Title: Why Critical Thinking Is So Important - Intercultural Solutions
Headings: Why Critical Thinking Is So Important
Why Critical Thinking Is So Important
Why critical thinking?
The Problem of Egocentric Thinking
The Problem of Sociocentric Thinking
Envisioning Critical Societies
If we want critical societies we must create them.

Content: The failure to think beyond the traditional prejudices of one’s culture. The failure to study and internalize the insights of other cultures (improving thereby the breadth and depth of one’s thinking). The failure to distinguish universal ethics from relativistic cultural requirements and taboos. The failure to realize that mass media in every culture shapes the news from the point of view of that culture. The failure to think historically and anthropologically (and hence to be trapped in current ways of thinking). The failure to see sociocentric thinking as a significant impediment to intellectual development. Sociocentric thinking is a hallmark of an uncritical society. It can be diminished only when replaced by cross-cultural, fairminded thinking – critical thinking in the strong sense. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools, by Richard Paul
Envisioning Critical Societies
The critical habit of thought, if unusual in society, will pervade all its mores, because it is a way of taking up the problems of life. Men educated in it cannot be stampeded by stump orators… They are slow to believe.