Critical Thinking. Training Course

Our definition of Critical Thinking could be: Trying to effectively reach the most reasonable and justified position on a matter, to get that it will be necessary to avoid prejudices and to weigh the arguments presented to us, knowing their origin.

Our brain, possibly the most complex construction of evolution on Earth, has allowed us to survive in an environment full of dangers for millennia, but its functioning is very much conditioned by prudence and fear. We must overcome these pre-configurations of our mind and try to think better, critically. We have built an environment very different from that of the first communities of hunters and gatherers that occupied all the planetary ecosystems 20,000 years ago, it is time to evolve our way of thinking.

Why we need critical thinking.

Firstly, because we live in a very complex social system, where social actors need to use all the tools at their disposal to achieve their goals. Individuals, companies or institutions, in order to survive or improve their situation in front of other agents, lie, distort, hide information, manipulate...

On other occasions the lack of reflection makes us make bad decisions, act like assholes, make serious mistakes, fail... Analyzing the data, taking time to think, avoiding bias, will help us be more effective when deciding.

How to work on critical thinking

Within our Skin in the Game project, the first thing is to present the illusions, fallacies and biases, three very common cognitive mistakes that we all make when it comes to thinking.

With these concepts understood, we try to develop communication and critical thinking skills through conversation in its four possible forms:

• Debate, understood as a competitive conversation between at least two sides. The aim is to win an argument or convince someone, who may be the other participant or third party observers.
• The dialogue, which we will define as a cooperative and two-way conversation. The objective is for participants to exchange information and establish relationships among themselves. In favourable conditions it can be the best tool to develop critical thinking, creativity, learning...
• Discourse is a one-way cooperative conversation. The aim is to deliver relevant information from the speaker to the listeners.
• Diatribe is a competitive, one-way conversation. The goal is to express emotions, intimidate those who disagree with us, and/or inspire those who share the same perspective.

These are our projects. We are applying to get European funds and organize them as a linked project with the same partners involved. If your organization is interested, please contact us info@iceforest.net.