The concept of critical thinking entails a way of finding out whether the information received is true or false. There are six principles that govern the process of critical thinking.
The first principle dictates that for an extraordinary claim to be made it must be supported by extraordinary evidence. The level of extraordinariness of a claim is determined by how much a claim goes against what we already believe. The more a claim is unexpected, the more one needs in terms of supporting evidence so that a claim can be believed. This theory is important in critical thinking because it pushes one beyond the boundaries of what he/she already knows. It encourages investigation into what ordinarily could be dismissed.
The second principle is falsifiability. This principle dictates that for a claim to hold any grounds. One must be able to disapprove it. A falsifiable claim does not mean that it is not true; it just means that if the statement were to be false, then this could also be proved. Facts that cannot be proved otherwise are not falsifiable. Even a shred of evidence in contrast to a claim makes it falsifiable. This theory is vital for critical thinking. It tests the theories that we come to know as facts so that a claim is more acceptable.
The third principle is Occam’s razor. This principle states that if two claims explain an occurrence equally, then one must take the one that is more parsimonious. This means that the explanation with the least amount of assumptions should be made. This theory dictates that a person is inclined to believe the simplest theories until this simplicity is overcome by a better explanation. This theory makes it easy to substantiate existing data because it dictates that one takes the simplest and most probable explanation of a claim.
The fourth principle is that of replicability. This principle dictates that, for a claim to be accepted, the evidence behind it can be reproduced multiple times. This theory is important in substantiating a claim in that the supporting evidence can be replicated multiple times hence making it more acceptable. If the supporting evidence is not replicated, it means that the claim has grounds to be disputed.
The fifth principle is ruling out rival hypothesis. This principle dictates that an individual asks himself/ herself whether or not there is any other explanation for a claim. This principle is not applicable only to psychology but can also be used in everyday situations. The importance of this claim is that, it enables an individual to think critically about the situation instead of just jumping to the first available conclusion. This principle encourages thinking deeply, resolve arguments and helps understand situations better.
The last principle states that the correlation is not causation. This theory explains that just because an entity is related to another, it does not mean that it causes it. This theory is mostly used in mathematical and scientific research. The relationship between the two is most likely to exist but to claim that any two variables that are connected causality must exist is not an accurate statement. This theory is important in critical thinking because it enables one to think more extensively about psychological claims. Without this principle, one would just make the assumption that the relationship between two entities would mean their correlation. With its application, this theory indicates that the correlation between two entities could hint at causality but it does not prove it.
There exist claims in our day-to-day world that could be analyzed using the above principles of critical thinking. For instance, there have been claims circulating the internet that government agents gain access to popular websites so that they can control, corrupt, and obliterate reputations. The source of this article is a political activist, blogger, and columnist in popular newspapers, in the United States. He claims that government agencies infiltrate popular websites like Facebook and Twitter to gather and manipulate private information about people. The principle that applies here is that, for extraordinary claims, extraordinary evidence is required. This claim is not easily believable to the fact that these sites have protective measures as passwords. To claim that there are government agents infiltrating them needs substantial evidence so that it can be believed.
Another example is an instance that requires critical thinking is that the United States is planning to withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan. The source of this claim is CNN, a popular international news network. The claim is that the current United States government intends to pull all its troops from the war torn country by the end of the year if no agreement is made between the two countries. The reason behind America’s motive necessitates the use of the principle of eliminating all rival possibilities. In this case, one needs to think deeper whether there are any other reasons that the U.S is intent on withdrawing its troops from the country.
Finally, there is a claim a person made about being attacked by the police after making a 911 call. The source of this story is a man who claims to be attacked by the police after calling the police. To evaluate this claim properly one must use the principle of falsifiability. This principle is applicable because this case was taken to court, and there are two sides of it. For a claim to have any meaning, it must be capable of being disapproved.
Works Cited
Greenwald, Glenn. "AboveTopSecret.com - Conspiracy Theories, UFOs, Paranormal, Politics, and other "alternative topics" - home page for Thursday, February 27, 2014." AboveTopSecret.com - Conspiracy Theories, UFOs, Paranormal, Politics, and other "alternative topics" - home page for Thursday, February 27, 2014. Version 63. Glenn Greenwald, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. <http://www.abovetopsecret.com/index.php>.
Simmons, Mike. " Good Samaritan Backfire or How I Ended Up in Solitary After Calling 911 for Help." Flickr. Version 86. Yahoo!, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. <http://www.flickr.com>.
Sisey, Ishah. "US withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan." CNN. Version 8999. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/>.
