I am writing this blog on “Effective Thinking process” after spending lot of time in analyzing people and their thinking patterns. This is purely my cogitation and may not match with some individuals.
The thought adumbrated here is not helps directly dealing with the day to day issues or concerns of any one’s life but definitely provide a “Hat ke” approach towards solving a problem. I strongly believe that every problem can be dealt effectively if it is approached right.
We all have learnt a lot in our schools but unfortunately our education system does not teach the epistemology – the theory of learning and knowing. There are generally three types of epistemology
Empiricism (the doctrine that knowledge derives from experience)
Rationalism (the doctrine that knowledge is acquired by reason without resort to experience)
Constructivism (the doctrine that formulate new ideas)
Every one, knowingly and unknowingly exercise all the three methods while thinking- If I am right every one must be thinking more or less in the right/ similar approach but that is not true, it means while thinking people must be emphasizing one of the above philosophy of theory and de-emphasize the other two and hence the difference in thinking comes in however I also think that every knowledge worker must be exercising the above effectively and inadvertently. For some people it is very difficult to exercise the right as we have learn so much in every thinking in a defined direction that we have to fling the learnt and then ascertain the effective thinking methodologies.
Generally the thinking process has a sequence of activities. While we start thinking the first thing we do is define the premises (A statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn) for our thinking (This is to define a path to our thinking) then we ask questions to ourselves (Which is under the same defined premises). Once we are ready with our questions we also define assumptions (and question the assumptions) to answer the questions. Once the questions are ready based on the assumptions we conclude answer by reasoning (logic) and then we also justify the answer based on certain implications and that complete the cycle of thinking however one need to go back and forth several times to complete the cycle effectively. But in the whole process the “effectiveness” comes by practice. One needs to take care while defining the assumption.
The thought adumbrated here is not helps directly dealing with the day to day issues or concerns of any one’s life but definitely provide a “Hat ke” approach towards solving a problem. I strongly believe that every problem can be dealt effectively if it is approached right.
We all have learnt a lot in our schools but unfortunately our education system does not teach the epistemology – the theory of learning and knowing. There are generally three types of epistemology
Empiricism (the doctrine that knowledge derives from experience)
Rationalism (the doctrine that knowledge is acquired by reason without resort to experience)
Constructivism (the doctrine that formulate new ideas)
Every one, knowingly and unknowingly exercise all the three methods while thinking- If I am right every one must be thinking more or less in the right/ similar approach but that is not true, it means while thinking people must be emphasizing one of the above philosophy of theory and de-emphasize the other two and hence the difference in thinking comes in however I also think that every knowledge worker must be exercising the above effectively and inadvertently. For some people it is very difficult to exercise the right as we have learn so much in every thinking in a defined direction that we have to fling the learnt and then ascertain the effective thinking methodologies.
Generally the thinking process has a sequence of activities. While we start thinking the first thing we do is define the premises (A statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn) for our thinking (This is to define a path to our thinking) then we ask questions to ourselves (Which is under the same defined premises). Once we are ready with our questions we also define assumptions (and question the assumptions) to answer the questions. Once the questions are ready based on the assumptions we conclude answer by reasoning (logic) and then we also justify the answer based on certain implications and that complete the cycle of thinking however one need to go back and forth several times to complete the cycle effectively. But in the whole process the “effectiveness” comes by practice. One needs to take care while defining the assumption.
Let me put my thinking and reading in words- the first theory of thinking is empiricism.
The empiricism is the knowledge that comes by experience. No one is born with knowledge. The knowledge is always acquired by experiences and environses, It is never intrinsical to man, it was gained by various means which we name environmental factors and experiences. This means empiricism strongly emphasizes the role of experience and evidences (discovered in experiences) in formulation of ideas while discounting the congenital ideas. Any one emphasize and exercise the empiricism in thinking they use their acquired knowledge and experiences. This could be the reason for similar thinking in two people as they may have acquired the same knowledge by experience.
While you practice empiricism, try justifying the evidences by questioning the facts - what is the evidence of that postulate the fact? How did you derive the conclusion? What assumption you made and that is relating to the evidences? e.t.c; To do this you would need knowledge which you must have profited by experience or by influences of environmental factors. But here one must be careful in honesty in thinking as any evidences (and thoughts) can be messaged in many ways to suit according to one’s solace and this is true in most of the cases. You need to be very skeptical until it is not confirmed with multiple sources and cross citations.
The next theory in thinking is used is rationalism
Rationalism is “any view appealing to a reason or intellect as a source of justification or noesis”, meaning the rationalism is a theory which is touchstone of the truth is not centripetal but intellectual and analytical. There is very thin line difference in empiricism and rationalism. The empiricism is about the knowledge (can be emotive) which can be sensory but rationalism is about knowledge (must be rational) which is more intellectual and analytical.
