17-01-2025

Time for a good conversation - the importance of critical thinking

Danny Greefhorst

In practice, all sorts of things go wrong when we work together. We are insufficiently aware of the way we think and communicate and what can happen in that. Our thinking is based on all kinds of assumptions and is susceptible to errors in thinking. When we say something, we tend to generalize and present ideas and interpretations as facts. We tend to quickly make judgments, based on incorrect assumptions. Recipients reason from their own context, based on their own knowledge and beliefs. Apart from all this, ego and interests also play a role, and the question is whether you get an honest story.

How nice it would be if we had good conversations more often. Conversations in which we are much more aware of our subjectivity and in which we take the time to understand each other well. An important core in this is called critical thinking. It is a skill that enables us to arrive at judgments in a more structured way and in which we can also explain well how we arrived at these judgments. In this blog I will describe the aspects of critical thinking, as described in the book "critical thinking about digitalization" that was published last year.

Reflecting

Critical thinking assumes that you rise above the material. That you think about previous experiences and your actions in them to gain new insights. It also means that you are able to sense that things that are said or thought require special attention, and that you do not switch to automated behavior. You must be aware of what others say, but also of your own thoughts and mental processes. Reflection is also something that you can do together, in which you look back at what happened in a group process.

First understand

Before you can be critical about what someone else says, you must first understand someone else (and yourself) sufficiently. There is a good chance that someone else uses words or sentence structures that are not immediately clear or that you can interpret in several ways. A logical start in a dialogue is therefore a phase in which you try to understand each other's language. Listen, summarize in your own words to determine whether you have understood correctly and ask further questions. Asking further questions is a way to understand the other person better and to show that you are genuinely interested in the other person's story. Do not put words in people's mouths.

Postponing your own judgment

You are mainly looking for the truth. If you start from your own assumptions and judgments, there is a good chance that you will mainly confirm your own truth. This means that you will have to listen and let the other person speak. People are often already busy with their own response while listening. The result is that their own frame of reference comes into play. We hear what we want to hear. If you do not have sufficient arguments, you cannot yet judge properly and certainly cannot yet draw a conclusion. Take this into account in the certainty with which you say things.

Asking critical questions

Critical questions are questions with which you search for the ideas, assumptions, beliefs and arguments of another person. In general, this means that you want to ask a lot of questions. Questions that are specifically aimed at finding out the thoughts of the other person and what they are based on.

Searching from other perspectives

A basic idea of ​​critical thinking is that you assume that you do not necessarily have all the necessary knowledge and that the way in which you view the world is not the only one. You will therefore have to look for other people who have different knowledge and view the world in a different way. Certain problems can best be solved by a multidisciplinary group of people.

Reasoning

By using the right arguments, you can substantiate conclusions. It is important that you have a valid line of reasoning and that you follow the rules of good reasoning. Make clear which arguments you have used, how they relate to each other and which rules you have used to draw certain conclusions.

Basing on facts

Arguments are only really worth something if they are based on facts. Therefore, use as many arguments as possible that are based on things that have been proven, for example on the basis of scientific research, on the basis of concrete examples or by another form of evidence. Also explicitly show which facts you have used, by referring to the corresponding sources.

If this blog has made you interested in more information about critical thinking, I recommend that you read the book "critical thinking about digitalization". I am also available to exchange ideas with you about this and to help create more awareness of the importance of this skill.

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