Critical thinking

[S.A.M.]

Why should I? I could, but why should I?

(I noticed you like to answer with questions, so I figured I would pay you back)

P.S.:We kind of got here into economics. The point is consumers don't need to understand producers. But producers need to understand consumers.

Lets try that again. Why?

 

[Syzygys]

Would that make them happier? Do you think if Americans understood the reason behind high gasprices they were more willing to pay it??

So let's try again, why should the consumer care? Consumers want good products for decent prices and not explanations.

 

[greenberg]

Critical thinking is solely concerned about pragmatism.
No ideology at all is implied.

Pragmatism is an ideology. It's just that we tend to take pragmatism so much for granted that we don't view it as an ideology anymore.

 

[greenberg]

So let's try again, why should the consumer care?

For starters, because it is the environment that the consumer lives in that is getting consumed, and natural resources are limited.

 

[S.A.M.]

For starters, because it is the environment that the consumer lives in that is getting consumed, and natural resources are limited.

Thats an abstract notion to most consumers. You need to be thinking creatively to get there, until it happens.

 

[John99]

I'm confused as to your perspective... are you arguing from the point of view of a theist who believes in the Bible?
I've bolded the bits that confuse me, as your claims of what Critical Thinking can lead to are far more applicable to someone brought up a theist.

Apparently many things i say here give that impression but i have never read the Bible nor was i raised in a religious family at all. I am mostly home schooled but then i did my own research because i did not have regimented curriculum to follow or formal instructor based learning method. And i never met anyone to identify with under similar circumstance so my views seem normal to me mainly because that is how i learned and what i did learn was simply a matter of weather i agreed with what i was reading or not.

 

[Syzygys]

For starters, because it is the environment that the consumer lives in that is getting consumed, and natural resources are limited.

As long as the wasteful product is going to be cheaper, most consumer won't care/afford. It would be the role of the government to promote or make enviromentally firendly products more accessable/cheaper.

 

[S.A.M.]

As long as the wasteful product is going to be cheaper, most consumer won't care/afford. It would be the role of the government to promote or make enviromentally firendly products more accessable/cheaper.

Yeah, thats what I call making assumptions about facts not yet in evidence.

 

[Syzygys]

You want an example? hybrid cars. They cost more, although they are more enviromently friendly.. Do you think poor people buy hybrids on principle???

But anyway, let's get back on topic, one country where we could say critical thinking is/was in place is Russia where playing chess was part of the curriculum...

 

[Jozen-Bo]

Would teaching critical thinking skills and practices in schools be a good thing?

That depends a great deal on how it is done. Before applying critical thinking criteria, we'd better be extremely careful with how and WHO determines WHAT critical thinking is.

 

[S.A.M.]

You want an example? hybrid cars. They cost more, although they are more enviromently friendly.. Do you think poor people buy hybrids on principle???

But anyway, let's get back on topic, one country where we could say critical thinking is/was in place is Russia where playing chess was part of the curriculum...

Yeah, thats a good example. What advantages do chess playing Russians have except for a tendency towards atheism?

 

[Jozen-Bo]

Are we thinking critically here?

 

[iceaura]

If everyone is being trained into doing step by step thinking, who's really thinking? Creative thinking means being daring, uninhibited, revolutionary, unpredictable; critical thinking is conservative, practical, feasible and predictable.

I don't really see how uncritical parroting of dogma became mistaken for critical thinking in this discussion.

There is nothing more revolutionary, or more likely to lead to progress, or more daring in its expression, or less predictable by the conventional wisdom, than critical thinking applied to a status quo that is not making sense any more.

As far as school teaching, creative vs critical thinking to get somewhere is like left foot vs right foot to get somewhere. Or induction vs deduction. Where one sees the most significant lack in the modern young is open to question: myself, I see more induction supported by belief, and less deduction supported by explicit consideration of premises.

 

[Myles]

Would that make them happier? Do you think if Americans understood the reason behind high gasprices they were more willing to pay it??

So let's try again, why should the consumer care? Consumers want good products for decent prices and not explanations.

So how does a consumer decide what a decent price is for any purchase ?

 

[Syzygys]

What advantages do chess playing Russians have except for a tendency towards atheism?

Isn't that sufficient??

So how does a consumer decide what a decent price is for any purchase ?

PP Personal preference. In her example it was like a $20 coffee, I would say that is a bit too high. Though Starbucks is making money on their 4-5$ late, so there must be demand for it...

 

[Myles]

Isn't that sufficient??



PP Personal preference. In her example it was like a $20 coffee, I would say that is a bit too high. Though Starbucks is making money on their 4-5$ late, so there must be demand for it...

So you shop around. But, having made your point, don't overlook the fact that wealthy people would not bat an eyelid at paying $20 for coffee. There is status involved.

Do you not think it odd that people who drive gas-guzzling cars should complain about the price of gas ?

 

[Enmos]

Do you not think it odd that people who drive gas-guzzling cars should complain about the price of gas ?

I have wondered about that myself..

 

[Syzygys]

the fact that wealthy people would not bat an eyelid at paying $20 for coffee.

Sure but they are drinking it because they like it or because they are snobs, not because they want to help the beanfarmer...

 

[Myles]

Sure but they are drinking it because they like it or because they are snobs, not because they want to help the beanfarmer...

You are right. I intend to start a thread on "fair trade" which I know to be anything but fair