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Critical Thinking And Science Essay

Common Sense The author of this report has been asked to explore the relationships between four different facets of a person's thinking and mindset. Those four facets are common sense, science, personal beliefs and critical thinking. The author will define each of the concepts, will explain the role of each facet when it comes to scholarship and then the author will provide a personal definition of belief perseverance along with an explanation of how it influences critical thinking. Finally, the author will share at least one strategy that can be employed to ensure that one thinks critically despite the presence of an ingrained personal belief system. While having core values and beliefs are important, it is more important to remain open-minded about different perspectives and details when those ingrained beliefs are called into question.

Summary

Of course, the four facets of thought described above are related and they tend to interact with each other quite frequently. For example, conclusions made about science are often compared with "common sense" when they are explained. For example, if someone explains to another that gravity is a force that keeps us from floating away," the person listening can...

However, if that other person said the sky is red, the listener would immediately know that is not true since the sky is blue (Merriam-Webster, 2015).
When it comes to personal beliefs, a lot of personal beliefs come from common sense and many others come from science. Quite often, both science and common sense lead to the same conclusion. However, another factor would be critical thinking. There are indeed many things that require some thought and consideration. This is where critical thinking comes in. Sometimes, common sense or even science alone are not enough to come to the proper conclusion. Sometimes it takes some analysis and consideration of what is known, what is unknown and why certain things occur or do not occur. When it comes to scholarly thought, this can easily be segued from the immediately prior thought. If a scholar or scientist is trying to figure something out and they do not currently have evidence of what precisely is the truth, they will use critical thinking to deduce what could be true. However, they will tend to compare and contrast that with…

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References

Douglas, N.L. (2000). Enemies of critical thinking: Lessons from social psychology research. Reading Psychology, 21(2), 129 -- 144.

Foundation for Critical Thinking. (2013). The role of questions in teaching, thinking and learning. Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/the-role-of-questions-in-teaching-thinking-and-learning/524

Friedman, S. (2004). Learning to make more effective decisions: Changing beliefs as a prelude to action. The Learning Organization, 11(2/3), 110 -- 128.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Merriam-Webster. (2015). common sense | the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way and to make good decisions. Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 30 June 2015, from http://www.merriam-
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