Critical thought

Critic, Critical, Criticize, Criticism, Critical Thought

• assessment, discernment, judgement of value, merit or worth
  • can be positive or negative judgment
• from:
  • Greek kritikos for "able to make judgments,"
  • Greek krinein for "to separate, decide"
  • Latin criticus for "a judge, a censor, an estimator"
  • PIE origin root *krei- "to sieve" or to sort, to filter, thus "discriminate, distinguish"

• critical
  1. a dangerous situation or point of crisis , as in a situation that requires assessment, discernment, judgment, and decision
  2. negative, judgmental, or disapproving, as in a negative judgment or assessment of worth or value

• note that "criticism" or "critical" comments/feedback is not intended to be an insult
  • instead it is a judgment or assessment of value
  • to be "overly-critical" means to underestimate or ignore the value in something or someone
• critical thought, then, is the ability to honestly, fairly, and thoughtfully judge
• "crisis" in Chinese =

Chinese characters for crisis (traditional and simplified Chinese)

• = combination of two characters:
  • danger
  • + opportunity