Critical Thinking is the ability to think problems through. You must be able to apply your knowledge to different situations, to find a suitable answer to a complex problem. It also includes answering questions creatively and thoroughly.
As for my critical thinking, I have included a journal below. In this journal, I scored "Work Ethic 5/5, Written Communication 5/5, Critical Thinking 5/5", and "Good Job."
The original journal prompt:
Please read Federalist #10 [A copy of this document is here]. This piece was written by James Madison in order to promote the ratification of the constitution.After reading thoroughly, please and the questions with complete sentences.
1. According to Madison. what are the two ways in which the effects of factions can be minimized?
The two ways that factions can be minimized is by removing the causes and controlling the effects.
To remove the causes, we can take away the rights of the people, or by making everyone feel the same way about everything. We can't take away people's rights, that is worst than the original problem. Making everyone think the same about everything would be impracticable, and stupid. (Orison Welles). Since people think differently about different things, there will always be controversy.
If a faction is a minority, we can give this faction relief by "the republican principle", which lets the majority defeat the minority. However, there are issues when the majority is in the wrong.
2. Summarize Madison's argument in four or five sentences discussed in the 8th paragraph; beginning with " No man is allowed to be the judge..."
Nobody should judge himself, because his self interest would bias his integrity. Likewise, groups of people cannot judge themselves because they can still be biased. People cannot be both judges are parties at the same time. However, this issue cannot be avoided because the parties are the only ones who can judge themselves.
3. What is the difference between a pure democracy and a republic?
In a pure democracy, the people represent themselves in government. Each citizen has a direct voice. In a republic, people elect other citizens to represent themselves.
4.What are the benefits and disadvantages of a large and small republic, respectively?
In a large republic, a few corrupt politicians may be suppressed by the others. However, with larger republics, things may become confused, and so the size must be limited. In a large republic, it is harder for the candidates to deceive the citizens.
5. How does Madison's argument relate to our current project? (Think about the different factions involved in the conflicts....)
A major problem with conflicts is that often there is a weak minority (Who is in the right) that is being oppressed or abused by a larger majority. In conflicts between nations, it is hard to relate Madison's writing because there are no common voters, for the most part, any judging citizen will almost always have a bias towards his side, as highlighted by Madison. Madison's arguments do not apply to imperialism-related conflicts. However, his arguments do apply, and were, indeed, designed for, factions inside single entities.
6. Do you agree with Madison? Why or why not? ( be specific)
I agree with Madison for the most part, however I found his verbiage, "each representative will be chosen by a greater number of citizens in the large than in the small," to be unclear. It is counterintuitive to suggest that with 100 representatives, each representative will be chosen by more citizens than with ten representatives. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that citizens vote for multiple representatives, but Madison does not state this fact specifically.
Something that must be disagreed with is the suggestion that a faction would be sustained in only one state -- history shows that the issue of slavery was held in several states and almost permanently destroyed the union.
This journal is a significant piece of evidence for critical thinking because it demonstrates thoroughness in answering all of the questions, it cites evidence, and has creative answers.