Logical thinking is often called critical thinking or left brain thinking. Logical thinking is that type of thinking which allows individual to think based on what we know or knowledge, certainties and what we can prove. Logical thinking is persistent when we think and decide with provable and rationally definite information i.e. information we can be certain about because it has been established methodically. This allows us to make logical deductions. It is the type of thinking that we use in doing things with definite rules like playing chess, and solving puzzles with definite answer.
Out of several pros of logical thinking, the most common is that with logical thinking one can improve the quality of the argument they make. With the quality of argument you make, it is more likely that one can convince people with the valid point they make, or make others to agree with them. In addition to that, logical thinking will also enable people to evaluate the quality of arguments others make and how effective or valid their arguments are. This may not be realized immediately, but when you need to decide on alternatives like whether to buy Apple IPhone or Samsung S4, or whether to vote Smith or vote John, logical thinking always comes to play and enable us to take decision by comparing and evaluating various dimensions of IPhone and S4, and Smith or John. Several people will have several arguments related to these IPhone and S4 as well as regarding John and Smith. Your ability of logical thinking will make you able to evaluate those arguments and accept their arguments if you can demonstrate that their argument is valid. Not only this, logical thinking gives you reason to accept others arguments, but it also places you to the place where you can defend your acceptance whenever someone comes to you and questions why you have done this. So logical thinking enables us to make best decisions based on understandings and knowledge.
Many times logical thinking enables you to identify bad arguments and free yourself from such arguments. This makes you stronger to challenge the peoples who makes arguments that are not well founded. We all have common experience that many of the arguments without logical foundation and evidences prevails because many people support it and gets loudest and condition is more worse when such arguments relate to people’s emotions. Having good ability to think logically makes you better to critically analyse such arguments and you shouldn't permit others to dupe you into trusting their arguments just as they were persistent and you will be able to challenge their arguments. The next benefit of logical thinking is it makes you able to communicate in a better way clearly and effectively. When you do not understand why and what the person is trying to communicate you cannot respond to them as they desire or as you should be. But logical thinking will enable you to understand why they are arguing in such a way and what you should do. You will know how an argument will be and even you will be able to derive a strong patter of logical reason in others arguments. If a person can think logically, then he/she can be skeptical which needs capability to use logics successfully.
Not only logical thinking have pros, it too have cons also. But pros side is heavier enough to dominate cons. One of the common thing is that if you try to impose you logics all the time, then you are likely to get your friends away from you. People hate you for being over logical and ruining the fun things with logics i.e. a no-fun sourpuss. One serious flaw of being logical is you are likely to be a victim in case of prisoner’s dilemma. Prisoner’s dilemma is one of the famous strategy of economics where one betrays other to do what is best for themselves. If a person becomes logical in this case, then s/he will be the person to be victimized. Adding to the disadvantages of critical thinking, one main flaw is that sometimes critical thinking skill can land you to new and scary land. When you critically analyse the values and religious established arguments, you find them quiet illogical as such if you think that Santa Claus will ride his deer in sky and visit every home leaving gifts to children, then you can have lots of questions to this. If you raise questions to such, then you might be arguing logically but you will be hurting people’s sentiments and feelings which might lead to violence. Many times peoples gets trapped in sequential nature of critical thinking and ignore other forms of thinking like creative thinking or intuitive thinking. This will be a real disadvantage for that person as creative thinking produced innovation.
Intuition and Gut Reaction
Intuition is an ability that makes us able to understand or know something without the involvement of our rational process and proof or evidence. With intuition, person acts in a certain way without understanding why he/she is acting in that way. Intuition is also known as ability to understand or respond without the knowledge or understanding. Intuition comes directly from mind before the mind is able to understand why and for what it is responding. On the other hand, a gut reaction is an intuitive emotional reaction to something that is highly guided by intuition which can be positive or negative like feeling of awkwardness, or feeling of hope. Gut reactions are commonly viewed as not curbed by cognizant thought, and as an image of intuition rather than rationality. Gut reactions are the result of intuitions. Gut reaction can be termed as individual’s perception of common sense to consider what is right to do and what is not as like helping a sick person on the street, avoiding dark backstreets and responding accordingly with instinctive feelings about a particular situation.
Intuition as gut feeling have several upsides. Intuitive actions are very much quicker and surer. No matter what the situation is, intuitive decision making has strong grasp on reality that was stored in mind because of repetitive experiences and these stored realities come into play in intuitive decision making or gut reaction without the knowledge of mind. Apart from that, when someone shows gut reaction, then one can be sure that he/she is behaving in such a way with her unconscious mind. So this type of gut reactions help individuals to react or decide without having bounded with emotions as these type of gut responses comes from sub/unconscious mind. This enables one to make competent decisions. Intuition acts like a GPS system that is placed internally and functions without making errors. Several studies have shown that intuition never falsehoods and is permanently right. So intuition escorts us in such a way that it tips us to our uppermost good. Our intuition arrays up the finest course possible for us to achieve our aims, or we can say it as, to "reach our endpoint".
Intuition or gut reaction do have its downsides as well. When one makes intuitive decisions or shows gut reaction, then it is more likely that the decision or action is biased. Gut reaction or intuitive decision happens so quickly and without involvement of logic and rationality, we might be ignoring the important details required for best decision making. People those who make decision by intuition alone generally becomes the victim of information overload and have to face hard times in using modest protocols steadily even when they attempt. Sometimes when the intuition is emotionally based, then intuitive decision can have serious flaws. Sometimes if you consider your intuition that is emotionally based, then you will fail to consider other alternatives available because you are strongly driven by your emotions. Intuition may advise having cheese butter pizza only because you have become unable to seek for other low fat alternatives as healthier choices. Sometimes your intuitive decision may be based in inaccurate information. In case of hiring a people, your intuition might be doing stereotyping and preferring one group of people ignoring other groups even if they are better than first group. It is hard to decide introspectively if your intuitions stem from dependable and pertinent information. Finally, in case of group works where decisions are to be made collectively, intuitive reasoning seems to be a problem. In case if peoples disagree with your decisions, then you cannot stick to your decision and claim that your intuitive decision is better than others.
