In today’s learning the emphasis on developing critical evaluation is really high, as it allows people to sort out knowledge and find the best ways for solving different tasks. The term critical thinking was one of the key terms in Karl Popper’s philosophy. According to his evolutionary epistemology, every living organism acts as a problem solver (Champion and Gladish, 2018). At the same time, data from the outside world is used to confirm or refute hypotheses that a living organism pre-sets. Thus, knowledge is always the result of eliminating poorly adapted hypotheses or adaptations.
The principles of critical thinking have been elaborated for centuries. The most well known of them are the principle of minimalism and the principle of universalism. According to the minimalistic principle, critical thinking tries to achieve maximum success using a minimum set of means. The universality of critical thinking refers to people’s ability to develop generalized schemes of a certain activity that are applicable to behavioral situations of various types. Other principals of critical thinking include its systematic and complex character, the consecutive way of reasoning and its multi-level nature.
Most often I use critical thinking when I go shopping. Seeing attractive advertisements on social networks and enticing goods on shop shelves, I am tempted to buy things I do not really need. Seized by such an impulse, I begin to analyze the situation, thinking what I need these goods for, whether I have alternative things at home, or whether it is better to wait for a discount to buy them. In the majority of cases critical thinking helps me to filter out my real needs and not waste money on something I have no real necessity to buy.
Work Cited
Champion, Rafe, and Brian Gladish. “Karl Popper’s Contribution to Austrian Economics, the Quality of Science and Critical Thinking.” Journal of Higher Education Theory & Practice, vol. 18, no. 3, 2018, pp. 118-128.