Critical Thinking and Society Exercise: Critical thinking is a process that is used by individuals on a daily basis though many people use it without realizing it. Critical thinking can basically be defined as the process of exercising or involving skilled observation or judgment. This process requires the use of a variety of cognitive skills and intellectual capabilities to evaluate arguments, overcome personal biases and prejudices, and make intelligent and reasonable decisions (Huebner, 2013). Critical thinking is important in today's world because it contributes to accuracy, depth, fairness, relevance, precision, clarity, and logical correctness. Therefore, it is important for every individual to think creatively and critically, especially when facing challenges.

Situation Requiring Critical Thinking:

A good situation that could have involved the use of critical thinking for a better outcome is the development of tourist tax in Alaska in 2009. Generally, Alaska's economy during summer time is usually driven by tourists visiting the state to an extent that summer tourism has become so reliable in the state (Bradner, 2009). In 2009, Alaska legislators established a head tax of $50 on visitors arriving to the state, which was to be channeled to projects that would benefit the cruise line industry. The misguided tourist tax contributed to the emergence of two major problems i.e. lack of enough projects to channels the funds to and reconsiderations by several cruise line companies regarding Alaska destinations. This situation could have experience a better outcome if critical and creative thought were used to evaluate the impact and outcome of the decision....

This would have involved collaboration with the cruise line companies to determine specific projects that would benefit the industry rather than hurting it. The use of critical and creative thought in such situations help in ensuring that decisions with better outcome are made by involving all relevant stakeholders.
Free Will, Knowledge, Truth, and Opinion:

Free will can be described as the ability of an individual to make decisions independently. This involves making a decision without being influenced or conditioned by other people, the society, or culture (Ruggiero, 2009, p.26). Even though every human decision and action is influenced and directed by some form of conditioning, free will is the attempt to creatively think as an individual. On the contrary, knowledge is defined as having information about something or someone through observation, experience, and reports. Truth refers to the reality of something or someone and is differentiated from what is considered, believed or asserted to be true. Opinion is an individual's feelings towards something based on emotions and personal judgment. These concepts are important in the formation of thoughts because of their role in the thinking process. There is need for knowledge of the subject in order for personal thoughts to be based upon the truth. Through gaining knowledge and truth on the specific subject, an individual can proceed to develop thoughts regarding his/her opinion.

Hindrances to Critical Thinking Process:

During the critical thinking process, an individual is usually faced with some hindrances including stereotyping, resistance to change, and face saving. Face saving…