The war was going from bad to worse for Germany when in 1943 Joseph Goebbels, who was Hitler's Nazi propaganda minister, asked the public “Do you want a total war? IF NECESSARY, DO YOU WANT A WAR MORE TOTAL AND MORE RADICAL THAN ANYTHING WE CAN IMAGINE TODAY? The crowd of 14,000 gathered at the Sports Palace in Berlin, which consisted of a select audience, roared yes.
The millions of ordinary Germans across the country who listened to Goebbels gave him the popular enthusiasm he needed to lead Germany into all-out war. This was perhaps the height of Nazi propaganda, which by controlling all types of media, actually sought to alienate the German people from critical thinking. Hello everyone, my name is Eudes, I am a professor and researcher.
You're with me in the first part of our series: "How to Think Like a Scientist. " And in this video you will learn more about what critical thinking is all about. If you want to continue to develop, then subscribe to the channel and activate your bell so you can follow all of Verve Científica's content.
TENDENCY TOWARDS THE SURFACE Our thinking is strongly influenced by the information we receive throughout our lives. We are all overwhelmed by an avalanche of information through the mainstream media or even through our small social circle. There is a great temptation or tendency to believe what we read right away, without questioning it.
Many people, when they come across sensational news on the internet, the first action they take is to share it. They do this without questioning the veracity of that information, even if it is strange. Information of all kinds arrives at us at all times.
Some are silly and harmless, while others can be serious and dangerous. Often, mutually exclusive information comes to us. For example, one group of people may claim that vaccines are harmful to children, while another group says that vaccines are effective and save lives.
So I ask you: How can you make sure that a given piece of information is actually a real fact? In the case of two contradictory allegations, which one should you believe? This is where critical thinking shows its relevance.
He is the one who helps us make the correct choice, or at least the most sensible one. CRITICAL THINKING Critical thinking is an essential component for the development of human beings, both from an individual and a collective point of view. Thinking critically means that you must carefully analyze the information presented to you.
You need to check the reasoning, the numbers, the words, check the sources of information, both in relation to their plausibility and their rigor. Thinking critically means examining all ideas in the best possible way. Thinking critically means avoiding the extremes of accepting all statements naively or rejecting them all cynically.
In other words, critical thinking is the act of directing all the strength of our reasoning to solve real-world problems, using reason to form our opinions. THE IMPACT OF CRITICAL THINKING By becoming more critical thinkers, we become more complete people, better equipped to deal with life's problems, enabling us to engage in meaningful dialogue with others and to experience satisfying feelings, both in our personal lives and in our social life. If the Germans who were present at Goebbels' speech had thought critically, they would have noticed the mixture of ambition and contempt for human beings, typical of Nazi leaders.
If the German people had thought critically they would not have given collective approval to the government and they could have avoided a sequence of events, which would later prove to be even more tragic. These aspects illustrate the extreme relevance and lasting relevance of critical thinking, both in the most important political and social decisions, and in the countless everyday situations to which we are all subject. WHAT CRITICAL THINKING IS NOT We can analyze this concept by considering what critical thinking is not.
Thinking critically is not about defending ideas you agree with. Too often, we defend our position in an argument, assuming that everything we the other side says it is wrong. This is what happens most on social media, for example.
When you use your intellect to make a point you haven't thought about, you are not thinking critically. It doesn't matter how eloquent you may be. The only interest of a good critical thinker is to evaluate the strength of an argument.
Without distorting reality in any preferred direction. When applying critical thinking, try to treat the arguments you like the same way you treat the ones you don't like; objectively and fairly. RECURRING COMPONENTS OF CRITICAL THINKING Critical thinking involves some recurring concepts and components.
When you understand what problem you are going to analyze, you establish your premises. It is through them that you promote your thinking. But you must always evaluate your assumptions critically to ensure they are accurate and will serve any practical purpose.
Never assume a claim is true without reviewing it carefully. Once you establish your premises, you can put together an Argument. Argument is a fundamental building block of critical thinking.
It consists of a well-founded list of assumptions and premises and leads you to a functional and rational conclusion. Throughout this series, specifically in part 3, you will find the basic elements to establish good premises and formulate good arguments. The formulation of a valid argument is possible through Logic, which is a way to achieve structured thinking, designed to evaluate information accurately.
If you are logical, you will be able to replace a false assumption with a valid assumption. There are countless ways you can mistake a false assumption for being valid. This occurs when you commit Logical Fallacies.
Fallacies are human tendencies associated with common sense. They are a form of unjustified belief or conclusion reached through flawed logic that does not withstand critical examination. A final concept relevant to critical thinking is cognitive biases.
These biases are systematic errors in thinking that occur when you, and every other human, are processing and interpreting information in the world around you. These biases have the potential to drastically affect your decisions and judgments. Although it is not possible to eradicate biases in our thinking, it is possible to recognize them and try to minimize them.
And that's another goal of this series: to examine the most harmful biases and indicate ways to deal with them. CORE SKILLS FOR CRITICAL THINKING A critical thinker must exercise some different skills. One of them is Curiosity.
Curiosity is our desire for knowledge and understanding. If you are curious, you will be led to ask questions and seek answers. And curiosity is never-ending, the more you understand a given topic, the more you will realize how much you still have to learn.
Closely linked to curiosity is cognitive humility. It is humility that allows us to realize that our own understanding is limited. If you are arrogant and think you already know everything, you will no longer have any curiosity.
But if you adopt a cognitively humble stance, you will be able to recognize the limitations and gaps in your own knowledge and this will make you more receptive to information, a better listener and a better learner. Finally, for you to become a critical thinker, you will still need Skepticism. You will need to maintain an attitude of doubt towards what other people say.
When you are a skeptical person, you will always demand evidence and will not simply accept what others tell you. Thus, while with Logic you base your analysis and classify a given argument as true or false, it is with Skepticism that you will be able to identify these false arguments so that they can be examined. In this video I established the importance of critical thinking, highlighting its main elements as well as the individual and social benefits they bring us.
In the next video in the series I will explore in detail Scientific Skepticism, perhaps the most important pillar of critical thinking. This video ends here. Subscribe to the channel and have Scientific Verve!
Hugs and see you next time.