While practicing rationalism one need to elaborate the esoteric jargons which are often used by empiricists. I understand here that you have sensory data available as knowledge but you have to insist knowing itself the product of thinking rather then perceiving. You do not deny the sensory data incoming to your thinking but you have to value and reserve the fact that you have to think and calculate on this data and if you are able to think and calculate then accept even the sensory information. In case of rationalism you will find two people thinking most similar as the calculation and reasoning has a defined path of rationale.
The last theory is constructivism which is more of an art.
The ability to construct new ideas based on the process of “accommodation” and “assimilation”. Let me explain - Assimilation is when people incorporate the new experience into an existing framework of knowledge (Knowledge stored, retrieved and manipulated - acculturation) which can be failure because of faulty understanding or knowledge. And when individual experiences their internal contradict and they try to reframe the mental representation to fit a new experience. This mechanism by which the failure leads to learning called accommodation. We often fail, but by accommodating this new experience and reframing our model of the way the world works, we learn from the experience of failure, or others' failure.
It is important to note that constructivism is not a particular didactics. In fact, constructivism is a theory describing how learning happens, regardless of whether learners are using their experiences to understand or following the instructions. In both cases, the theory of constructivism suggests that learners construct knowledge out of their experiences. In constructivism “the fact speak for them self is not true” so if you apply this epistemology in thinking many times you need to deconstruct and then construct your thinking to arrive to a better conclusions.
For an effective thinker all three epistemology need to practiced and emphasized correctly and in balanced manner.
The empiricism is the knowledge that comes by experience. No one is born with knowledge. The knowledge is always acquired by experiences and environses, It is never intrinsical to man, it was gained by various means which we name environmental factors and experiences. This means empiricism strongly emphasizes the role of experience and evidences (discovered in experiences) in formulation of ideas while discounting the congenital ideas. Any one emphasize and exercise the empiricism in thinking they use their acquired knowledge and experiences. This could be the reason for similar thinking in two people as they may have acquired the same knowledge by experience.
While you practice empiricism, try justifying the evidences by questioning the facts - what is the evidence of that postulate the fact? How did you derive the conclusion? What assumption you made and that is relating to the evidences? e.t.c; To do this you would need knowledge which you must have profited by experience or by influences of environmental factors. But here one must be careful in honesty in thinking as any evidences (and thoughts) can be messaged in many ways to suit according to one’s solace and this is true in most of the cases. You need to be very skeptical until it is not confirmed with multiple sources and cross citations.
The next theory in thinking is used is rationalism
Rationalism is “any view appealing to a reason or intellect as a source of justification or noesis”, meaning the rationalism is a theory which is touchstone of the truth is not centripetal but intellectual and analytical. There is very thin line difference in empiricism and rationalism. The empiricism is about the knowledge (can be emotive) which can be sensory but rationalism is about knowledge (must be rational) which is more intellectual and analytical.
While practicing rationalism one need to elaborate the esoteric jargons which are often used by empiricists. I understand here that you have sensory data available as knowledge but you have to insist knowing itself the product of thinking rather then perceiving. You do not deny the sensory data incoming to your thinking but you have to value and reserve the fact that you have to think and calculate on this data and if you are able to think and calculate then accept even the sensory information. In case of rationalism you will find two people thinking most similar as the calculation and reasoning has a defined path of rationale.
The last theory is constructivism which is more of an art.
The ability to construct new ideas based on the process of “accommodation” and “assimilation”. Let me explain - Assimilation is when people incorporate the new experience into an existing framework of knowledge (Knowledge stored, retrieved and manipulated - acculturation) which can be failure because of faulty understanding or knowledge. And when individual experiences their internal contradict and they try to reframe the mental representation to fit a new experience. This mechanism by which the failure leads to learning called accommodation. We often fail, but by accommodating this new experience and reframing our model of the way the world works, we learn from the experience of failure, or others' failure.
It is important to note that constructivism is not a particular didactics. In fact, constructivism is a theory describing how learning happens, regardless of whether learners are using their experiences to understand or following the instructions. In both cases, the theory of constructivism suggests that learners construct knowledge out of their experiences. In constructivism “the fact speak for them self is not true” so if you apply this epistemology in thinking many times you need to deconstruct and then construct your thinking to arrive to a better conclusions.
For an effective thinker all three epistemology need to practiced and emphasized correctly and in balanced manner.
dada,
ReplyDeleteamazing piece of work but heady for people like me who are not intellectually blessed..