You have a mind. But do you know to develop it? Are you aware of your basic prejudices and preconceptions? Are you aware of the extent to which your thinking mirrors the thinking of those around you? Are you aware of the extent to which your thinking has been influenced by the thinking of the culture in which you have been raised and conditioned?
In writing about the ideas of others, you can learn to enter the minds of others and appreciate new points of view. In coming to terms with the mind of another, you can come to discover your own mind, both its strengths and its weaknesses. To write the thoughts your mind thinks, you must learn how to do second-order thinking – that is, how to think about your thinking while you are thinking from outside your thinking. But how do you get outside your thinking?
To do this, you first must understand that there are eight basic structures to all thinking. Whenever we think, we think for a purpose within a point of view based on assumptions leading to implications and consequences. We use concepts, ideas, and theories to interpret data, facts, and experiences in order to answer questions, solve problems, and resolve issues.
When we take command of these eight basic elements of reasoning, we gain powerful intellectual tools that enable us to think at a higher level. We understand that whenever anyone reasons about anything whatsoever, these parts are inherent in their thinking. Thus, when you write, you inevitably write for a purpose, make inferences, and think within a point of view. At the same time, your readers have a point of view of their own. They have their purposes, their questions, their assumptions, and their beliefs.
The better you are at understanding the perspectives of your readers, the better you can understand how to explain your reasoning to them. The better you understand someone else’s system of thoughts, the better you can understand your own.
Thinking then:
Ø Has purposes
Ø Raises questions
Ø Uses informatio
Ø Utilizes concepts
Ø Makes inferences
Ø Makes assumptions
Ø Generates implications
Ø Embodies a point of view
When you can move back and forth effectively between what you are writing and what you want your writing to accomplish, you bring what you are thinking to bear upon what you are writing, and you bring what you are writing to bear upon what you are thinking. You change your writing when you recognize through your thinking that improvement is needed – and how it is needed.
