Resumen de Efficacy, the heart of critical thinking
Thinking critically is to reach the best explanation for a fact, a phenomenon or problem,with a view to being able to solve it. This definition is the best one that occurs to me for expressing what I believe is the lynchpin of CR*. When understood in this way, I am saying that efficacy is the only true introductory letter to CT*. Moreover, I contend that this is the most appropriate way for attaining suitable wellbeing or personal happiness and therefore to convince ourselves that proper thinking is one of the most interesting activities with which we can entertain and enjoy ourselves, if only for the knowledge it brings. As people, above all we seek solutions to problems, the ways to achieve our aims. For many, thinking must be a tool with which our needs are met. Enjoying knowledge may come later, not before. Before, we must appreciate the need for reflection, and afterwards, when there is nothing better to do, we might end up discovering that knowledge is a goal in itself.But this is only the end of the story, the “sweet spot”, the one we want to hear and the one that persuades us of the goodness of critical reflection. Despite this, in order not to fall into any trap, it is appropriate to recall that stories are always bitter-sweet. It is highly recommendable that we should understand that to reach that goal we must travel the sinuous pathways of effort and perseverance; that without these paths nothing can be achieved and nothing is gained. Developing a good capacity for observation to “discover” relevant facts and accord them a unique meaning, hand in hand with an explanation (which is also unique), demands tenaciousness, dedication and even a certain attitude towards life; namely, the one emerging from the obsession about always finding the exact meaning of things, the one that arises from always believing that the world (including people) is neither just not unjust and that good and evil in the world depend on the nature of the causes underlying them. The “whys” are never neutral and the essence of good thinking rests upon the search for authentic and very unique questions. The thesis I shall defend is therefore quite simple: critical thinking cannot stand alone without unique explanations, the best ones, and maximum efficacy cannot be attainedwithout them.
