Relationship Between Critical Thinking and Ethics Essay

Critical thinking and ethics tend to go hand in hand and are both used on a daily basis in our decision-making process. Our personal ethics will play a part in our critical thinking and its steps. Part of the critical thinking process is to evaluate all of the information we have gleaned. Ethics will automatically insert themselves into that process. As we evaluate the information, our ethics will determine which information is accurate and which information best fits our Ethical Lens Inventory. This relationship will lead to a creation that is within the scope of our ethics. Understanding the Relationship To fully understand the relationship between critical thinking and ethics we must understand critical thinking and its steps, our Ethical Lens Inventory, how ethics influences our decisions and how ethics applies to our professional and societal responsibilities. Critical Thinking Critical thinking is taking in all of the facts available to you and evaluating those facts to reach a concise decision. There are six steps in the critical thinking process. The first step is remembering. Remembering is the base for the follow on five steps. Remembering is the ability to recall key details and facts on the information you have reviewed. The second step is understanding. Understanding is the ability for you to take what you remembered and put it in your words. The third step is applying. Applying is the ability take the information and create a product or result. The fourth step is analyzing. Analyzing is the ability to break down your idea into parts. The fifth step is evaluating. Evaluating is taking the information you have and rating its truthfulness and usefulness. The sixth step is creating. Creating is the culmination of all the previous steps to produce a  result. Ethical Lens Inventory My Ethical Lens Inventory is Rights and Responsibility. I use my reasoning skill to determine my duties as well as the universal rules that each person should follow. My blind spot is the belief that motives justify methods. In this way, I tend not to use emotion but rather stay emotionally detached when applying ethics. People around me tend to think of me as callous and emotionless when making an ethical decision. Sometimes this can frighten or upset them, even though this is not my intention. Once people around me begin to understand my ethical lens inventory, they tend to respect me more and stop being frightened or upset. How My Personal Ethics Influence My Decision Making My personal ethics influences every decision I make. My personal ethics were acquired throughout my life and have become a part of who I am. They were instilled upon me through mentors, friends, loved ones and life experiences. None were forced upon me, and I made the conscious decision through these actions to choose what best suited me. Because of this, more often than not when making a decision my personal ethics are automatically inserted just as if I had taken a breath. My personal ethics helps me when making a decision by providing a guideline to the outcome of the decision, however this is not always the case. There are certain times and situations where I will consciously â€Å"bend† my personal ethics. However I bend them they remain within reason. How Ethics Apply to Professional and Societal Responsibilities Ethics means a great deal when we apply them to our professional and personal life. When people see the decisions we make and how we conduct ourselves they form opinions about us. This opinion can lead them to believe we are a good co-worker, boss, friend or lover. With poor ethics this can have an opposite effect. There are people who do not have good ethics, or choose to ignore them, who may try to influence our ethics. Being true to your ethics will only strengthen your resolve. Applying ethics in your professional life can lead you to be successful. The same can be true when applying ethics to your societal life. Consistency plays a significant role in this. You must remain consistent when applying your ethics. Failure to do so will lead some to think you do not have a good  ethical standard.