Explain how the principles of critical thinking can assist a person in making more informed-and hopefully more accurate-decisions in one's everyday life.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Answer is Answers will vary but should include at least four of the following ideas for full credit.
--The principle of falsifiability helps to inform us of the kinds of questions that we can ask and to which we can actually find a scientific answer.
--The principle of parsimony reminds us to focus on the simplest explanation with the fewest assumptions as being the best.
--The principles of replicability and extraordinary claims requiring extraordinary evidence address the ability to verify other people's claims (we need concurrence from independent sources)and that this is especially true when our claims contradict what is "known."
--Extraordinary claims also require stronger evidence because they are asking us to put aside our current beliefs in favour of a new theory that explains both the known and the new information we have gathered.
--We need to have gathered the evidence in such a way that our explanation/understanding is the only possible rational reason for the data (ruling out rival hypotheses).
--We must remember that just because two things are related doesn't mean that one caused the other (third variable explains each,and the relationship we observe comes from that).

Explain How the Principles of Critical Thinking Can Assist a Person