LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP
CRITICAL THINKING FOR ANALYSIS
CREATIVE THINKING FOR SYNTHESIS
Developing Your Own Personal Agenda
For Life In A Complex And Competitive World
This insight has been developed from personal experience.
A professional psychologist, therapist, educator, philosopher or
economist who reads this narrative will complain that I am leaving
out symbols and concepts which are fundamental and essential to
THEIR agenda! The omission is intentional, because the foundation
for each of these disciplines is based on university indoctrination
into a particular "SCHOOL" OF THOUGHT, in mind-boggling contrast to
the stated purpose of university education. Anyway, there we go
again, bogged down in an INITIAL ELITIST AGENDA!
If school administrators emphasized honest scientific
exploration rather than rote DOGMA indoctrination, the
basic skills for CRITICAL THINKING could be learned by
most high school students. Otherwise, the individual is
handicapped for life, and is unable to progress beyond the
limits of "quick and dirty" emotional responses to
environmental stresses.
But, if you want some background on traditional philosophy, here are a few
Philosophy Links.
This is a simple essay, not a labored technical treatise.
Thinking as I mean it here is
CRITICAL THINKING,
as opposed to basic instinctive EMOTIONAL REACTION for
survival. CRITICAL THINKING is far advanced from the
rudimentary, reaction-mode coping processes by which
children try to adjust to their environment.
Thinking starts with language and counting. Animals
communicate by using elementary sign languages. Humans
communicate with symbols and verbal language.
University library references show the highest number of
objects an animal can count. Predators which can count
higher than their intended prey have a distinct survival
advantage.
The foundation for critical thinking is the ability to:
... count items,
... assign relative values to individual items,
... determine logical order based on assigned values, and
... set priorities.
I earned most of our family income during my working years by CREATIVE THINKING, under tremendous pressure to solve terribly difficult problems in impossibly short time frames dictated by paper-pushing administrators with no comprehension of the effort involved or the methods used.
This is the commercial employment lifestyle of an INDEPENDENT ANALYST. There is no reliable COOKBOOK for guidance. To survive on the job under this kind of pressure to produce forces one to question reality, rewrite the BOOK, and coordinate with groups while still maintaining independent responsibility.
THINKING AND BEHAVIOR LINKS
A Skeptical Manifesto on Rational Thinking
Rational Skepticism, a Definition
Great Thinkers and Visionaries on the Net
Critical Thinking Community
NEW DIRECTIONS IN CRITICAL THINKING
NASA Langley Learning Technologies Project
NASA Langley Learning Technologies K-16 Training
REWARDING HIGH SCHOOL PERFORMANCE
Self-Esteem - Based On Reality And Accomplishment
INDOCTRINATION SCHOOLS IN TEXAS
Self-Esteem - Based On Blind Acceptance of Indoctrination
LINKS TO OTHER PROBING IDEAS
They Start Controlling Your Mind
... Then you don't trust your own decisions
Don't Shoot The Messenger ... I did not make the world
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