Critical Analysis

In my opinion critical thinking means thinking reasonably, and looking at different evidences in order to reach a decision. When a person thinks critically he/ she carefully looks at other points of view apart from one point of view alone. That person challenges the basic beliefs and ideas and takes other beliefs into account. In this way a person overcomes personal prejudices and biases and learns to make intelligent decisions after analyzing a situation. It also means to think deeply and logically to come to an accurate conclusion. When I asked my friend doing his MBA about his understanding of critical thinking he provided me with a different explanation. He pointed out that critical thinking meant welcoming criticisms which helps in the understanding and evaluation of a situation in a comprehensive manner.

My friend did not point out an important aspect of critical thinking, which is avoiding biases and prejudices. This meant that according to him critical thinking meant accepting only those criticisms which were satisfying to him. In order to make his understanding more clear I explained to him the element of “egocentrism’ that is self interested thinking. I pointed out that when a person thinks critically he/ she has to be brave enough to welcome criticism, even though they do not seem to be satisfying to him or her. This is when he/ she broadens his/her thinking capacity and welcomes all forms of criticism, and views them as a challenge. This enables him to reach an effective conclusion. When I explained this to him he became aware of the fact that thinking critically enables a person to welcome all sorts of criticisms.  The difference in his explanation of critical thinking can be due to the fact that he did not study critical thinking deeply