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Elements of Critical Thinking: A Fundamental Guide to Effective Decision Making, Deep Analysis, Intelligent Reasoning, and Independent Thinking
The quality of our lives is determined by the quality of our thinking.
And the quality of our thinking is often determined by the quality questions we ask from ourselves. Critical thinking is the art of asking relevant, necessary, and meaningful questions to discover the objective truth behind words, events, and opinions in general.
Today we have more access to information than ever before. Information influences our world view and decisions often without us noticing it. Following wrong idols can lead us to bad decisions which lead to unhappiness and a dissatisfying life. When what’s “right, beautiful, successful, and cool” gets dictated around us we often forget to think for ourselves and make our own choices. Thus we make bad decisions based on the opinion of others – not even our own.
Who should make your life choices for you? You’ve put your own thoughts, wishes, and opinions off for too long. It’s time for that to change.
Elements of Critical Thinking provides you with unique insights into the nature of thinking and reasoning - why are we often so wrong, why we are so inclined to avoid the responsibility of thinking for ourselves, and how can we develop solid, objective patterns of thought.
This book is a guide for the notoriously “trusting,” “overwhelmed,” and “gullible”. It is a deep psychological dive into what makes us stop thinking for ourselves, and how to systematically combat those compulsions. It’s a book that stands apart from others because of the plethora of real-life examples, studies, and solutions. If you wish to add to your critical thinking toolkit, you’ll find the step-by-step answer in here.
- The function of critical thinking and its main obstacles.
- The varied elements of critical reasoning.
- Important abilities and traits of critical thinkers.
- The vocabulary of critical analysis,
- The models essential to critical thinking.
The most secure way of making good decisions is to have well-practiced and predictable strategies that you can use when you are faced with a problem that requires deeper analysis.
This book will provide you with helpful exercises and tips to help you can find better solutions to your problems.
- Learn the essential critical thinking skills when reading, writing, and speaking;
- Be on your guard for hidden cognitive traps when shopping and interacting with advertisers.
– Discover the tools and strategies can help you become a more disciplined thinker, developing your analytical, reasoning, and reflective thinking skills.
- Learn to read between the lines and assess the validity of statements.
- Identify and separate logical and illogical reasoning.
- Learn how to construct a fair, well-reasoned argument with the help of formal and informal logic.
As a physicist and computer scientist, I was always looking for logical, well-founded answers to questions. Yet, I needed to stay open to question my knowledge fairly often, revise my beliefs held, and unlearn some.
And the quality of our thinking is often determined by the quality questions we ask from ourselves. Critical thinking is the art of asking relevant, necessary, and meaningful questions to discover the objective truth behind words, events, and opinions in general.
Today we have more access to information than ever before. Information influences our world view and decisions often without us noticing it. Following wrong idols can lead us to bad decisions which lead to unhappiness and a dissatisfying life. When what’s “right, beautiful, successful, and cool” gets dictated around us we often forget to think for ourselves and make our own choices. Thus we make bad decisions based on the opinion of others – not even our own.
Who should make your life choices for you? You’ve put your own thoughts, wishes, and opinions off for too long. It’s time for that to change.
Elements of Critical Thinking provides you with unique insights into the nature of thinking and reasoning - why are we often so wrong, why we are so inclined to avoid the responsibility of thinking for ourselves, and how can we develop solid, objective patterns of thought.
This book is a guide for the notoriously “trusting,” “overwhelmed,” and “gullible”. It is a deep psychological dive into what makes us stop thinking for ourselves, and how to systematically combat those compulsions. It’s a book that stands apart from others because of the plethora of real-life examples, studies, and solutions. If you wish to add to your critical thinking toolkit, you’ll find the step-by-step answer in here.
- The function of critical thinking and its main obstacles.
- The varied elements of critical reasoning.
- Important abilities and traits of critical thinkers.
- The vocabulary of critical analysis,
- The models essential to critical thinking.
The most secure way of making good decisions is to have well-practiced and predictable strategies that you can use when you are faced with a problem that requires deeper analysis.
This book will provide you with helpful exercises and tips to help you can find better solutions to your problems.
- Learn the essential critical thinking skills when reading, writing, and speaking;
- Be on your guard for hidden cognitive traps when shopping and interacting with advertisers.
