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How to Be a Critical Thinker 3

How to Be a Critical Thinker 3

Last updated on: June 20, 2026 at 4:40 pm by Roger E. Olson

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How to Be a Critical Thinker 3 2026-06-20T16:40:06-05:00 Roger E. Olson

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This is part 3 of a series of essays about how to be a critical thinker. We need more people to be that. I have always been one and have suffered for it. And yet, I don’t regret being one. Throughout my education and career I have had a greater degree of acumen than most of my peers. Why? I attribute it to my voracious reading. Reading wires the brain to think critically. I assume that IF I had played video games instead of reading I would not be a critical thinker, at least not to the same extent.

Critical thinking helps a person avoid being manipulated. And a person who can resist manipulation can and should help others avoid it. Demagogues abound and not only in politics. Advertisers are often demagogues in that they manipulate people to buy or invest or whatever, even when that is not in their own best interest. “You deserve beautiful hair! And only this product will give it to you!” What utter nonsense. And yet many people fall for it.

In previous posts in this series I talked about some habits that enhance critical thinking. Reading, and not only graphic novels or harlequin novels. Read both fiction and nonfiction. Read some great classics twice. Read biographies.

Develop a posture of suspicion, especially toward authoritative voices that seem to demand your attention and acquiescence. Those are two of them.

I continue.

Examine and interrogate presuppositions. When a message seems to demand your obedience or even just acquiescence, ask yourself what it presupposes. Does it presuppose, for example, that life is better, more fulfilling and fulfilled, with accumulation of material possessions? Does it presuppose that everyone actually deserves material possessions beyond what is necessary for a good life? Does it presuppose that all of life’s important questions can be answered by science alone? Etc., etc. Don’t take any message simply at face value. What’s behind it? What does it assume and presuppose? Are its presuppositions true?

Watch out for and reject manipulative euphemisms. “Patriot Act” is one of my favorites. But there are many. “Economic freedom.” “Make America Great Again.” They abound. “Economic freedom” is an often-used euphemism for neo-liberalism, absolute free market economics.

Finally, for now, avoid allowing critical thinking and healthy skepticism to become cynicism. Somewhere I have my junior high school yearbook. In it ninth graders leaving junior high school for high school are labeled something. The caption under my picture and name says “Most Cynical.” I hope it’s not true. I don’t think I was then or have ever been really cynical. I think my peers who created the yearbook misunderstood my skepticism for cynicism. Cynicism is pathological even if there is a lot to be cynical about. It is an unhealthy posture in life that makes a person “check out” from public life and lean toward solipsism.

There is a difference between healthy and positive skepticism and cynicism. Of course, the latter can be aimed at a particular group such as a political party, but it should not be aimed at everyone everywhere always. Real cynicism does that. It’s unhealthy. Skepticism, however, can be healthy if it is tied to critical thinking and is not just a habit as in “Show me; I’m from Missouri” or “Believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see.”

*Note: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is relatively brief (not more than 100 words), on topic, addressed to me, civil and respectful (not hostile or argumentative), and devoid of pictures or links.*

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