Critical Thinking : The Myth of the "Right Answer".

The Myth of the "Right Answer".

Is there such thing as a right answer? An answer is dependent on the question. The type of question asked will obtain the appropriate answer. Definite answers often depend on the type of question. There are two kinds of questions that we deal with daily; scientific and social. 

Scientific questions ask about the physical world where things can be measured, sensed, calculated or predicted in some way. These questions give us answers which we can accept readily due to their  predictability and dependability in obtaining answers. Hence, questions about the dimensions of the physical world can be answered dependably and predictably. Scientific questions such as the temperature of a boiling liquid, the mineral content of an ore, the relative distance of a planet in another solar system from the earth and the pattern of brain waves, can all be obtained dependably and predictably. As stated earlier, scientific questions are based on things that can be sensed, measured, studied, observed or calculated.

This is not true of the social world. The social world is the world of human interactions. It is where the tangled Web of human behaviour manifests itself. Questions about human behaviour are not predictable and dependable. This is because human behaviour is not predictable. Thoughts are non physical unlike physical things like wood, gas, minerals and stars. Human behaviour has myriad causes and all we can do is make intelligent predictions, conjectures and guesses as tho why and when certain kinds of behaviour occurs or manifests itself. Additionally, we often want to explanations or descriptions of human behaviour, that we have a preference to know about such as the rate of inflation, the exchange rate, the rate of divorce, the frequency of forest fires, the frequency of juvenile delinquency, or the causes of divorce. As a result, we bring our preferences to discussions of those issues and resist arguments that are inconsistent with them.

Human behaviour is characterised by its controversial and complex nature. As a consequence, the best answers that we can find for human behaviour are usually probabilistic in nature. If we undertake a study on the abilities of meditation to control temper in people, or research into consumer behaviour, we can never be absolutely sure if the results are totally correct or precise or indeed reliable, and the results is true about everyone. We can never be realistically sure of the facts. We will still need a course of action to prevent ourselves from becoming a "hollow man" or a "nowhere woman". 

It is only when we open our minds to the views of others , after being aware that we could be wrong and that there are other views, and that the views we are committed to  are grounded on probability, that we will be open to the reasoning of others. We will at that time be open to persuasion by others. We must be fully cognisant and accept that we could be wrong.

It does not matter intrinsically what types of questions that will be asked, we must be aware of the kind of issues that will demand the closest scrutiny. These are issues where there is always disagreement about. Issues such as the environment, political decisions, animal rights, education polices, etc. are usually what people love to discuss. Issues such as those relating to business, engineering, law, politics etc, are parochial issues often popular to parties interested in them such as business executives, lawyers, doctors, engineers, etc. Th.ere is constant strong disagreement in such issues. There are always several positions supported by good reasons relating to the issues.

Therefore, it is only through discussion using critical thinking and critical questioning that can there be open discussion about various important issues. There are always many points of view and ideas. No answer is ever going to be the right one. Social issues cannot easily obtain dependable and predictable answers. Decisions must always be made in the face of uncertainty. There will be times when we will not have the time or the ability to discover many of the important facts about a decision we make.