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Week 2 Discussion Board: "Become a Critic of your Thinking."

Paul and Elder have critically explained the importance of critical thinking in their article “Becoming a Critic of Your Thinking.” One cannot get succeeded in his/her life if he/she is not aware of the importance of critical thinking, as it is the key to success in everything that we take as a challenge. Sound thinking is as essential as breath; therefore, one should always maintain a habit to search for the existence of anything that is around. Those who have a propensity to gather more and more knowledge are highly successful in their lives. These days even the minor issue requires sound thinking, and it would not be false if we would say that all the problems that are kept unaddressed are due to lack of critical thinking skills (Elder & Paul, n.d). If a person does not adopt the right path that leads to the solution, then he/she would always end up in a waste of time, frustration, pain and loss of energy. Therefore, it is imperative for us to think logically and still question the questions that come into our minds. Critical thinking is an art that everyone must learn and for this active practice is required on a continual basis.

Information or knowledge management is one of the most critical factors that ensure success, which I have learned from this article. Those who have more knowledge and information about any particular thing are better able to address all the obstacles and issues that come in their ways. We often pay more attention to things that are less important and due to this reason we become away from our life goals and aims. I have learned how to clarify my thoughts by figuring out the actual meaning of situations occurred on a daily basis, and once I can figure it out, I always remain stick to it until I can solve that particular puzzle. Before, I did not have much determination to question the questions that come into my mind and due to this reason I missed even the most critical information often. However, after going through this article, I can develop a reasonable stance over my own and others reasonable and unreasonable attitudes and behaviors. If an individual has no aim in life, then he/she would not be able to grasp critical thinking skills effectively. So, to master in the essential skills of thinking, one should always question the questions that come in mind.

Individuals who quickly jump to conclusions are never able to get practical solutions to the issues they address in their daily lives, as they fail to think through implications and often lose track that leads to their goals. Being realistic is very important, as only then you will be able to gain respect and active presence in any society. Critical thinking has helped me in becoming an effective communicator, as I am now better able to gather authentic facts about any particular thing more effectively than ever before.

I strongly agree with Elder and Paul that critical thinking skills can be only learned if a person starts thinking about his/her thoughts. Our thinking has a more significant role in ensuring success in anything. It is imperative for an individual to take charge of his/her life; else all efforts might go waste. Quality of life can be only attained through quality thinking, but this does not mean that we should keep ourselves away from all dysfunctional practices. Instead, we should face all such situations bravely and practice critical thinking skills to find the most effective solution.

Media is continually exaggerating the negative news, and we all consider it as reality, as we never question ourselves over it. The distortion created through a bombardment of negative news has many consequences on quality of thoughts (Pinker, 2018). Therefore, we should always try to validate the reality of any news through critical thinking and close observation, but mostly we don’t pay much attention towards it and accept it blindly that is a big flaw that may lead us towards a dead-end.

References

 Elder, L. & Paul, R. (n.d). Becoming a Critic of Your Thinking. Criticalthinking.org. Retrieved 3 February 2019, from http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/becoming-a-critic-of-your-thinking/478

Pinker, S. (2018). The media exaggerates negative news. This distortion has consequences | Steven Pinker. The Guardian. Retrieved 3 February 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/17/steven-pinker-media-negative-news

Week 3 Discussion Board: “Allegory Of The Cave”

Allegory Of The Cave is a theory proposed by Plato an old and famous philosopher. This allegory was based on human perceptions. According to this theory, the knowledge we gain from our everyday experiences is our opinions, and we subjectively perceive it. However, the actual knowledge is that we learn from our critical thinking and philosophical reasoning (Sheehan, n.d). In today's world, it is applied to the education system, where the main objective and focus of the students is to get a degree. While they do not understand the real purpose of the knowledge, they gain. This allegory represents the truth of our life, according to Plato we all are the prisoners, while the jail in the cave represents things that we perceive in our life. Some people even having degrees and basic knowledge, but they don't have the cognitive skills to analyze the situations. For instance, a person living in the cave and had not exposed to the external environment will consider the cave as all he knows, and the truth and reality(Allegory of the Cave – Media, 2019).

The scenario was presented perfectly and has a deep message for us philosophically. My personal believes and thoughts are partially against the last step of this case. I doubt how a person will return even the prisoner was released and exposed to explore the external world. If a person has an opportunity to learn different things, and acquire new skills which can ultimately develop the abilities of the person. Even a person saw the light which is the benefits of the knowledge, so how would a person leave the light and go to the darkness. However, in certain cases, it can be quite logical and true. For instance, we all are aware of the benefits of education, business, hard work, health issues, etc. However, still, we are trying to avoid these benefits, and trying to harm ourselves.

It was quite hard for me to learn the true sense of this allegory, as it took me several times to read it. It has seemed like a general and a simple case, however, to assimilate it properly. I searched videos and other online stuff. I got understand the true meanings and to relate this case to our life, and the incidents we face in our daily lives. Through discussions regarding the Allegory different aspects of this case. All these students highlighted some deep thoughtful of this allegory. Several discussions were amazingly helpful and worthy, and they related this philosophy with various videos and real-life cases. To me learning the whole case was quite difficult, the discussion of others helped me a lot. I understood it and was able to relate it with many incidents in my practical life which I faced, or I observed.

This allegory of Plato has applied by many researchers to the contemporary issues of the society and individuals. The allegory could be related to almost the cases of every individual that happened at a specific stage of life. In my life, I had been through it many times. I quite certain learning opportunities because these were more demanding time and efforts. It depends on the priorities of a person when he has to choose one of the two options. For instance, I being a student of education had got a chance to learn certain computer program which I supposed to be least helpful in my career. So I withdrew that option and focused on my core subjects. Similarly to the contemporary issues, I could relate it with the social media users and those who don't use social media. The nonusers are less aware of different things around the globe.

References

Allegory of the Cave - Media, Body Image, and Philosophy in the 21st Century. (2019). Sites.google.com. Retrieved 3 February 2019, from https://sites.google.com/site/carolineworldphilosophies/evaluation

Sheehan, T. (n.d). Plato: The Allegory Of The Cave. Print.

Reply To Dean B Adams:

Reply to this comment:Quite a while after Plato wrote his "Allegory of the Cave," John Stuart Mill wrote a book titled Utilitarianism, in which he said the following:

Great Adams you explained it very well.

As you highlighted that whatever happens in our life could be perceived either positive or negative. If we live with a positive mind, we will dwell a peaceful and happy life. An incident is nothing but our perception and response influence us in one of the directions. A well educated and intellectual person always think positive and change the dimension of the problem. As per my knowledge, I believe that one scholar is better than a hundred thousand ignorant people. A leader of a country or at a lower level, even a manager of a company has got that leadership position because of greater knowledge and philosophical reasoning skills. However, acquiring these skills, and education is not an easy job, that requires a lot of commitments and sacrifices. After a hard struggle, a person can achieve a position in the world, which might secure name in the history.

Reply to Mary E Joyce

Hello Mary E Joyce

Very well said. I agree with your point about the comfort zone, which restrict us from learning and exploring new ideas and knowledge. I would relate the sun in the allegory of Plato with success in life. Every person knows about the lives and the daily routines of the success people. However, every person could not be a doer. The successful people are more committed and clear about their goals. They have the fire in their bellies, and they are focused on their goals. Even we all know the key to success, but we return to the cave again as the prisoner does in the allegory of the cave. We also follow the sunflower syndrome such as, we follow the masses, and we are anxious and afraid of doing something different from the public. It also requires courage and the outperformers are always brave people with clear objectives.