Have We Lost the Art of Critical Thinking ?

A good friend of mine has recently been posting a series of articles about the art of critical thinking and based on the current social and political climate I started to consider whether in world of business this important skill has been forgotten or overlooked? For the sake of brevity let’s assume that many individuals have lost this ability I will share a few attributes over the next blog posts to get you thinking about the elements you need to start thinking critically again. “The sole purpose and objective of critical thinking is to get at the truth no matter how unpleasant or unexpected it might turn out to be.”

Perception (the five senses) must always be tested against the available evidence to validate or dismiss the truth claim behind the appearance. This is the first step in critical thinking.

Reasoning is the well-spring of critical thinking. It is the the process of thinking the thing through, logically and precisely, beginning with it’s animating assumptions, while drawing well-founded inferences and conclusions.

Trite as it may sound critical thinking is aimed at real-world problems with real-world tools of reasoned analysis to reach sound, concrete and productive outcomes.

I will continue this discussion in an upcoming blog.