roman’s blog

 Critical thinking is something that you aren’t born with. I know I wasn’t. Its a lot like a process… a way of thinking about things that stands apart from passive thinking in all situations of life. I like to compare it to the great scientist, philosophers, and great thinkers of our past. The people who were at the fore-front of thinking, the innovators, the ones who we now may refer to as “enlightened.” Some of them called for new social polices while others ventured where no one else dared. These were the same people that sometimes got a lot of heat but weren’t afraid to propose new theories and new ways of looking at our surroundings and the universe. More precisely, critical thinking means to questions your beliefs and your own thinking, if not other peoples too. You have to make comparisons between different styles of thinking. You are required to question popular cultural assertions, norms, and taboos in the light of reason. You have to know exactly how you think and why, and the reasons behind whyand then evaluate those reasons and ask yourself if they might be illogical, or perhaps terribly cruel. It’s quite literally thinking your own thinking! Equally as important is asking yourself if your beliefs may have built-in you certain prejudices that you may not have been preciously aware of. You must have the ability to recognize those prejudices and their source. Critical thinking also involves logic and reason, without these there wouldn’t be much “critical” thinking in the phrase itself. Critical thinking is thinking about your own thinking, thinking logically, thinking reasonably, and possessing the ability to question everything.

ABC’s

Summary

The text attempts to define what critical thinking is and how it is used and not used in today’s culture.

Vocab

1. Enmeshed-To entangle, involve, or catch in or as if in a mesh

2. Psychoanalytic-a systematic structure of theories concerning the relation of conscious and unconscious psychological processes

3. Boisterous- rough and noisy; noisily jolly or rowdy; clamorous; unrestrained

Questions

1. How much do cultural myths affect our ability to think critically?

2. Are cultural myths given special privilage from criticism?

3. Why is it taboo to question cultural myths, more specifically religion?