Topic Five

Critical Thinking in Commerce

5.0 Introduction

Having discussed logic in the preceding topic,We would now like to

welcome you to the next topic on critical thinking. This is important
because one of the values of studying Philosophy is that it trains a person
to develop a critical attitude of mind. In this topic therefore, we will define
critical thinking and discuss why it is important for students of commerce
to study and develop critical thinking skills. We would also take you
through the obstacles to critical thinking. Welcome.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this topic, you should be able to:-
1). Define critical thinking;
2). Outline the characteristics of critical thinking;
3). Explain the importance of critical thinking to a student of commerce
and;
4). Discuss the obstacles to critical thinking.
5.1 Definition of Critical thinking

“It is not what the man of science believes that distinguishes him,
but how and why he believes it. His beliefs are tentative, not
dogmatic; they are based on evidence, not on authority or
intuition.”

Russell, 1945, p.527.

What is critical thinking and what does it entail?

Critical thinking is thinking in a rigorous manner. It is the process of

thinking things through. It involves reflecting on both sides of the argument
as well as giving an issue careful consideration. It is accepting that you do
not know it all and accepting responsibility in always searching for new
information that can help you understand your world and other people
better.

It is the process that allows you to question why you act in ways that are
destructive to yourself. It allows you to monitor your actions, make
corrections, and in the process improve your life. In essence, it is the
process that allows one to move towards the ideal of living an examined
life.

It entails constantly re-assessing your thoughts and beliefs. E.g. why do

you believe something to be true? Have you seen the facts? Have you
considered the source of the information? The process requires the constant
use of questions i.e. questioning all information passing through the mind
is a critical aspect of critical thinking.

It is the reasonable reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to

believe or do. More precisely, it is assessing the authenticity, accuracy,
and/or worth of knowledge claims and arguments. It requires careful,
precise, persistent and objective analysis of any knowledge claim or belief
to judge its validity and/or worth. It is the ability to think clearly and
rationally i.e. the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking.

You should note that, critical thinking is not criticizing; rather it is an

attempt to evaluate the true value of a given statement or issue objectively.
It is not being argumentative or being critical of other people. Sometimes
it is referred to as problem-solving since thinking is about solving problems.

You should note that, the ideal critical thinker is habitually inquisitive, well-
informed, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in
evaluation, honest in facing personal biases, prudent in making
judgements, willing to reconsider, clear about issues, orderly in complex
matters, and diligent in seeking results which are as precise as the subject
and the circumstances of inquiry permit.

Critical thinking is therefore, the intellectually disciplined process of actively

and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or
evaluating information gathered from, or generated by observation,
experience, reflection, reasoning or communication as a guide to belief and
action.

It is an approach to ideas from the standpoint of deliberate consideration.

This means that you hold an idea or issue at arm’s length and examine it
before accepting it. It is a habit of cautious evaluation, an analytic mindset
aimed at discovering the component parts of ideas and philosophies. The
question to ask at this stage is; how can one recognize critical thinking?

Critical thinking includes a complex combination of skills. Among the main

characteristics are the following:
 Rationality
 Self-awareness
 Honesty
 Open-mindedness
 Discipline
 Judgement

In conclusion, critical thinkers are by nature skeptical. They are active and
not passive. They ask questions and analyze. They consciously apply tactics
and strategies to uncover meaning or assure their understanding. They also
do not take an egotistical view of the world. They are open to new ideas
and perspectives. They are willing to challenge their beliefs and investigate
competing evidence. In contrast, passive, non-critical thinkers take a
simplistic view of the world. They see things in black and white rather than
recognizing a variety of possible understanding. They fail to see linkages
and complexities. They also take an egotistical view of the world. They take
their facts as the only relevant ones and their perspectives as the only
sensible ones.

5.2 The Importance of Critical thinking

What is the importance of critical thinking?

