The elements of thought consist of eight elements that were created by Dr. Richard Paul. They are point of view, purpose, question at issue, information, interpretations and inferences, concepts, assumptions, implications and consequences (The Elements of Thought 2013). All of these elements can be organized into four groups.
One may combine purpose and question at issue. Both of these elements are answering the questions. Without specific questions that need to be answered a person will have a hard time figuring out the purpose. The purpose and the answer of the question has a deep connection because this answer serves a purpose. Concepts and information are based on the prior knowledge, so these two elements are very close to each other in meaning. The concepts that we know are presented the information that we already know. Concepts are part of information which is stored in our knowledge in order to solve a specific issue. Also, it is possible to group interpretations and inferences and assumptions. These two elements are based on our knowledge that we think regarding the issue. And both of the elements may not necessarily be true. However, the process of thinking leads people to it. And at the end the final thought is made based on the knowledge which may skew the overall result of the process. Point of view and applications and consequences will be the last group in this logical sequence. The point of view and the applications of the process of thinking is a result of the personal ideas that a person will use in his or her person life.
Therefore, all of these processes can be connected and put into four different groups due to the similarities that happen to occur throughout these processes. Thinking is a process that takes different steps but many of them are connected to each other. It is hard to make the grouping, but there are some similarities in the elements.
References
The Elements of Thought – One by One. (2013, July 26). Retrieved January 08, 2017, from
https://theelementsofthought.org/the-elements-of-thought-one-by-one/
