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"Thinking" in Popular Culture
We have said so many good things
about critical thinking that you might have
the impression that "critical thinking" and
"good thinking" mean the same thing. But
that is not what the experts said. They see
critical thinking as making up part of what
we mean by good thinking, but not as being
the only kind of good thinking. For example,
they would have included creative thinking
as part of good thinking.
Creative or innovative thinking is the
kind of thinking that leads to new insights,
novel approaches, fresh perspectives,
whole new ways of understanding and
conceiving of things.
The products of creative thought include some obvious
things like music, poetry, dance, dramatic
literature, inventions, and technical
innovations. But there are some not so
obvious examples as well, such as ways of
putting a question that expand the horizons
of possible solutions, or ways of conceiving
of relationships which challenge
presuppositions and lead one to see the
world in imaginative and different ways.
The experts working on the concept
of critical thinking wisely left open the entire
question of what the other forms good
thinking might take. Creative thinking is
only one example. There is a kind of
purposive, kinetic thinking that instantly
coordinates movement and intention as, for
example, when an athlete dribbles a soccer
ball down the field during a match. There is
a kind of meditative thinking which may
lead to a sense of inner peace or to
profound insights about human existence.
In contrast, there is a kind of hyper-alert,
instinctive thinking needed by soldiers in
battle. In the context of popular culture one
finds people proposing all kinds of thinking
or this-kind of intelligence or that-kind of
intelligence. Some times it is hard to sort out
the science from the pseudo-science – the
kernel of enduring truth from the latest
cocktail party banter.
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