By: Megan Prats

7/15/2015

Once the student can think critically and thus enter the infinite realm of knowledge what does she see?

The critical thinker’s view of the infinite realm of knowledge is similar to a marionettist’s view of the puppet show. The marionettist is one step removed from the action below and thus from her vantage point, she can see all that is occurring. In addition, because of the marionettist’s position, she can control, to a certain extent, the action that takes place below.

Similarly, the critical thinker enters a space in the mind where all knowledge is visible. Thus, the critical thinker can see (objectively speaking) all the different disciplines on a both cosmic and atomic scale. Because the critical thinker is not blinded by one area of knowledge, the critical thinker is able to pick and choose the knowledge that she applies to her problem according to the problem’s needs; for this reason, the critical thinker can control (aka has autonomy) in regards to how she applies the infinite realm of knowledge to her problem.

Now, the idea is that the student enters this mindset so that she can mentally absorb all that the infinite realm of knowledge has to offer her. The student most likely will never be able to see all that exists in the infinite realm of knowledge at one point in time because it is beyond human capabilities to do so, however, the immense advantage to looking at knowledge in this fashion is to free the student’s mind from any area that would Bias her problem-solving. Therefore, because of this view, the student’s independent thinking can more correctly make the decision on her behalf.

Probably, the best way to explain this existential understanding of where the critical thinker’s mind exists in this space is to analogize it to something tangible, like what I did with the marionette example. The key points that the student is supposed to take away with her is that she needs to mentally put herself in a place where she is one step removed from knowledge so that she can see it all and that because of her position, she can more freely allow her independent thinking to arrive to conclusions on her behalf.

When the critical thinker sits on top of the infinite realm of knowledge, she has a breathtaking view of the infinite possibilities that lie below. This mindset is key to allowing all of the elements of critical thinking as defined by the 2learn® Method to date blossom in the problem-solving process.

© Megan Prats 2015