Critical thinking is the ability to think beyond your thoughts. It means breaking down your ideas (being analytical) and evaluating them and also having a sense of wonder. It also means being a reviewer of your own thinking.
The illustration above is a hand drawing a hand. It shows one hand guiding the other and vice versa. This represents critical thinking, which is one thought leading to another but still surrounding itself on a particular idea. It is thinking about thinking and having to identify departures from the truth with a view to correcting any of such departures. That is why it is concerned typically with arguments. A perfect example and possible motivation to help in improving critical thinking is Galileo’s story.
Galileo did not agree with Aristotle’s theory of having a heavy object reach the ground before a lighter one if they were dropped at the same time. Everybody else agreed with the theory because Aristotle was a renowned scholar. Galileo was exceptional because he was a critical thinker, so he proved this theory wrong by dropping two objects, a heavy and a light one. They both hit the ground at the same time. He also proved that the sun is static and the earth rotates around it.
This indicates that if you think critically, you can challenge existing notions or discover/invent yours.
As a person, critical thinking has a lot to do with you because you have a duty to the truth. Socrates said, “the unexamined life is not worth living”. The statement means that you have to reflect on your life and thoughts to be able to understand your true nature because what is life without knowing your purpose? To be able to achieve this reflection, you have to think critically.
Having the capacity to think critically means being able to refine your thinking, ask questions, be realistic, be accurate and be able to handle criticism. It is generally just the ability to think skillfully.
