The Art of Critical Thinking

Having critical thinking is very beneficial in our life. Nowadays, we often hear
about critical thinking. In schools, students are required to have this ability. Also
in the social life, this ability is needed to process information. In today's
developing digital world, many people use social media to share information. We
can easily read, listen, and watch anything through our smart phones. But, have
we ever thought more deeply about the truth of the information? According to
Kominfo data (June 2020), there are at least 10 hoax news per day. Getting hoax
news can be a disaster. Therefore, to protect us from incorrect information, we
must have critical thinking abilities.
So, what is critical thinking itself? Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly,
logically, and rationally about something in order to understand the connections
between ideas or facts. After I watched videos on the YouTube channel Latih
Logika, I got greater mindset about critical thinking. Such an interesting video
considering that people rarely have this skill in Indonesia. People who have critical
thoughts will think systematically, logically and objectively. This ability is a
protector from various slander, propaganda and hoax. It is also helps one to avoid
creating future problems that can result from one’s action (Figliuolo, 2016).
Critical thinking has a crucial role and it can be applied to any situation (Dorine
Neba, 2019). Such as processing information and solving problems. Do you know
the basic way to think critically? By asking question. Start with simple questions in
your daily activities and it can be the basis of how we answer the big question. By
asking, we would know more about the things behind the information. Not only
knowing the definition, but also understanding the context behind the
information. For that, we must make efforts to obtain information rationally. As
time goes by, our thoughts will become even more insightful and systematic.
We can apply critical thinking in life. It has been mentioned Latih Logika videos.
We can use critical thinking in assessing an argument, critical in responding to
generalizations, critical in responding to parables, and critical when quoting
experts. First, for critical in assessing an argument, we must know that arguments
are different from opinions. An argument is a persuasive sentence that aim to
change people’s point of view. The argument is composed of conclusion, several
premises and also reasons that support the argument. Second, critical to
generalization. Generalization is inductive logic where we make direct conclusion
of group based on only a few participants. How can a good generalization be
made? You should use reasons that really reflect the whole participants, beware
of hidden facts, and test your generalization with opposite example. Third, critical
in responding to parables. Analogy is inductive logic and we often use in daily life.
A good analogy uses examples that have similarities with the topic and are also
factual (contain premises). Fourth, critical when quoting experts. Did you know
that quoting an expert must be accurate? There are several aspects that must be
considered, such as the expert must match with the topic of the argument, the
expert's qualification must be complete, and checking the opinion of other
experts to make sure that we use an appropriate quotation.
It should not be instantaneous to have the opportunity to think critically. We
must constantly train ourselves. It is even better if this ability is taught as early as
possible. Once again, for our lives, logical thinking is very important and definitely
useful.
“Seeing both sides of an issue, being open to new evidence that disconfirms your
ideas, reasoning dispassionately, demanding that claims be backed by evidence,
deducing and inferring conclusions from available facts, solving problems, and so
forth” (Willingham, 2007).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFiEUYeCpso&list=PLmhGL6lwkT297rC-
LgCaTsq2WlOmLOOdQ

https://rawidita16.blogspot.com/2021/02/review-video-of-youtube-channel-latih.html
https://eppid.kominfo.go.id/storage/uploads/2_31_Laporan_Isu_Hoaks_Bulan_Ju
ni_2020.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344175612_The_Benefits_of_Critical_
Thinking_Skills_and_Techniques_for_Teaching_these_Skills_in_the_Classroom_fo
r_Quality_Education
https://images.pearsonassessments.com/images/tmrs/CriticalThinkingReviewFIN
AL.pdf