Critical Thinking

Argumentation is the process of creating and analyzing reasons to come to a position in an argument. The topic of argumentation made me rethink my thoughts of critical thinking. Before this week my definition of critical thinking was active thinking that requires focus, breaking ideas down and is goal oriented. The class read a story about a misunderstood friendship between to young girls, after reading we discussed everyone's opinion on the girls relationship. For each position we came up with, we needed to support with three reasons as to why. When being faced with the challenge of coming up with reasons for every position my definition of critical thinking has changed. I now believe critical thinking requires a lot more analysis of all positions presented on one topic. Another factor the class discussed that changed my definition was irrational decision making. It taught me that when I am making a decision I cannot jump to a conclusion; I have to lay out all my options, benefits and consequences. In today's society everyone is caught up in being the best and the one with the most luxurious items, but is it needed? Society needs to step back and question all their actions. Questions we can ask ourselves to know when we are making a rational decision are: What am I sacrificing?, Can I get through life without this?, What would my thinking hero do?. My thinking hero would still be Oprah Winfrey after learning new factors of critical thinking. Oprah is probably very likely to present the ideas of argumentation when trying to reach a decision. She most likely comes up with three or more reasons in order to become fixed upon on solid position. Before making any major decisions, Oprah probably asks herself all the questions that will make her decision beneficial to not only her but others.