What Are Your Opinions About - 1224 Words

I remember a number of occasions during my early years when I would try to argue with my mother, and in my mother tongue, she would repeatedly say the same words; words that loosely translate to the English language as â€Å"invest a few moments in â€Å"thinking†; it will pay good interest. I never really understood what my mother’s words meant, until a few years ago when I realized that she had been advising me to think critically. In our world today, arguments or discussions about one’s point of view with other parties or individuals are a familiar part of daily conversation. Questions like â€Å"What are your opinions about†¦?†, â€Å"How do you feel about†¦?† are the norm. The ability to convincingly defend and explain one s point of view to others is of†¦show more content†¦In a deeper sense, critical thinking is self-directed, disciplined, monitored and corrective mode of thinking about any given subject or â€Å"problemà ¢â‚¬  in which the critical thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it. Critical thinking involves careful and analytical thinking that finds a â€Å"positive† path between different points of the thinker’s-conceived problem-solving map. It is vital to note that although critical thinking is mainly about problem solving abilities, effective communication is also a vital part of it. On the other hand, reflective judgment is defined [by the Merriam-Webster dictionary] as â€Å"a judgment that proceeds from given particulars to the discovery of a general concept or universal principle under which the particulars may be subsumed†. In simpler terms, reflective judgment is the ability to evaluate knowledge claims and to explain and defend a point of view on a controversial issue or an ill-structured problem or a problem that cannot be resolved with absolute certainty. Critical thinking and Reflective judgment are often distinguished by the kind of problem-solving they address. Critical thinking focuses on well-structured problems while reflective judgment focuses on the capacity or ability to solve ill-structured problems. In today’s world, human beings are bound to have conflicting or competing perspectives on a particular subject or issue on a daily basis. On a