An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Creativity

Think More, Think Better

Joe Y. F. Lau

• Éditeur: Wiley
• Année: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781118033432
• Édition: 1
• Sujet: Mathematik
• Sous-sujet: Logik in der Mathematik

A valuable guide on creativity and critical thinking to improve reasoning and decision-making skills

C ritical thinking skills are essential in virtually any field of study or practice where individuals need to communicate ideas, make decisions, and analyze and solve problems. An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Creativity: Think More, Think Better outlines the necessary tools for readers to become critical as well as creative thinkers. By gaining a practical and solid foundation in the basic principles that underlie critical thinking and creativity, readers will become equipped to think in a more systematic, logical, and imaginative manner.

Creativity is needed to generate new ideas to solve problems, and critical thinking evaluates and improves an idea. These concepts are uniquely introduced as a unified whole due to their dependence on each other. Each chapter introduces relevant theories in conjunction with real-life examples and findings from cognitive science and psychology to illustrate how the theories can be applied in numerous fields and careers. An emphasis on how theoretical principles of reasoning can be practical and useful in everyday life is featured, and special sections on presentation techniques, the analysis of meaning, decision-making, and reasoning about personal and moral values are also highlighted.

All chapters conclude with a set of exercises, and detailed solutions are provided at the end of the book. A companion website features online tutorials that further explore topics including meaning analysis, argument analysis, logic, statistics, and strategic thinking, along with additional exercises and multimedia resources for continued study.

An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Creativity is an excellent book for courses on critical thinking and logic at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The book also serves as a self-contained study guide for readers interested in the topics of critical thinking and creativity as a unified whole.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 THINKING SKILLS IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION

Whether we like it or not, globalization is changing the way we work and live. First of all, we are increasingly faced with complex problems that affect the whole world, whether it is global warming, pollution, financial crises, or new epidemics. We need good thinking and creative ideas to coordinate efforts to solve these problems. At the personal level, globalization brings about an ever-quickening pace of life. We have a huge amount of information available, but what we learn today might easily become obsolete tomorrow. Although fast changes also bring new opportunities, we now have to compete with talented people across the world. To be successful in this environment, we need good thinking skills that can help us make reliable decisions and acquire new knowledge quickly.

But what do we mean by good thinking skills? Basically, it comes down to two things—critical thinking and creativity. Critical thinking is thinking clearly and rationally. It involves thinking precisely and systematically, and following the rules of logic and scientific reasoning, among other things. As for creativity, it is a matter of coming up with new and useful ideas, generating alternative possibilities. This book is about these two sets of thinking skills, but at this point, you might ask, Which is more important, critical thinking or creativity? The short answer is that they are equally important. We need creativity to come up with ideas to solve problems, but we also need critical thinking to evaluate and improve these ideas. They complement each other, and we need both to survive and to prosper.

In this book we shall discuss critical thinking first, and come back to creativity near the end. As we shall see, there is a lot more we can say systematically about critical thinking. A critical thinker is someone who is able to do the following:

• Understand the logical connections between ideas.
• Formulate ideas succinctly and precisely.
• Identify, construct, and evaluate arguments.
• Evaluate the pros and cons of a decision.
• Evaluate the evidence for and against a hypothesis.
• Detect inconsistencies and common mistakes in reasoning.
• Analyze problems systematically.
• Identify the relevance and importance of ideas.
• Justify one’s beliefs and values.
• Reflect and evaluate one’s thinking skills.

As we can see from the list, critical thinking skills are essential for all sorts of careers in which we have to communicate ideas, make decisions, analyze, and solve problems. This is why critical thinking is called a domain-general thinking skill. But critical thinking is not just for the workplace. To live a meaningful life and plan for the future, we need to think about ourselves honestly and carefully. The Greek philosopher Socrates (469–399 B.C.E.) once said, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” One big difference between human beings and other animals is our capacity for self-reflection. We can examine the purpose and meaning of our life and change ourselves accordingly. Critical thinking contributes to this process of self-evaluation and transformation.

Good critical thinking is also the foundation of science and democracy. Science requires rationality in designing experiments and testing theories. A vibrant and progressive democracy requires citizens who can think objectively about social and political issues and are able to avoid biases and prejudices. So obviously the cultivation of critical thinking should be a central aim of education.

