The Ethics And Use Of Critical Thinking

Critical Thought is the synthesis of a person’s character, experience and observation which can result in the arrival of a conclusion about something, that approximates reality. The ethics of Critical Thinking involves the use of that conclusion.

Obviously, not everyone is a critical thinker, and often those who are, choose not to use it, again for the obvious reason that involves their perceived survival.

Critical thought is indeed involved, and not a trivial subject. So, let’s boil critical thought down to something simple – an approximation. Let’s call the practice of critical thought, the attitude or practice of “questioning everything.”

Question Everything

Questioning everything isn’t just a mindset. It’s practice has the advantage of revealing the real cause of why most people never do it, or why they give it up. Observe:

An fine old guy I knew, and had chats with, from time to time, just died. A sad occasion, certainly. I liked the guy. He was a thinker. His family was in mourning too, obviously, but I did not understand at first just HOW they were mourning their father’s passing.

What they did shocked and angered me. The man, as I said, was a thinker, and an honest one – a rarity in any place or time. He had left an extensive set of notebooks, filled with his thoughts and ideas, articles and even poetry, some of which was pretty good.

His family burned them all. Everything. All of his writings. Nothing left.

That’s a strange way to honor the passing of a loved one, isn’t it?

How could they do such a thing?

They believed they were protecting their father. You see, they thought his ideas to be strange and outlandish, and even immoral – against their religion. So, in their eyes, they were doing the only thing possible to keep their father’s ideas from reaching the world and polluting it. They burned all his works, his thoughts and dreams, and did their best to never talk about anything that he loved or held dear.

All is not lost for our friend. He had spoken of his thoughts and ideas to several of us, (there was nothing immoral or outlandish about his thoughts at all) and we are even now, writing down everything that we can remember of his life’s work. He had some great thoughts and ideas, and they are worth recording for posterity.

Families aren’t the only things in this life that are dead-set against freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and in general, completely for the adherence of “The Norm.”

Religions are like this too. Ask anyone (including me) who writes and talks about religion. Freedom of thought is really not allowed, you know. Questioning things “As They Are” is never popular with the populace of any group of people. You and I are supposed to accept on faith everything that is taught to us about any religion we are learning about, without question. That’s why it’s called religion in the first place, because it’s all about compliance. (Interestingly, Jesus was a thinker, and required such critical thought from his disciples.)

However, if you are a student of history, you already know that in the beginning of whatever religion you are researching, it was a free thinker who was at the center of that new religion. He stood almost single-handedly against everyone else, in order to expound on what he had carefully reasoned out. Many times such a person died for their beliefs – since earlier eras other than our own usually held capital punishment for their free-thinkers and for people who asked too many questions.

It is not only families and religions who do this to us. It is also our educational system. By and large, they are looking to education everyone to be exactly alike, and to think and believe the same set of teachings. No exceptions, please. Do you have a son or daughter in the educational system? Are they always inquisitive, asking questions, and wondering “What If?” Chances are, they are already in trouble at school. Or you already know that, and you are now home-schooling them, right?

How many companies seek the complete and utter compliance of their employees too? You ever get in trouble at work for making a suggestion, or for asking why something was done a certain way? “Don’t take chances.” “Don’t rock the boat.” “Don’t think.” “Conform.” Isn’t that what all your co-workers tell you?

Think about it.

Despite living in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, even here, there are forces actively at work to prevent freedom of thought and freedom of speech. How many other families are against their individual members having the freedom to express views that the family regards as heretical? How many churches and Bishops are against their critical thinking members for daring to ask any questions of them? How many classroom are there where some young child, already an individualist, is in trouble if they question things, not only by their teachers and educators, but by their classmates? How many companies have lost their best people to the competition because they made that kind of compliance mandatory?

Have you ever met someone whose individualism was beaten out of them by the system?

There are many such people around us, aren’t there? The few of us who go on and become thinkers, writers, and public curmudgeons, are the rare ones who survived their beatings, and pogroms, but it never shut us up.

I wonder? How many great writers will never begin to write, because of our prevalent system of compliance, and because of our society’s seeming hatred for people who think for themselves and who ask too many questions? How many artists? How many musicians? How many thinkers?

My point to you is, that you SHOULD QUESTION EVERYTHING.

I don’t care if you are one of those people who had it all beaten out early in your life, and you are attempting in your life now, to conform to all the unwritten, unspoken Taboos around you.

You know who I am talking about. You already know very well, all those things in your family, your church, your school or your company, that you cannot either speak about or think about, don’t you.

You see, there are a great many more thinking people out here than you can imagine.

Trouble is, so many of you don’t want trouble, so you never speak up, or rock the boat, and you comply simply because it is safer to do so. It you already know that it is also more cowardly do to so, don’t you?

So what that you have complied to all that is required of you for so long a time? So what that you remember that everyone was against you for that one time you spoke out? You still have a mind, right? USE IT!

What this world needs, now more than ever, are all of its thinkers.

We need them (you) intact, and with the fearlessness to think about HOW THINGS ARE, and what is wrong with the status quo – and what to do to fix it.

This world will never be fixed by people who comply, who refuse to think, and who refuse to take a stand for what they believe is right – AND HAVE THE COURAGE TO SAY SO!

People who make a difference in this world are troublemakers, and they don’t make monuments to timid people.

America is great because of her free thinkers, her individuals who stand for what they believe in. You will never be one of these people until you throw off your yoke of compliance and SAY WHAT YOU THINK.

How do you become a critical thinker? How do you develop the ability to be a
free thinker?

Obviously, you start by QUESTIONING EVERYTHING.

I guarantee it will cause you trouble if you do, but you will also be joining a very large group of friends, and gain the respect of a great number of people who are also individuals and critical thinkers. And at the end of your life, you will know that you stood for something, and perhaps you will have made a difference in the world.

BTW, if you own and use a Mac, you probably are already a critical thinker, aren’t you?

Still scared? Still worried what PEOPLE WILL SAY?

Write to me.

Talk to me.

This is a rather safe place to start. Start making a difference by talking about what you really think about things, right here, on this forum.