| Most people have no especial talent for critical thinking, any more than they do for chess or basketball. Additionally, it takes a well- stocked mind, full of information, to think critically. Too many people are under the misapprehension that "content" and "critical thinking" are in conflict. That is nonsense, since if one does not know relevant information, one cannot test the truthfulness of a proposition. Since few people have the motivation, patience, or memory to amass a lot of general information, outside of their profession, most are ill- equipped for critical thinking. Finally, critical thinking is a skill, learned partially by precept, partially by emulation, and partially by practice. Unless one finds the right persons to tutor one in it, or reads the proper sort of texts to find good exemplars, and unless one devotes much time to applying what one has learned, one will not advance very far. The problem is that mostly it is dry, highly disciplined, and hard, like math or physics. Thus, there is no particular reason to expect much in the way of critical thinking, beyond some elementary level which goes with a general education and above average intelligence, any more than one expects someone to dazzle one with their skill at calculus or theoretical physics....... |