1.2 SOME MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT CRITICAL THINKING

However, critical thinking is sometimes thought to be too confrontational. Some people think critical thinking means criticizing others all the time, which is not constructive. But this is a misunderstanding. Critical thinking is not a purely destructive force. First, by rejecting bad ideas, we become better at finding the truth. Second, thinking critically does not mean we criticize people all the time. When other people are right, we don’t have to disagree. And when other people are wrong, critical thinking helps us recognize the mistakes being made, but it does not follow we have to publicly denounce them. Sometimes mistakes do not matter. Sometimes we have to be polite, and sometimes we can help people reason better not by criticizing them but by other indirect means—for example, by giving hints and suggestions. A critical thinker can be sympathetic and constructive rather than confrontational.

Another objection to critical thinking is that it is not practically useful because people in real life do not listen to reason. They act on the basis of self-interest, emotion, or personal relationships. The first problem with this objection is that it confuses rational thinking with talking about reasons. It might be true that many people are irrational, and to influence them we need to appeal to authority, emotions, or anything other than reason. But we can still use critical thinking to think strategically about the best means to achieve our objectives.

The objection is also wrong in assuming that critical thinking is opposed to emotions, relationships, and so on. Consider for example love and friendship. They are certainly valuable, but critical thinking can help us cultivate them. For example, thinking carefully about what is good or bad about a relationship can help us improve it and make it more fulfilling. Besides, it is not always wise to act solely on the basis of emotions. They can be biased by ego, fear, and greed. Thinking more about our decisions can counteract this problem.

1.3 IMPROVING OUR THINKING

So how do we enhance our critical thinking if it is so useful? Obviously, we are all able to think critically to some extent, or we will not survive very long! But there is always room for improvement. Even with a skill as natural as running, training with an expert can improve our breathing and posture and help us run even better. Thinking is something we all do and take for granted, but the fact is that even normally intelligent people can sometimes be stubborn and biased. Psychology research tells us that people make lot of mistakes in their reasoning—they overestimate their abilities, interpret the world to confirm their prejudices, and look for causes and patterns in the wrong places. By studying critical thinking, we are more likely to avoid such errors. We can also help other people by studying critical thinking. Sometimes we get the feeling that an argument is wrong but we do not know exactly why. Critical thinking gives us the concepts and vocabulary to explain what is wrong. This promotes understanding and more effective discussions.

Good critical thinking is a cognitive skill. In general, developing a skill requires three conditions—learning the theory, deliberate practice, and adopting the right attitudes. By theory we mean the rules and facts we have to know in order to possess the skill. For example, one cannot be a good basketball player without knowing the rules of the game—for example, kicking the basketball is not allowed. Likewise, thinking critically requires knowing a certain amount of logic. However, knowing the theory is not the same as being able to apply it. You might know in theory that you should balance the bike when you are cycling, but it does not mean you can actually do it. This is where practice comes in, because it translates your theoretical knowledge into actual ability. However, your attitudes make a big difference as to whether your practice is effective and sustainable. If you hate playing the piano, forcing you to practice is not productive in the long run.

1.3.1 Theory

Let us now look at the theoretical knowledge required for good critical thinking. It can be divided into five main areas, and in this book we shall discuss all of them:

1. Meaning analysis: Explain ideas clearly and systematically; use definitions and other tools to clarify meaning and make ideas more precise.

2. Logic: Analyze and evaluate arguments; identify logical consequences and inconsistencies.

3. Scientific methods: Use empirical data to test a theory; identify causes and effects; probability theory and statistics.

4. Decision and values: Rational decision making; critical reflection of value frameworks and moral judgments.

5. Fallacies and biases: Typical mistakes of reasoning and the psychological traits likely to cause such mistakes.

Naturally you will find some topics more interesting than others. But whether we are learning martial arts or the piano, there are basic techniques we have to master. They might be boring, but they form the foundation of more advanced techniques. The same is true of critical thinking. Some theories and principles seem rather dry and abstract, but I hope you will appreciate their power and relevance to everyday thinking once you understand how they can be applied.

1.3.2 Practice

Psychologists have discovered a 10-year ...