Prepared by: Robert Pal– MBA

Critical Thinking and Elements of Philosophy of Economics - Exam

professor: Tobias GOESSLING

Critical thinking, how should be taught and methods

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The ability to think critically allows us to make the best possible decision in each situation by organizing
information, whether it is a new diet or a policy such as a referendum. 

We have always to begin the process of critical thinking by asking a question and a correct
question. Whatever the scope of the decision, it is easier for us to decide which direction to take, provided
we have it. Once we have found the right question, it is already easier to choose what is really important
to us. As in the case of an e-mail that suspiciously promises money of several million euros, hearing the
promises of politicians, we can ask ourselves: “Can I assume that you are telling the truth? Knowing what
has happened so far, is it conceivable that the promised things will come true? "In the end we have to
consider only the possible consequences. Perhaps the most difficult step in accepting critical thinking is
just that our own opinion cannot be correct.

Critical thinking is a particularly important skill today, when we are bombarded with a lot of different
channels through various false news, distortions of reality for political and other purposes. But what are
the criteria for correct, critical thinking?

It is no coincidence that many believe that critical thinking is one of the most important skills of our day,
which we must desperately master in the midst of an incredible amount and speed in the 21st century.
This ability allows us to examine our own and others' arguments from multiple perspectives, to question
them, and to place the information we receive objectively, rather than immediately overlapping them or
offering our subjective views on the subject and avoiding generalization. An expert in psychology Today
gathered what skills we need to develop the right critical thinking in ourselves.

Underlies of critical thinking

- Curiosity where, first of all, it is important to always be interested in the connections and deeper
reasons behind things, an attitude that helps us not to fall to the surface, even if it seems convincing. We
always want to know more and more and we will not get there with a simple explanation.

- The open thinking, through which instead of tying ourselves to the stake, we would oppose at all
costs our own opinion on a certain subject, we would listen to the arguments of others, we will know
different positions from our own. If we are open to looking at a certain point of view from new
perspectives, we can learn much more about it than if we relied solely on our past experiences and
prejudices.

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- Self-efficacy, what means believing in ourselves and our own abilities, so we believe that we can
argue and argue appropriately in a given speech and trust the correctness of our judgments so that we can
properly consider and process that information.

- Attention, through which proper critical thinking requires that our thoughts not be deviated, but
that we are able to focus on a particular object and purpose, at the same time to be always aware of all its
aspects and to have a good perspective on the work in cause.

- The goal, we should always have enough motivation to achieve a certain goal, ie we should not
start to expand our knowledge under the influence of external constraint, but we should feel an inner
desire to equip ourselves with as much knowledge as possible.

- Perseverance is important to never give up halfway, but to always constantly finish what we
started and not be discouraged even when we face a complicated task in which we do not get there easily.
We have a much easier time creating a precise system in which we then classify and store the new
information received. This helps us to focus on the task and always be aware of the facts available,
instead of looking for them in confusion.

- Looking for the truth, as we are never satisfied with the truths we are preparing, but we always
strive to examine them from multiple perspectives, contradictory opinions. Thus, it becomes clear how
much the content of undistorted truth is in a statement that is expected to be accepted as real.

- Creativity is the one of the cornerstones of critical thinking is being able to always see things
from new and new perspectives, discovering their previously unknown sides, for which it is important to
be creative enough to constantly invent new ideas, not just generally accepted and known clichés about a
given thing. mind. The secret of creativity is openness to new experiences

- Skepticism, what let us always be suspicious, let us not take anything for granted until we can
demonstrate objective reality from several points of view.

- Self-reflection, to be aware of your own knowledge and limitations, which prejudices and past
experiences can distort our opinion on a particular topic. If we know what our weaknesses are or our
strengths, we also know what to look for in order to solve problems and find a solution. Our brain distorts
our daily thinking in almost 200 ways. In almost 200 ways, our brains are distributed throughout our day.

- Ingenuity, what is the ability to know how to use the external and internal resources available for
a particular purpose, to achieve it as successfully as possible. If we are resourceful enough, we also know
how to correct any mistakes on we do them and examine what was the cause of the mistake and we can
always find new and new solutions to a certain problem.

