A look at how we learn to think critically: Free courses by Dr. Hall

Philip Copitch, Ph.D. – 

Author of Basic Parenting 101: The Manual Your Child Should Have Been Born With

Critical thinking is the act of learning how to think, with the knowledge that it is very easy to trick or confuse ourselves. It is being aware we are each vulnerable to mistaken thoughts that we feel secure in. 

For example, in the little video below we see a helicopter crash onto a city street. It fell out of the sky and was captured by amateur video:

Helicopter crash

But, as you can see, our eyes can deceive us. Our mind developed over time in a less complicated environment. Thus, our minds are vulnerable to being "tricked".

The James Randi Educational Foundation, and Dr. Harriet Hall, have developed 10 free video courses looking at critical thinking and medical claims called Science-Based Medicine. The lectures are:

1. Science-Based Medicine vs. Evidence-Based Medicine

2. What Is CAM?

3. Chiropractic

4. Acupuncture

5. Homeopathy

6. Naturopathy and Herbal Medicine

7. Energy Medicine

8. Miscellaneous “Alternatives”

9. Pitfalls in Research

10.Science-Based Medicine in the Media and Politics

There is also a free course guide.

Lecture 1: Science-Based Medicine vs. Evidence-Based Medicine, by Harriet Hall, MD (37 minutes)