What is Critical Thinking?

[notsocommon]

Thanks for the replies. That video was helpful, although it came across as a bit stuck up to me. I guess I bristle a little bit whenever critical thinking comes up for a few reasons.

1) It sounds like one of those business-y phrases like "thinking outside the box" that are only used by people who don't have the first clue how to think for themselves. Not that anyone here is like that, that's just the image that comes to my mind when I hear the phrase.

2) I get the idea that a lot of people want it applied to religion, that they think if the fundies would just apply some critical thinking it would be perfectly obvious that God doesn't exist/the Bible is full of shit/creation is false/whatever. I understand where that's coming from, because obviously no one is going to be able to use logic and evidence to prove that God exists. But I have a problem with the implication that anyone who believes in God/goes to church/reads the Bible automatically accepts whatever they're told and never questions or thinks for themselves.

3) Even leaving religion out of it, I don't think that logic and reason are always the 100% best way to make decisions. I sometimes make decisions based on a "gut feeling" even if every reasonable part of me says it's wrong, and those usually turn out to be the best decisions I've ever made. Critical thinking doesn't seem to take into account the fact that we are driven by feelings and emotion and that isn't always a bad thing.

This? Is critical thinking! :ugeek: