QUES1- What are the various stages of critical thinking?

Which stage of
critical thinking you are
in at present? State at least three ways in which you can improve your
critical thinking skills?

ANS- Critical thinking is the act of deliberately analysing information so that a person
can make better judgements and decisions. It involves using things like logic,
reasoning, and creativity, to draw conclusions and generally understand thing better.

There are six stages involve in critical thinking:

1) The Unreflective Thinker

2) The Challenged Thinker
3) The Beginner Thinker
4) The Practical Thinker
5) The Advanced Thinker
6) The Master Thinker

The Unreflective Thinker-

Unreflective thinkers are largely unaware of the determining role that thinking is
playing in their lives and of the many ways that problems in thinking are causing
problems in their lives. Unreflective thinkers lack the ability to explicitly assess their
thinking and improve it thereby. They proceed solely based on their opinions, biases,
and prejudices will form misconceptions. They don’t apply relevant standards to their
thinking, like accuracy, precision, or logic, in any consistent way. Most of us are at
some time, unreflective thinkers.

The Challenged Thinker-

They become aware of thinking and aware of problems that occur because of poor
thinking. The challenged thinker will have a sense that critical thinking involves
addressing assumptions, inferences, and other points of view. Thinkers move to the
“challenged” stage when they become initially aware of the determining role that
thinking is playing in their lives, and of the fact that problems in their thinking are
causing them serious and significant problems. People at this stage in their thinking
may believe that their thinking is better than it actually is, therefore making it more
difficult to recognize their own poor thinking.

The Beginner Thinker-

Those who move to the beginning thinker stage are actively taking up the challenge to
begin to take explicit command of their thinking across multiple domains of their lives.
Thinkers at this stage recognize that they have basic problems in their thinking and
make initial attempts to better understand how they can take charge of and improve it.
Based on this initial understanding, beginning thinkers begin to modify some of their
thinking, but have limited insight into deeper levels of the trouble inherent in their
thinking. Most importantly, they lack a systematic plan for improving their thinking,
hence their efforts are hit and miss. At the same time the beginner will develop higher
internal standards of clarity, logic, and accuracy and begin to realize the role played by
emotion and ego in critical thinking. Here also, the Beginning Thinker will be more
responsive to criticism and feedback and will utilize them in adjusting the direction of
their thinking.

The Practical Thinker-

Thinkers at this stage have a sense of the habits they need to develop to take charge of
their thinking. They not only recognize that problems exist in their thinking, but they
also recognize the need to attack these problems globally and systematically. Based on
their sense of the need to practice regularly, they are actively analysing their thinking
in a number of domains. However, since practicing thinkers are only beginning to
approach the improvement of their thinking in a systematic way, they still have limited
insight into deeper levels of thought, and thus into deeper levels of the problems
embedded in thinking.

The Advanced Thinker-

Thinkers at this stage have now established good habits of thought which are “paying
off.” Based on these habits, advanced thinkers not only actively analyse their thinking
in all the significant domains of their lives, but also have significant insight into
problems at deeper levels of thought. While advanced thinkers are able to think well
across the important dimensions of their lives, they are not yet able to think at a
consistently high level across all of these dimensions. Advanced thinkers have good
general command over their egocentric nature. They continually strive to be fair-
minded. Of course, they sometimes lapse into egocentrism and reason in a one-sided
way.

The Master Thinker-

These thinkers are in charge of their thinking and continually improving. Master
thinkers are completely in control of how they make decisions and process
information. They are constantly improving their thought skills. By regular practice,
they raise the level of their thinking to a level of conscious realization.

I consider myself that presently I am in the second stage i.e., Challenged Thinker
where I know the problems that occur due to my over thinking and the result I am
receiving with this is it is affecting my mental health.
 The different ways we can Improve our critical thinking are as follows:

1) Know exactly what you want

2) Deal with biases
3) Consider the consequences of options
4) Do the research
5) Accept the fact that are not always right
6) Break it down

Know exactly what you want: Knowing exactly what you want is the first step of
critical thinking. We have to think critically to solve problems so that they meet their
objectives. Every decision we make has an objective or purpose attached to it and
identifying exactly what that is, what we actually want out of it, gives us a starting
point to work with. So ask yourself: What do I want? What do I expect to get out of
this? Until you know the answer to these question you're not going to know what the
right decision is.

Deal with biases: We often think from only our own perspective to deal with
problems. However, it helps with critical thinking and decision making if you try
thinking from someone else's point of view. Furthermore, it gives you a clear picture of
the overall situation. Let's say you're looking to solve a problem at work. Think of how
your best friend might approach it, or how your partner or a sibling might. Now think
of how your boss might approach it. By allowing yourself to consider different
perspectives you might find yourself hitting upon solutions you hadn't previously
considered.

Consider the consequences of options: Every option we choose has

consequences for ourselves, or maybe others involved in the problem. We need to
weigh up the possible consequences which may arise from each of our options and go
for the one that benefits the most whilst limiting the negative effects on others
involved. A good way to do this is by writing a list of pros and cons. By asking yourself
to think of every possible positive outcome alongside every possible negative
outcome, we can make a much more informed decision .

Do the research: We all have heard that knowledge is power. However, many of us
tend to rely a lot on what we already know and are reluctant to let go of our own beliefs.
Critical thinking requires us to let go of our beliefs sometimes to solve problems.
Reluctance to learn, research or acquire new beliefs will only hold us back and certainly
won't help us with critical thinking. by taking time to do your research and focus on
learning you'll find that over time you will evolve and adapt to overcome new situations
and improve your critical thinking.
Accept the fact that are not always right: This one can be harder than it
sounds. It's okay to make mistakes and no matter who we are, we all make them.
However, most of us don't accept this fact which holds us back from thinking critically.
If you are doing something wrong and repeatedly keep doing it because you have
already assumed that you can never go wrong, then this needs to change for your own
good. Always double check solutions to problems, consider new options and view your
mistakes as an opportunity to learn.

Break it down: Being able to see the big picture is great but it's even better if you
can break things down into smaller sections. The reason being that smaller sections
are easier to mentally digest and work with. Working with numerous small things is an
easier task than trying to solve the bigger picture which can become too much to
handle.

QUES2: What do you mean by inductive and deductive arguments? How

deductive arguments are used in criminal investigation? Give at least 5
examples each of inductive and deductive logic.

ANS: An Argument is a group of statements, one or more of which (the premises) are
claimed to provide evidential reasons to believe one of the others (the conclusion).
Every argument, in effect, makes a factual claim, viz. that the premises are true. This
doesn’t mean that the premises really are true: it just means that this is what the
arguer is claiming, at least for the sake of the argument. In an argument, the premises,
and the conclusion, are asserted, that is, put forth as true.

Now we will discuss what are these arguments:

Inductive argument: Inductive Argument consists of using specific propositions

to infer general principles, this is opposite of deductive arguments

It is a bottom-up approach that allows to arrive at conclusions based on his

observations. Of the two types of arguments, inductive arguments go from the specific
to the general. They use data and observations to draw a pattern. In an inductive
argument by contrast the premises are just supposed to make the conclusion more
probable. Even in a successful inductive argument the premises do not necessitate the
conclusion because there is information in the conclusion that is not in the premises.
The conclusion, in this sense, goes beyond the premises so the premises don’t
guarantee that we have the conclusion.

The following four arguments are also inductive:

  Hiba and Zoya are lifelong best friends. So Zoya probably knows Hiba’s parents.
 It has been sunny for six days in a week and there are no clouds in the sky. So
probably it will be sunny tomorrow.
 Alok hasn’t had a drink in ten years. So, it is likely he won’t drink at the party
tonight.
 Most dogs are loving animals, Shadow is a dog. Shadow Fido is probably a
loving animal.
 Every time you eat peanuts, you start to cough. You are allergic to peanuts.

Deductive argument: This type of arguments starts with something general and
move to something specific.

In a deductive argument the premises are supposed to force (necessitate, guarantee)

the conclusion. In other words, the intention is that the premises provide the strongest
possible support for the conclusion. it is supposed to be logically impossible that the
premises be true and the conclusion false. That is what is meant by saying that the
premises are supposed to ‘necessitate’ the conclusion. A deductive argument is based
on a strong premise for the conclusion. It’s a top-down approach in which you reach a
conclusion based on a premise that is assumed to be true.

The following four arguments are all deductive:

 All bats are cute animals. No cute animals are mean. So, certainly, no bats are
mean.
 Anika is Priya’s mother. Therefore, Anika must be older than Priya.
 Nobody knows Akash. Therefore, it must be that Akash does not know himself.
 Some cats are pets. Thus, some pets must be cats.

 Mr Haadi always wears black shoes to work, Mr Haadi will be coming to work
on Friday. Mr Haadi will wear black shoes on Friday.

What is fascinating about deductive argument is that if all the premises are true then it
follows the conclusion must also be true in fact this is necessarily the case if the
premises are true then the conclusion must be necessarily true.

Deductive reasoning begins with a theory, forms a hypothesis, looks for evidence, and
then seeks confirmation. Police generally solve cases with this approach. They have a
suspect in mind based on previous information not directly connected to the case and
then use it to build their hypothesis to prove the guilt of that suspect.