Critical thinking is taught at all universities, often put forward by lecturers
as the key skill that can most dramatically improve a student’s
understanding of a course and transform their writing. It pervades
research methods teaching and a range of other core curriculum
elements, in exactly the same way that critical thinking pervades any
discipline, and indeed, life generally. But what is it, exactly, and how can
we apply it specifically to the field of commerce and in life in general?
The following are the specific ways in which critical thinking is valuable to
an individual as well as to the society:-
 It helps a person understand oneself, the world and other people
better.
 It gives one the capacity to conceptualize and analyze ideas.
 Through developing critical thinking skills, one is able to recognize
and avoid fallacies.
 Critical thinking helps improve a person’s communication as it gives
the clarity of thought enabling one to say what they mean and mean
what they say.
 It enables a person to come up with authentic personal beliefs rather
than blindly following other peoples’ beliefs.
 It enables a person to make progress by for example moving away
from prejudices, biases, stereotypes etc.
 It improves our decision-making abilities whether as individuals or
managers. This is because it teaches us not to oversimplify by
resisting any easy generalizations such as either/or thinking.
 It improves our ability to set and rank priorities especially because it
teaches us how to consider other interpretations.
 Critical thinking is important in the area of Conflict resolution and
management as makes us aware of how assumptions might bias and
prejudice our conclusions.
 It improves our ability to make choices from different alternatives.
  In leadership roles it teaches us to examine evidence and avoid
emotional reasoning.
 It teaches us to self-examine thereby leading us towards living an
examined life.
 It helps us develop reasoning skills such as clarification, illustration,
analogies e.t.c.
 It gives us tools of analysis e.g. point of view, purpose, inference,
implications.
 It gives us intellectual standards such as clarity, relevance and
precision.
 It gives us intellectual virtues/dispositions such as fair mindedness,
open-mindedness, confidence in reason, humility, and tolerance.
 It enables us to come up with responsible decisions and judgement.

It is easy to see why William James told philosophy students to

"cultivate the habit of seeing the alternative" in the 1880s. This
advice borders on common sense, yet it never grows old as our foregoing
discussion has shown. We have all seen people make hasty or emotional
and oversimplified judgments or accept ideas that are preposterous or
strange. Obviously it is a good thing to stay open to new ideas, question
old assumptions, and come up with fresh alternatives. In other words,
critical thinking will help you distinguish between true and false claims as
well as generally improve your decision making skills in life if you have
the requisite skills.
5.3 Obstacles to Critical Thinking

Having defined critical thinking and discussed its importance to a

commerce student, I would now like to take you through some of the
obstacles to critical thinking. These refer to those factors that stop or
hinder people from thinking critically.

Blocks to critical thinking impede us from arriving at a reasonable basis

for belief. They are obstacles that we must not only be aware of but work
zealously to avoid following blindly. Otherwise they will thwart our efforts
to become more effective thinkers. There are far too many such blocks to
give a complete list. Instead we will focus on the primary ones. They
include the following:-

1). Prejudice
A prejudice is a pre-judgement or a mental bias which usually rests on
emotional grounds and tends to be in line with self-interest, pride or
comfort.

A prejudice impedes critical thinking by making one:-

 To rationalize i.e. to find reasons to continue to believe what
we value
 To recognize only evidence that is favourable e.g. to our
gender, tribe, group etc.
 To ignore or minimize the part of evidence that is
unfavourable to us
 To overestimate parts of the evidence that is favourable to us
 To see things from our limited point of view
 To be unable to draw accurate conclusions

2). Habit

Habits form when we learn to do things repetitively often without careful

reflection and criticism. Thus through habits we learn to do things only in
one particular way.

Habits hinder our critical thinking by impeding:-

 Our capacity for reflection and criticality
 Making us dogmatic
 Making us blind to alternatives
 Make us recognize only evidence that is familiar to us hence
making it difficult to deal with new and unfamiliar
situations.

3). Propaganda

Propaganda occurs when information is deliberately tainted or manipulated

or distorted by the source in order to achieve a certain predetermined end
such as political, religious or tribal. The propagandist first tries to arouse in
the people some strong emotion or desire and then suggests a line of action
that appears to satisfy that emotion or desire.

Propaganda inhibits critical thinking by:-

 Controlling and manipulating our thinking
 Making it difficult for us to think for ourselves
 Leading us into biased and inaccurate conclusions
  It leads to massmanship or the band wagon argument

4). Authoritarianism
This is the uncritical and/ or blind appeal to authority, leading to uncritical
and unreflective acceptance of authority. This is normally grounded in the
false belief that knowledge is validated or guaranteed by authority. We are
usually led astray by the prestige of authority and even fail to realize when
they speak outside their area of competence. Many people rely on authority
because either they have little confidence in themselves or they are
intellectually lazy
Authoritarianism impedes our critical thinking by:-

 Making us accept things uncritically and unreflectively

 Making us to accept things without question
 Blocking progress in further thinking and
investigation
 Making us surrender ourselves to others to think for
us.

