purely or almost purely subjective.Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846) I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. Galileo Galilei If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RAZD Member (Idle past 1426 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
There is still the garbage in/garbage out problem. ... Indeed GIGO is a common problem (hence it even has an acronym), even in scientific inquiry, however I don't see how this can "lead to acceptance of only valid things" without employing critical thinking to separate the good from the garbage.
... also the problem with factors that are purely or almost purely subjective. It seems to me, that once we have exhausted the realms of things that can be tested we are basically left with opinion, and no matter how well informed that opinion is, it is still subjective; an educated guess is a subjective opinion. I would think that this is where critical thinking would be most applicable, to be aware of and wary of personal opinions and biases. Or do you have some method to separate the wheat from the chaff without critical thinking? Some kind of litmus test? by our ability to understand Rebel American Zen Deist ... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ... to share. Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Taq Member Posts: 10038 Joined: Member Rating: 5.3 |
Of course I wasn't defining it, just stating what I knew to be contrary to the prevailing EvC opinion. There's no point in the likes of me trying to define critical thinking or anything else at this forum. Or saying anything at all for that matter. I think we would all be curious as to how you determine what is true and what is not, and the processes/methods that you use. You could describe them in general terms without touching on specific topics.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Taq Member Posts: 10038 Joined: Member Rating: 5.3
|
There is still the garbage in/garbage out problem. And also the problem with factors that are purely or almost purely subjective. There is GIGO, and there is the closely related "echo chamber". This is where you seek out opinions that match your own which can reinforce your own biases and prevent you from using critical thinking. We are all susceptible to this, so it helps to always be aware of it.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Phat Member Posts: 18298 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.1 |
roxrcool writes: You want to believe what you have always believed and this is your default position. A safe position. Moving beyond what you want to believe is not something you are actively seeking, but you are curious and keep picking at it a tiny bit at a time. Allow me to use an analogy of falling in love with a woman. One day you meet this woman. You really feel attracted to her and want to go deeper. Soon, you find that your love for her is not merely physical...you fear that you may have fallen for her. Your critical thinking skills jump into play, as they are your best defense against irrational decisions.
With God (or faith in an established belief) a similar scenario can develop. You believe--one day--that you have met God. There is no physical evidence for this, of course, and if you are a good critical thinker you will ignore confirmation bias coming from others...but you find that,irrational as it may be, you talk to what appears to be nothing. Empty space. Nobody in the room. You have fallen for this. You have a choice whether to break away or become more and more involved. Though curious, you get enough from your belief (what some would call a delusion) that you continue in it. For you it is not an it. It is God.----this is my description of what a believer may go through. As for me personally, that story is a bit longer and I may share it (My Belief Statement) sometime.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Taq Member Posts: 10038 Joined: Member Rating: 5.3 |
With God (or faith in an established belief) a similar scenario can develop. You believe--one day--that you have met God. That is where your analogy falls apart. With the girlfriend, you can demonstrate that she actually exists. . . or at least I hope so. If you were telling your friends that you had fallen in love with a woman that no one but you could see, then we would rightly question your critical thinking skills.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Phat Member Posts: 18298 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.1 |
What makes you think that I need evidence that God exists?
CSI writes: In his classic Invitation to Sociology, Peter Berger (1963, 23) states, It can be said that the first wisdom of sociology is this-things are not what they seem. I would alter the wording slightly-things are not always entirely what they seem-and propose it as the first wisdom of critical thinking. The recognition that the world is often not what it seems is perhaps the key feature of the critical thinker’s worldview. Despite lack of evidence objectively, I had enough subjective confirmation to believe.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ringo Member (Idle past 433 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
Taq writes:
When you're in love, critical thinking is pretty much out the window anyway. There are some situations where critical thinking just isn't very useful. If you were telling your friends that you had fallen in love with a woman that no one but you could see, then we would rightly question your critical thinking skills. (That probably applies equally to falling in love with God.)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Taq Member Posts: 10038 Joined: Member Rating: 5.3
|
What makes you think that I need evidence that God exists? Obviously, you don't need evidence in order to believe something. However, believing something without evidence does call your critical thinking skills into question.
Despite lack of evidence objectively, I had enough subjective confirmation to believe. I think the underlying question in this thread is whether or not subjective experiences are a valid way to confirm anything.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NoNukes Inactive Member |
Indeed GIGO is a common problem (hence it even has an acronym), even in scientific inquiry, however I don't see how this can "lead to acceptance of only valid things" without employing critical thinking to separate the good from the garbage. I suggest that it interfered with critical thinking. Despite your best efforts, you do not have the ability to reject all of the garbage and all of the diamonds.
It seems to me, that once we have exhausted the realms of things that can be tested we are basically left with opinion, and no matter how well informed that opinion is, it is still subjective; an educated guess is a subjective opinion. And a subjective opinion may be the best you can do and that result might still be wrong. So it interferes, sometimes fatally with critical thinking reaching only valid results.Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846) I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. Galileo Galilei If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faith  Suspended Member (Idle past 1465 days) Posts: 35298 From: Nevada, USA Joined: |
That would take me back to the two most intense years of my life during which I was reading voraciously about all the religions and occultic practices. That led me into "spiritual" experiences of a very intense sort, some beautiful, some scary. I'd been a self proclaimed atheist, suddenly found some Hindu gurus' descriptions of their experiences of "God" very convincing. Went on a quest to learn about God. Long story short it was Christianity and Christianity alone that explained all that and showed me the way out of it. Not sure I'm up to trying to analyze all that for you.
Edited by Faith, : No reason given.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Taq Member Posts: 10038 Joined: Member Rating: 5.3 |
Not sure I'm up to trying to analyze all that for you. That's fine. I really don't need to know your personal story. What I am more interested in is the basic way you view the world. How do you determine the difference between an accurate statement and an inaccurate statement? What methods and practices do you use to determine the difference between true and false? IOW, what does critical thinking mean to you?
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Faith  Suspended Member (Idle past 1465 days) Posts: 35298 From: Nevada, USA Joined:
|
I could get interested in such a question but not in an environment where I'm surrounded by people who've decided a priori that I'm stupid because I'm a creationist and believe in God.
|
|
|
Do Nothing Button
Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved
Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024