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A British scholar by the name of Susan Stebbing (1952) once wrote a book on the importance of purpose in thinking. In it she said: "to think logically is to think relevantly to the purpose that initiated the thinking: all effective thinking is directed to an end." We agree. All thinking pursues a purpose. We do not think unless we have something we are trying to accomplish, some aim in view, or something we want. In other words, when humans think about the world we do not do so randomly but rather in line with our goals, desires, needs, and values. Our thinking is an integral part of a patterned way of acting in the world, and we act, even in simple matters, with some set of ends in view. To understand someone's thinking-including our own-we must understand the functions it serves, what it is about, the direction it is moving, the ends that make sense of it. In a word, we must understand that person's purpose.
Of course, much of what we are after in our thinking is not obvious to us. Raising human goals and desires to the level of conscious realization is an important part of critical thinking. In other words, though we always have a purpose in thinking, we are not always fully aware of that purpose. We may have some vague idea of it. Perhaps we have not clearly come to terms with our purpose. For example, everyone's thinking is a product of many influences, most of which we have never thought about. Consider some of the major influences that shaped your thinking (and ours): You were born into a culture (European, American, African, Asian).
You were born at some point in time (in some century in some year).
You were born in some place (in the country, in the city, in the North or South, East or West).
You were raised by parents with particular beliefs (about the family, about personal relationships, about marriage, about childhood, about obedience, about religion, about politics, about schooling, etc.).
You formed various associations, largely based on who was around you, associations with people with a viewpoint, values, and taboos.
Change any one of these influences and your goals and purposes would be different....