Why Is Critical Thinking Important?

When answering the question, “What is critical thinking?” it’s important to also discuss why it’s so important.

While cultivating a healthy set of personal values is important, so too is the ability to keep an open mind.

Critical thinking skills encourage us to operate without prejudice or bias, to keep the facts straight, and to arrive at logical, fact-based solutions.

The most valuable aspect of critical thinking is its transferability. Critical thinking skills are fluid and versatile. They can easily be transported between professions, tasks, subject areas, and niches. And they can be applied and reapplied to all sorts of situations, dilemmas, and conundrums.

The skill encourages self-reflection as well. It helps facilitate the examination of our own beliefs in comparison to those held by others. When we examine new ideas with a logical, objective eye, we open ourselves to entirely new worlds of beliefs, concepts and perceptions.

Real World Examples: Critical Thinking In Action

To better grasp how to improve our critical thinking skills, we must first understand it fully.

Here are some common examples of critical thinking skills:

• Analysis
• Judgement
• Objectivity
• Evaluation
• Reasoning
• Deduction
• Problem Solving

This list is certainly quite helpful, but let’s go into further detail to exemplify critical thinking skills in action.

In what sort of situations would critical thinking be used?

Here are a few potential examples of critical thinking scenarios:

• A triage nurse who must evaluate which emergency room patient should be attended by a physician first;
• A construction engineer drawing up plans for a bridge to be built the following spring;
• A debate student attempting to formulate a rebuttal for an opposing team’s remarks;
• An electrician attempting to fix a faulty wiring connection in a client’s home;
• A lawyer cross-examining a witness.

In all of the above examples, proper skills must be employed to achieve the most profitable results.

Source: Mindvalley