"Critical thinking" is a wonderful tool that humans can use to be self-aware and have a better understanding of their surroundings. Consider the questions, "how things happen" and "why the way they are". Paul Herrick is a philosophy instructor at Shoreline Community College which takes a stand that critical thinking has to involve self-examination with a clear truth and honest self-examination because without it our critical thinking gets diluted with believing in something that we hope is true or want it to be true or on what feels good or on what pumps up the ego and validates their self-image. I can agree with Herrick that critical thinking involves self-examination. If I can't question the things around me, how will I be able to know the truth? It begins to give the person a way of discerning between the truth and the lies.
Now, hopefully the critical thinker is open-minded enough to take in the facts whether or not how bad or harsh the truth may be. The only way to move forward is to have a clear and non-emotional response to the truth and facts. Critical thinking serves us in both practical and logical ways but also in the ethical way. Hopefully, the critical thinker would have a strong enough consciousness to be able to ask the question, "is this right or wrong" either before or during the choice is presented to an individual.
As Herrick tells the tale of Socrates, the great Greek philosopher, he explains who he was, how he was, why he was, and the reasons for his death. Socrates said, "The Unexamined Life is not Worth Living!" Herrick tells us how Socrates would go to the "agora" and question people casually "What is truth? "What is justice?", "What is the highest good?" and my favorite, "Why do you believe that?" Socrates was advocating for the examined life, so in my mind the "Unexamined Life is not Worth Living" is a very true statement.
