Solid Arguments and to Use Our Creativity

¶ … solid arguments and to use our creativity most usefully when taking decisions. Not only science cannot exist without critical thinking, but our daily lives would appear to lack sense if most people did not have the ability to think critically. Aristotle has placed critical thinking at the base of every aspiration human beings may have to achieve a successful and happy life. It does not guarantee they will achieve them, but any endeavor that starts without critical thinking seems worthless.

(Aristotle, Reeve, 2014) I think I am a critical thinker; most of the time. I always look into an argument or a conclusion carefully. I never accept a conclusion as it is, without considering the source. First I check on the source and see how trustworthy the author is. This works well when I write a paper, for example, but also in my everyday life.

I am aware self-reflection is necessary, therefore I think about my own thoughts and try to reconsider them from broader perspectives than what my initial perspective might have been. As George Rainbolt and Sandra Dwyer are stressing in their book, Critical Thinking: The Art of Argument: "You don't know your own thoughts unless you think about them"(Rainbolt, Dwyer, 2011). Furthermore, I am capable of self-analysis and try to consider the origins and also the consequences of my thoughts. In a dialogue, I always look for logic.

When I am having an argument with someone, I try to present and state the premises to my conclusions in a clear and logical manner. However, I am opened for debate and aware that my arguments may be wrong. I am a good listener and willing to give in and recognize my mistakes. In the case that I am right, though, I can support my conclusions with a diversity of facts and different points-of-view. I can easily spot weak argumentation.

I agree that people are entitled to a difference in tastes and never try to impose my preferences to someone else. I am also carefully choosing my words when transmitting a message of any kind, being aware that without grammar rules, clarity and logical thinking, communication is worthless. John Stratton emphasizes "the necessity of clear perceptions and careful use of language in our lives," something that Aristotle had stressed as essential more than two millennia before him (Stratton, 1999).

I consider myself a critical thinker because I use my creative ability to see how to connect different pints in an argument and am able to take different positions when considering a fact, in order to have a broader understanding of a topic. I never rely on "hearsay" to build my arguments. If someone has made me doubt my own argumentation, I will go back and reconsider my sources, comparing and contrasting them to supplementary ones.

When I need to take a decision, I try to be impartial and as objective as possible, but I also keep in mind I am dealing with human beings and not with machines. I am aware that I am subject to failure and the fact that I can also be wrong is what gives me the certainty that since that all human beings are flawed and I am a human being, I am flawed. 2.

The fact is: the organization could not go into a woman's house, crazy or not, point a gun at her and shoot her. She had not committed or been convicted of any crime whatsoever and besides having put her own well being at risk, she had not harmed any one else. Since a court order for her apprehension had been issued, once could assume that there were competent people involved in the decision, therefore the decision was right.

On the other hand, the court order was solely based upon concern for her own safety and not upon concern for others. That is why, under no circumstances could the officers have been justified to harm her or shoot her. After all they were supposed to apprehend her in order to protect her. Harming or killing her would have made no sense. On the other hand, the officers were acting according to the law. They were supposed to follow orders, unconditionally. It was their duty.

Not following orders meant they could loose their jobs. Spending time, money and all the efforts to take a crazy woman away from her own home and put her into a mental health institution, for her own good may seem exaggerated and the media could point a finger to those officers and even ridicule them for not being able to solve the situation for 39 days. The taxpayers were likely to.