The importance of critical thinking

By JTI-Macdonald Corp. Initiative

Learning how to think critically is hard, but the rewards for doing so are worth the effort.
Being a critical thinker can be the difference between success and failure. However, it’s not
about finding flaws in someone else’s argument.

Why is it important? Simply, critical thinkers are able to make better strategic and more effective
decisions based on the evidence in front of them, not what they’re told by others or assumption
they made. Would the Titanic have sunk if it had not been assumed it was an unsinkable?
You’ll be able to see what’s relevant, what’s accurate and what you don’t need to concern yourself
with. In short, being a critical thinker can set you apart from your peers and is an invaluable skill
in everyday life.

What does it take to be a critical thinker?

According to Dr. Roy Van den Brink-Budgen, co-founder and Director of Studies of the Centre
for Critical Thinking in Singapore, with over 30 years’ experience in the field, there are six core
skills required for thinking critically1:
 Problem-solving: developing a strategy and creating workable solutions
 Analysis: breaking arguments down into bite-sized chunks
 Creative thinking: finding new and often unexpected solutions to all sorts of problems
 Interpretation: decoding the meaning and significance of evidence or experiences
 Evaluation: weighing the strengths and weaknesses of an argument (including those of
others) and dealing fairly with disagreements
 Reasoning: the production of compelling and persuasive arguments

Why is critical thinking important?

It’s never a good thing to simply accept what you’re told as fact. Within all arguments there should
be facts and evidence, which can then be used to form your own opinion. Evidence is important to
critical thinking.
Being a critical thinker sets you apart from most other people. You don’t take everything you’re
told at face value, you seek out both sides of every argument – and will certainly broaden out your
research to include other points of view.
This ability helps you slow down, so you can have time to fully engage with a question, or
hypothesis. It helps you innovate in new ways, to predict what might happen in the future, to come
to better decisions.
Critical thinking has brought us the new ideas of Newton and Einstein, to the evaluations of Darwin
and the inspiration of Martin Luther King, Jr. None of these people accepted what they were told,
or what others said was the truth. Each of them fundamentally shifted our worldview.
As a skill, critical thinking can be learned. And if you’re already a critical thinker, then you can
always get better.

Source: https://www.bothsidesoftheargument.ca/the-importance-of-critical-thinking/