PHL 458 CRITICAL THINKING | | Week One Assignment | | |

The definition of free will is; the power of making free choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an agency such as fate or divine will. We use free will to form thoughts by allowing ourselves to completely let go of all external and internal influences to create a free will thought. Truth is defined as; “is what is so about something, the reality of the matter, or as distinguished from what people wish were so, believe to be so or assert to be so.”Ruggiero, 2009 in other words a statement proven to be or accepted as true. We use the truth to form ideas or thoughts but must then test that thought or theory for it to be a truth then we can add to that truth or validate that truth. The definition of knowledge is the facts, feelings or experiences known by a person or group of people. We use knowledge to form thoughts by using understanding gained through experiences, observations or from report from other people to form our thoughts. The word opinion is defined as; a belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof. We use our opinions to form thoughts by one, expressing our likes and dislikes and by our personal judgments. There are three major hindrances to the critical thinking process and they are; mine is better habit, conformity and generalizations (stereotyping). One method to overcome some of these hindrances is to first examine your first thoughts or first impressions of an issue or problem. By examining these impressions closely you will be able to determine if a bad habit like stereotyping or mine is better is interfering with your critical thinking. Another method to overcoming some of these hindrances would be to think about what you think about. Put thought into every thought that comes to you mind and examine where it came from. I experienced a hindrance in my critical thinking when I had to send an email to my supervisor about a situation with a customer and I did not give her detailed description of the account. A method that could have been used to overcome the hindrance would be to think about what I am thinking about. I could also have avoided the hindrance if I would have written down details of the situation right after it happened to avoid giving my supervisor generalizations of the situation.

A situation in which critical and creative thought could have been used for a better outcome is when I had to vote for a particular candidate who was running for office for the local state government. I gave my vote for the candidate that my union was supporting. I did not look into or research what the candidate and find out if his views were similar to mine. This is called conformity. To not think about something in order to belong to a group to risk of being different. It is important to think critically when voting for someone because their views and ideas could be totally opposite of what you believe in. In my situation the candidate vetoed a very important bill that I felt strongly about. I witnessed an advertisement about Newport’s cigarettes in a magazine which showed a couple at a park and they were smiling and laughing in the picture. The advertising company was trying to show that if you smoke their brand of cigarettes, your life will be a walk in the park and you will be happy. I perceived this advertisement as the very opposite. I perceived the advertisement as the cigarette company trying to trick the people into thinking that smoking is a good thing. This was the reality of the advertisement. My perception was the reality of this message.

References
Author: Vincent Ryan Ruggiero, the Art of Thinking. A guide to critical and Creative thought Ninth Edition page 3-7 chapter 3.