Friday, November 19, 2010
Critical thinking, critical?
Critical thinking is a skill that many are forced to learn, not many are successful, and hence they develop some level of thinking that falls between not thinking and critical thinking. They don't push the boundaries or challenge what is. Let's called it mechanical thinking. I don't think its very hard to argue that mechanical thinking is largely negative, so I won't go there.
But is critical thinking as critical as we are made to believe it is? Critical thinking is defined as analyzing and evaluating the information we are given to try and reach a conclusion (that's according to dictionary.com). It is therefore in the nature of critical thinking to have an answer, and thus it is of little surprise that the processes involved are tailored to achieve such an outcome. This begs the question that while we are able to accept that there are some instances when a definitive conclusion can never be reached, is it still profitable for us to critically think? This may take awhile to answer, so I'll leave it there for now.
Placing this into the context of studying the bible, is there a difference between studying the bible and critically analyzing the bible? Perhaps the two are interlinked, or even one and the same, in which case the question should be is there a difference between critically analyzing and nit-picking. Where do we draw the line?
Dan
12:49 pm
