the.com/critical thinking
the habit of asking who benefits before you believe anything
means the disciplined practice of evaluating evidence and assumptions before accepting a claim as true
from traces to socrates badgering athenians with questions until their certainties fell apart, formalized in the 20th century as an educational goal after propaganda-heavy wars showed what happens without it
not just skepticismdoubting everything equally is lazy, not critical
trainable skillstudies show explicit instruction measurably improves it
bias resistant, not proofeven experts fall for framing effects
for instance
socratic method — athens, 5th century bce, questions as demolition tools
checklist manifesto — atul gawande, 2009, systematized doubt in surgery
challenger inquiry — 1986 nasa disaster traced to ignored engineer warnings