– Discover the tools and strategies can help you become a more disciplined thinker, developing your analytical, reasoning, and reflective thinking skills.
- Learn to read between the lines and assess the validity of statements.
- Identify and separate logical and illogical reasoning.
- Learn how to construct a fair, well-reasoned argument with the help of formal and informal logic.
As a physicist and computer scientist, I was always looking for logical, well-founded answers to questions. Yet, I needed to stay open to question my knowledge fairly often, revise my beliefs held, and unlearn some.
278 pages, ebook
Published October 16, 2018
439 people are currently reading
490 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 4, 2021
This is a refresher for me. Brushing up on systems thinking during sabbatical.
January 7, 2021
This book is in need of a good, thorough editor.
Example One: When discussing errors in thinking due to stereotypes, the author writes: "They speed up our response time and allow us to survive when time isn't on our side, letting us perform a more careful and thoughtful analysis." Presumably, the author meant "...when time isn't on our side, preventing us from performing a more careful and thoughtful analysis." This is a small point, but these types of errors are strewn throughout the first two chapters, to such extent that the book becomes unnecessarily confusing and muddled.
Example Two: The author provides a syllogism for the reader to consider: "Colorful snakes are venomous. A King Snake is colorful. A King Snake is venomous." He follows up by stating that "You may have inferred that I meant all colorful snakes are not venomous, bit it was not stated so a common sense approach would be to read the first assumption as "Many colorful snakes are venomous." First of all, I presume he meant to say "...all colorful snakes are venomous." not that they aren't, another example of the author's sloppiness. Secondly, the author apparently isn't familiar with the concept of a simple declarative sentence, such a "Horses are animals." or "Cars are vehicles." Would it be a common sense approach to assume I mean "Many horses are animals" or that "Many cars are vehicles"? These constant mistakes from an author attempting to teach critical thinking serve to discredit his entire book. I will not be finishing this book, and I regret wasting my time and money on it. I do not recommend.
Example One: When discussing errors in thinking due to stereotypes, the author writes: "They speed up our response time and allow us to survive when time isn't on our side, letting us perform a more careful and thoughtful analysis." Presumably, the author meant "...when time isn't on our side, preventing us from performing a more careful and thoughtful analysis." This is a small point, but these types of errors are strewn throughout the first two chapters, to such extent that the book becomes unnecessarily confusing and muddled.
Example Two: The author provides a syllogism for the reader to consider: "Colorful snakes are venomous. A King Snake is colorful. A King Snake is venomous." He follows up by stating that "You may have inferred that I meant all colorful snakes are not venomous, bit it was not stated so a common sense approach would be to read the first assumption as "Many colorful snakes are venomous." First of all, I presume he meant to say "...all colorful snakes are venomous." not that they aren't, another example of the author's sloppiness. Secondly, the author apparently isn't familiar with the concept of a simple declarative sentence, such a "Horses are animals." or "Cars are vehicles." Would it be a common sense approach to assume I mean "Many horses are animals" or that "Many cars are vehicles"? These constant mistakes from an author attempting to teach critical thinking serve to discredit his entire book. I will not be finishing this book, and I regret wasting my time and money on it. I do not recommend.
January 20, 2020
In today's society where we are handed instant information and are bombarded with specifically targeted advertising and news sources, Rutherford's book highlights the need for breaking out of lazy thinking habits and challenging ourselves toward personal growth. An important read that sadly too few will ever read. Great synopsis of the topic.
March 26, 2021
Nice intro to Critical Thinking
Had a few typos and odd grammatical misses, but used good examples and sound research. The topic matter and style was presented in a manner that made reading engaging and easy.
Had a few typos and odd grammatical misses, but used good examples and sound research. The topic matter and style was presented in a manner that made reading engaging and easy.
January 2, 2020
Enhance your thinking, change your life
When bombarded by data and information, what do we do? Take mental shortcuts, use stereotypes and rules of thumb. This book reminds us to question, query, and debate for all that glitters is not gold.
When bombarded by data and information, what do we do? Take mental shortcuts, use stereotypes and rules of thumb. This book reminds us to question, query, and debate for all that glitters is not gold.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews