Intellectual Perseverance and Good Thinking
“Having a consciousness of the need to use intellectual insights and truths in spite of difficulties, obstacles, and frustrations; firm adherence to rational principles despite the irrational opposition of others; a sense of the need to struggle with confusion and unsettled questions over an extended period of time to achieve deeper understanding or insight” (The Critical Thinking Community website, 1996).
I define intellectual perseverance as the ability to make intuitive
and reasoned judgments based on a collection of non-biased data with patience
and resolve, regardless of the challenges or difficulties that confront us. Resolve is the key word when speaking of
intellectual perseverance because it means that we enter into a frame of mind
of determination and purpose. This
should be the state of mind that every person adopts when learning anything
new. A desire to be challenged and the
mindset of “get something out of it” are essential in making the learning
process productive and personal.
I feel that intellectual perseverance is important when studying
any new material or topics. As a critical thinker, when learning new
information you are not just reading and memorizing, but also reflecting on the
information. This means asking questions
such as: What is the purpose of this information? How does the information
relate to my own life or experience? Is this information accurate? How does this information relate to
information from other courses? And
most importantly, how does this information resonate with my own beliefs? Asking these types of
questions requires first of all, foresight to think ahead and decide why the
data is important and how you think it can benefit you and secondly, it
requires the insight to be able to discriminate information that does not
resonate with you or that you sense is inaccurate. Intellectual perseverance is
the conscious effort of asking these types of questions when assimilating new
information.
Intellectual perseverance also means having the resolve to continue
searching for the answers to your questions until you feel you have grasped the
truth. I know that in the course of my
academic career I have become very frustrated at times because of my lack of
understanding of certain concepts. Sometimes
our inability to grasp certain knowledge can feel overwhelming. Intellectual perseverance during these times
is necessary because if not, we will give up on the learning process. Real
learning happens when we are able to assimilate the information, rationalize
and discern what is valid, make a conscious effort to make it meaningful to us
and finally believe in our final judgments, regardless of contrary beliefs and
opinions (Nosich, 2012).
Intellectual perseverance is also needed to help us discern
accurate and rationale information from the unlimited resources on the internet
and to identify the sources that are inaccurate or unreasonable and discard
them. It is difficult to distinguish
what information in cyberspace is valid and what is just opinion. The ability to combine intuition with
intelligence are important when you are shuffling through multiple sites and trying
to gain the most accurate and truthful information.
Intellectual perseverance is a crucial trait for any good leader. Leaders are faced with constant conflicting
beliefs, opinions and information. Knowing
how to leverage groups of people with conflicting opinions requires resolve,
intelligence, patience and intuition. A
good leader stands strong in their beliefs yet is reasonable enough to “self-correct”
their beliefs when challenged with new and accurate information (Nosich, 2012). Intellectual perseverance creates awareness,
and an ability to see the big picture. In
essence, a good leader must take off any blinders they may have had and absorb
their environment from all angles, taking in all the information, and using all
the senses. A good leader is able to
challenge any old beliefs they hold for the greater good and are able to make
the tough decisions.
References
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