Courtney Borg Comp Lit 310 21 November 2013 The Name and Nature of Critical Thinking Critical thinking

is purposeful, reflective judgement. It does not mean that a person who is using critical thinkig skills is negative or cynical. They use judgements, but they are not judging. A true critical thinker will seek out all of the evidence before they make a judgement, therefore a true intellectual would be a critical thinker. Society as a whole could benefit from having intellectuals who are not anti-intellectual, but who uses all of the evidence to make judegments. Those are considered critical thinkers usually have some, if not all of the following habits of mind: they are truth seeking, analytical, systematic, open to all evidence, inquisitive, and judicious. The one habit of mind that this must always have is to be judicious because without it a person could have all of the other habits of mind and make decisions while saying, To hell with the consequences. Being judicious means to make judgements without condemning people, decisions, etc. It means to weigh the consequences against the benefits and then make the decision. For example a critical thinker who is judicious will say we can clone a sheep, but should we clone a sheep? They are the ones that question the ethics of their decisions to determine whether or not they should follow through with them. Without the habits of mind of critical thinking you find intolerance. For example, most academics today would not be considered intellectuals because they are intolerant of all the evidence. They choose to follow empirical evidence only and do not choose to follow any other forms of evidence. A good example of this can be found when it comes to the Book of Mormon.

Many scientists today have said over and over again that it would have been impossible for Lehis family to travel across the ocean to the Americas; they ignored all of the other evidence saying that it could be possible. Such as mythology of the natives saying that their ancestors came from across the sea. The evidence that the Vikings had been traveling to the Americas long before the rest of Europe were said to have discovered the Americas. Yet, now they believe that they might have been wrong according to new empirical evidence in the genetics of Native Americans linking that at least 1/3 of their DNA comes from the Middle East (Handwerk). Proving that it would not be quite so farfetched for Lehis family to travel across the ocean. The National Geographic article that recently revealed these finding was titled Great Surprise. While it is a great surprise for a scientific community that relies completely on empirical evidence, it is not a surprise for the Mormon community that takes more than just empirical evidence. While it can swing both ways, people focusing on purely empirical and people focusing purely on religious evidence, there needs to be a balance between the two and that is where true intellect is found. Without true intellects who use critical thinking and its habits of mind, we become a society similar to the society that Hitler created during the Nazi regime. It is interesting to note that the Nazi regime chose to purge the leaders of the regime of intellects. After the war, the leaders of the regime were tested for their sanity and given Rohrschach inkblot tests. The finding that stood out was that they were the only ones to see chameleons in the inkblots (Ghaemi). These chameleons represent that they wanted to fit in; they didnt want to stand out in the regime and say something different than the rest of the leadership. By removing the intellects, Hitler made it easier for him to remain in power by removing the group of people who would question his authority. If you focus on just one side of evidence, such as the Nazi

regimes leaders, then you lose the ability to make judicious judgments and follow a leader that is not always the best leader. Intellects are the ones who think for themselves, and do not follow the crowd. They do not just follow a leader blindly. In conclusion, critical thinking and the habits of mind that produce critical thinking help create intellects. Those intellects are open to all sides of evidence and are willing to make ethical questions about their decisions and conclusions. If we as a society were to lost intellects and critical thinkers, we could easily fall into a leadership style such as the Nazi regime where everyone follows blindly and tries to blend in. It is important for us to have intellects that are intellectual because they will not follow a leader blindly. They will continue to discover to new ideas, processes, and they will continue to stand up for what they believe is right. That is what makes an intellect, anything besides that is just anti-intellectual.

Works Cited Ghaemi, S. Nassir. A First-rate Madness: Uncovering the Links between Leadership and Mental Illness. New York: Penguin, 2011. Print. Handwerk, Brian. ""Great Surprise" - Native Americans Have West Eurasian Origins." National Geographic. N.p., 20 Nov. 2013. Web.