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Critical literacy development

The development of critical literacy requires a complex approach such as:

- developing the specific level of personality of media literacy: for example, developing the need for
information from multiple sources;

- developing scientific skills: learning the basic concepts of the news genre, knowing the operation of
news factories;

- critical reception: developing skills related to filtering information and recognizing the communicator's
motivation;

- understanding how digital media works: for example, understanding the mechanism of personalized
information flow and the resulting phenomenon of the information filter bubble, or just learning about the
business model of similar hunting sites,

- understanding the historical context and causes psychological aspects of the phenomenon of false news

Teaching critical thinking

We hear a lot about the biggest challenge in nowadays education is to teach students complex skills, this
is because technology is evolving, the labor market is changing, and workers need to be able to adapt to
these changed working conditions. A 21st century student may need: communication, critical thinking,
collaboration, creativity.

First, what exactly is critical or critical thinking?

In analogy, critical thinking is the archivist who always knows in which account what to look for and can
offer to the right employee. We can best use the various information available to us if we do not associate
a value judgment with it, we can realistically determine their relevance and we can use it in the widest
range of situations of transformation.

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I would highlight couple of thoughts why critical thinking development is important:

1.Thinking like a whole also facilitates the process of developing sub-problems.

2. Ability to judge relevance, it is an essential skill for students to deal with ideas, arguments and
evidence in their place. Part of this is the ability to exercise judgment, making sure from whom the idea
comes, from what source, and then evaluating the power of the sentence.

3. The art of reasoning is another one as in our debates about science, business and even in everyday life,
it is essential to be able to align strong arguments behind our position, our interest. This plays a key role
in critical thinking, because if we are able to see through the system of arguments, we will make a rational
decision easier.

4. Identifying errors and contradictions, because we have to be able to observe not only others, but our
own mistakes. An essential element in this regard is the objective interpretation. If students can take stock
of the defining facts related to each other, based on their previous knowledge, they can easily find out if
someone contradicts their previous knowledge. Reflecting on such mistakes plays an important role in
recognizing and paying attention to our own logical mistakes in the future, because self-reflection is an
indispensable step in personality development.

5. Detailed and consistent problem identification, where attention should be paid to develop the process
that is needed to solve specific problems and problem areas. To find a solution and an answer, we must
consider all the circumstances, facts, effects, impressions, background and also, we can justify and
explain its formation.

6. Reflection, as we need to be able to examine our assumptions, commitment or values not from our own
glasses, but from an outside perspective. This requires a kind of self-regulation that does not allow us to
be biased, even if we overestimate or underestimate ourselves, even in critical moments.

Critical thinking is considered important by everyone, although few would know exactly what it means.
In this way, it is very difficult to address what key areas we need to gain expertise to think critically. The
ability to think critically, independently, is considered important and good for everyone. However, it is no
longer so clear when and in what subjects they should be taught. It is a matter of public or higher
education, it also belongs to mathematics, science or mother tongue skills. Through what activities can it
be developed?

For students to develop as critical thinkers they have to put that knowledge to work through deliberate
practice that specifically focuses on development of critical-thinking skills. That can be accomplished
through carefully designed activities and assignments that provide them opportunities to practice applying

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critical-thinking principles to answer questions and solve problems. Teaching critical thinking skills is a
necessity for us as we are crucial for living life. As such, every teacher should look for exciting ways to
integrate it into classrooms.

There are universities around the world where first-year students have to learn "critical thinking", i.e.
reasoning, logic - not in theory, of course, but in practice and as a separate subject. Even so, we often do
not realize what the content of such a course would be. My view is that four key areas need to be
addressed: reasoning, logic, psychology and scientific theory.

1. Reasoning

A good reasoning is a kind of foundation, regardless of the specific area. The techniques learned through
the methodology of reasoning are knowledge transfer: whatever we do, we benefit. This is because
critical thinking cannot be limited to disagreeing with something that opposes a line of thinking. That is
why an argument is needed.

This is because reasoning is nothing more than an intellectual process of knowledge: forming a position
or learning other positions; to find and evaluate the arguments that support and reject the position. To do
all this, we must know that we have assumptions, premises that we accept as true in reasoning, and we
have conclusions derived from it by logical rules, which, if the derivation is not logically incorrect, will
also be true.

While we learn the structure of reasoning, we can consider the probability of the truths of the premises or
even reject them. As we analyze arguments, we will be able to learn the types of logical inferences and
we will also be able to filter out typical reasoning errors. All these are essential to be able to approach and
evaluate a rational, argumentative text.

2. Logic

Even if we analyze the arguments, we deal with logic: what are the valid conclusions? - To decide this, it
is necessary to know the basics of formal and informal logic. The first is characterized by deduction, the
second by induction. Mathematical proof is often deductive, and induction is found in most sciences,
where generalizations and analogies appear.