5). Illusions

These occur when we perceive something the way that it is not e.g. a
mirage.

6). Hallucinations

To hallucinate is to perceive something that is not there at all. For

instance, an amputee who keeps crying out that he/she has pain in
his/her leg or arm and yet it is not there.

7). Common sense or Naïve Realism

This is the attitude of being cork sure. You cannot be critical when you
assume that you know enough or too much.

8). Inadequacy of Language

 Sometimes our language cannot capture some of the metaphysical
concepts.

9). Peer Pressure

When one has the need to conform or feel a sense of belongingness with
their peers, they accept things blindly.

10). Loyalty

When we have negative loyalty, it prevents us from criticizing the people

we are loyal to.

11). Societal Values

This involves the fear of what the society will think if for example you
question some of the practices which do not add any value to your life.

12). Intellectual laziness.

Sometimes we just feel lazy to think clearly and choose not to be
intellectually vigilant.

13). Ambiguity.
This means that we have not sorted out our concepts. When there is
confusion in our minds, it is reflected in what we say.

14). Cultural Conditioning.

This refers to the process by which society’s attitudes and values are
passed on to its members. This means that cultures unquestionably
condition their members.

In other words, you and I are to a large degree the products of the
particular place and time in which we were raised. We have been
significantly shaped by the customary beliefs, social forms, myths, taboos,
superstitions and material traits of that setting. The assumptions derived
from this conditioning are so embedded in our view of things that we
probably are not even aware of much of it.
15). Religion and Faith
In most matters of faith, there is no questioning and sometimes this tends
to lead to fanaticism, brainwashing and even radicalization.

16). Influence of the mass media.

This tends to contribute to massmanship as people just tend to ape what
they access through the mass media without reflecting on it.

17). Illiteracy.
The levels of education impact on a person’s ability to reflect on issues that
they cannot understand.

18). Emotions
When a person is emotionally involved with an issue, they cannot see it
clearly and will engage in emotional reasoning.

19). Health

The health of a person whether physical and mental will have its impact on
a person’s ability to think critically.

20). Fear of criticism and the unknown

Many people are scared of the outcome of taking a different perspective or

of being criticized for their position.

21). Resistance to Change

A big block to thinking effectively is the tendency to cling to preconceived

notions, to set ways of viewing and doing things. Take the example of
chain smokers. How do some chain smokers contend with the glaring
statistics that connect smoking to disease? They do this by simply
avoiding such evidence and considering themselves exceptions to the rule
or rationalize their habit so that, in the end, they have more reasons for
smoking than quitting.
Flaws in Reasoning and Arguments: Black & White thinking

From: http://atheism.about.com/od/logicalflawsinreasoning/a/blackwhite
.htm
Consider also:
Distorting reality: Seven ways to misinterpret what is happening
http://www.rational.org.nz/public/BeliefsQuestionnaire/sup5.ht
m

Black and White Thinking

http://www.sideroad.com/Self_Help/black-and-white-
thinking.html

Black and White Thinking

http://www.cuyamaca.edu/bruce.thompson/Fallacies/black&wh
ite.asp

http://www.pearsonassessments.com/hai/images/tmrs/criticalthinkingrevi
ewfinal.pdf.

http://www.apa.org/ed/pcue/reports.html .

http://www.bps.org.uk/system/files/Public%20files/inf209_a_level_web_f
inal.pdf

Summary
We have come to the end of topic five. We have defined critical thinking,
evaluated its value to a student of commerce and to society, and shown
the obstacles that impede people from thinking critically. As noted earlier,
this is not an exhaustive list and you can visit the links provided above for
more details. Our next topic will be on how philosophy deals with some
ethical issues in the society.

Self-Assessment
1).Define critical thinking.
2). Explain the skills that are necessary for critical thinking.
3). Evaluate the importance of critical thinking to a student of psychology.
4). Discuss the obstacles to critical thinking.

Activity
Reflect on your life and identify instances when your critical thinking was
hampered by some obstacles. Write down your reflections.