A note or two about Critical Thinking

Well, one thing to know about critical thinking is that it can be fun. If you are good at it you can really go to town demolishing other peoples ideas. As you can imagine that doesn't always make you the most popular kid on the block, but sometimes you can come across as a champion.

At RichardDawkins.net forums there is someone who goes by the name Calilasseia. Calilasseia is a type of blue butterfly which is Cali's avatar. Anyway, Cali is renowned for replying to posts by members that are, shall we say, ill thought out. Not immediately. Cali lets them go on for a few posts before deciding that they have had long enough to come good. After a particularly good critical thinking bombing run I was inspired to draw this little cartoon in homage to a master:

Of course, this highlights the problem with critical thinking, the emphasis is on discovering what is wrong with what someone is presenting, rather than on how to move forward from what they have presented right or wrong.

Still, if you are going to do critical thinking, and it is needed, you should learn to do it well. One helpful thing is to have a field guide to help you identify logical fallacies. Several books have covered this and several websites. My favourite book on the subject is "Humbug!" by Jef and Theo Clark. They now have a very comprehensive web site, www.skepticsfieldguide.net, based around the book. I recommend it for learning to polish critical thinking skills.