This material has been developed from personal experience.
A professional psychologist, therapist, educator, or
philosopher 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!
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.
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. My list starts with 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 superiors with little grasp 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.