Critical Thinking

What is critical thinking? I thought I knew the answer before but I don't think I did. The definition of critical thinking is, "Disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence." In my own words I think critical thinking is being able to ask questions and when answering them, you have to go in depth with your answer and use evidence to back up your response. Also, you have to have evidence to support your argument, just like we do in Anthropology. In the book Critical Thinking by Richard L. Epstein, it focuses a lot on arguments in critical thinking. The text book definition of critical thinking in this book is, "Evaluating whether we should be convinced that some claim is true or some argument is good, as well as formulating good arguments." Critical thinking could be all about arguments, but there are other ways you can look at it. I feel as though we have been using a lot of critical thinking in college so far, not only in Inquiry but in all of our classes. We have to go more in depth with our answers and really give evidence as to why we are arguing what we are. Just like we learned in Anthropology, professors want evidence for our conclusions. They want to know why we chose what we chose. It helps them and us better understand why we are arguing the topic. Using critical thinking can help you in any life situation. It makes you become a better thinker and you can apply it to schoolwork, jobs, etc. It wasn't until this semester that I learned how important critical thinking was. It will benefit you in whatever you do.

Bibliography:
Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://dictionary.com>.Epstein, Richard L. Critical Thinking. Boston: Wadsworth, 1999. Print.