It is necessary to know the basics of logic in order to decide if an argument is valid and how strong it is.
Violation of logical rules also results from some typical errors of reasoning (such as circular reasoning or
the assumption of false reasoning). Knowing and following these rules is therefore essential for rational
thinking.

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3. Psychology

To think critically, we don't just have to learn exact things like logic. It is not bad to know how our mind,
our psyche, works. Recent theories, for example, suggest that thinking is little about what we do, and
more about what happens to us. So we are not computers that make rational decisions ...

Besides the fact that we are fundamentally rational beings, we are full of various cognitive prejudices.
Contrary to the idea of many educators, our thinking is not exactly linear and is not rational in all its
elements. Therefore, it would be a mistake to paint a picture of the functioning of our mind, which makes
rational decisions in all its elements. To do this, we need to know some basic psychological phenomena.

4. Scientific theory and statistics

In order to judge correctly the information provided to us, it is good to be aware of some of the general
principles on which the sciences operate. For example, we need to know what a hypothesis is, what we
can call a law, what theory, and what rule.

Knowledge of the basics of statistics is also essential to deal with complex sets of information.
Understanding the methodology of statistics is essential for evaluating a scientific result.

By introducing students to these four areas, we will inevitably develop a common language through
which we can talk about thought processes using precise and transparent concepts. If we refer to the same
thing by inference, analysis, evaluation, justification, classification, etc., then we can talk about the
processes of thinking and thinking regardless of specific objects and topics. That is, we can think
critically in different contexts. And if an education system attaches importance to this skill, it is certainly
a pedagogical value.

The difference between traditional school teaching practice and critical thinking is that the former
considers the acquisition of information as the ultimate goal, and latter as the starting point. If we want
the new coming generation to become critical thinkers, we must educate them in this regard. We must
rely on the practice of the whole education system. This will be effective if the student is on his own
achieves critical thinking through his own experience. This is efficient and can be implemented in a
school environment where the classroom is conditioned by motivating attitude of the teacher and also the
attitudes of students stimulate critical thinking.

Schools should rethink their curriculum to develop skills that ensure competitiveness and survival, says
the internationally recognized education professional. In his book Creative Schools, Robinson also
identifies eight basic skills that start with the same letter for easier memorization. Part of this 8K - in

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addition to curiosity, creativity, communication, collaboration, community spirit, balance and community
spirit - is also critical thinking.

According to Robinson, it is about the ability to analyze information and ideas, weigh the evidence
objectively and then reason logically and make judgments. This, he says, is more than formal logic: “It
means interpreting intent, understanding connections, hidden values and feelings, identifying motives,
perceiving prejudice, and presenting well-formulated conclusions in the most appropriate form. All this
requires practice and support. "

In his opinion, critical thinking has always been important, but today - when we are bombarded with
information, opinions and theories from all directions and this increases the risk of confusion and blurring
- it has become even more important. "The digital revolution has huge benefits for educating young
people. At the same time, there has never been a greater need to be able to distinguish opinion, nonsense,
and honesty from deception” warns Robinson, who said critical thinking should therefore be at the heart
of all school subjects.

Thomas L. Friedman, a New York Times publicist, also warns of a reorganization of the education system
in his book Thanks for Being Late. According to him, in order to avoid the negative effects of work
automation, the following skills and attributes should be developed: strong reading, writing, programming
and mathematical substantiation; creativity, communication and collaboration; determination, self-
motivation and lifelong learning habits; entrepreneurship and improvisation. And of course: critical
thinking.

And Friedman says parents and teachers have an important role to play in shaping this approach. "The
lesson is very simple, but it must be struck in the head of every young person: the Internet is an open
channel for untreated, unfiltered information that can address everything I read with healthy skepticism
and critical thinking and honesty of civic virtue," he warns.

The publicist also cites a 2016 study by Stanford University that found students "shockingly unable" to
interpret information online: students, for example, did not even find it easy to separate advertisements
from newspaper articles. Young people, although they are at home on social networks, are not able to
appreciate the content they find there.

Therefore, it would be more important than ever to teach each child "how to read the internet, how to
verify the authenticity of what they read with other sources and how to connect them to a value system
that promotes respect and tolerance for each other", Friedman warns.

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Bibliography

1. course materials
2. Creative Schools - Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica, April 2015
3. Thanks for Being Late - Thomas L. Friedman, 2016