Dominique Ricks INT-322-90 Assignment #2 Denise A.

Langely Date Submitted: 09/05/12

The first chapter in out text the Art of Thinking is called Devloping your thinking. The question is how do we as critical thinkers go about doing so? Three key ways to being a great critical thinker is through ones thinking habits, efforts, and discussions. How do we start thinking? Our minds began to come up with various conceptions to problems. If you are a poor thinker you will produce fewer ideas than a good thinker. Good thinkers see things from a broad perspective, while bad thinkers from a narrow one. This opening of ideas is called the production phase. The next phase would be the judgment phase. This is when we as critical thinkers began to closely look and evaluate our ideas. We began to ask ourselves questions and make our personal judgments about the ideas that we have come up with. Part of being a good thinker is that we take our time to do so. Some people are naturally good thinkers, but this knowledge can also be acquired by simply changing up ones thinking habits and attitudes. Maybe youre a person who usually studies alone. You may or may not benefit from studying with others with different views. Different occasions, places, and conditions work for different people. Successful thinkers take the best approach for them by seeing what works for them. Good habits to pick up are consideration of time, places, and conditions. Thinking habits can also transfer to using your feelings to your advantage in coming up with answers, learning to concentrate, and coping with frustration. I would say one of the most important keys is a meaningful discussion. Critical thinking is not simply giving yes or no answers. Critical thinking is for us to go further and give valid explanations for our responses. Ways we can do this is by preparing in advance, setting

Dominique Ricks INT-322-90 Assignment #2 Denise A. Langely Date Submitted: 09/05/12 reasonable expectations, not dominating, avoid speech mannerisms, listen, judge responsibly, and not interrupting. Critical thinking is one of the best assets one can have in their educational journey. Being able to come up with well thought out response is a great quality for all of us to have. By having or learning good thinking habits, efforts, and discussions, we all can get to the point of being good critical thinkers.

Dominique Ricks INT-322-90 Assignment #2 Denise A. Langely Date Submitted: 09/05/12 Application 1.1 a. Violence is better than reason in dealing with dangerous situations. I believe that reasoning should always be the first step when dealing with a dangerous situation. Violence is only necessary as a last resort, not wanting anyone to get hurt b. Only the good die young. I do not believe only the good die young; we have plenty of good people alive today. c. Its human nature to be greedy. In ways I agree, I would not use the work greedy though. As humans it is embedded to go forth in life wanting more. d. Capital punishment is a deterrent to crime. I do not believe that capital punishment is a deterrent. That person and others will not have learned anything by someone dying. e. If people are unemployed, they must be lazy. Theres a job for everyone who really wants to work, This is not true, for the simple fact that our government for those who have had set backs with the law, makes it impossible for them to find jobs. For our youth and their families who have close to nothing, others get pushed ahead. f. Everyone has a value system of some kind. I believe this to be true because whats a world worth living if theres nothing you value. Whether its your family, material things, or a job. g. We know ourselves better than others know us. I believe this to be false, because sometimes it takes another person to show us that we have underlying issues. h. An unborn fetus is a human being. An unborn fetus is in fact a human being, thats just has not been born into the world. It is ones own choice of what to do with their body though. i. If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. I stand behind this because if you cant have a gun registered, than it is true only those who need them for bad reasons will have them. j. Truth is an intensely personal matter: What is true for me is not necessarily true for you. This is very much true because everyone has different personal morals and values. k. Winning isnt everything its the only thing. Winning is far from everything and the only thing. Its great to when, but even better feeling to be happy for someone else. l. Challenging anothers opinion is a sign of intolerance. Challenging anothers opinion can lead to a great discussion. m. Atheists are generally moral people. I would not know because I dont personally know any atheist.

Dominique Ricks INT-322-90 Assignment #2 Denise A. Langely Date Submitted: 09/05/12 n. Censorship is evil. Censorship is very necessary in some cases. Exposure to somethings for people too early own can lead to disaster. o. Black people are better athletes than white people. I disagree. Black might have some traits that enable them to be good athletes, but every black person does not possess these traits. p. The oil companies manipulate gasoline prices. I agree that in fact they do control gasoline prices based on how their doing. q. Getting your feet wet can cause a cold. I guess this expression can be true and false in different cases. In cases of for example marriage, yes it can cause bad things. In an actual case of getting your feet wet, I dont see how that could cause a cold. r. Homosexuals are likely to control their sexual urges as are heterosexuals. I agree with this statement, just because someone is homosexual does not mean they are in any less control than a heterosexual.

Dominique Ricks INT-322-90 Assignment #2 Denise A. Langely Date Submitted: 09/05/12