The Goal of Amaximus, association of citizens

The goal of the association is to provide attendants a comprehensive use of mental potential and achieve more balanced use of both halves of the brain, through the development and improvement of four kinds of intelligence: rational or intellectual intelligence (IQ), emotional intelligence (EQ), social intelligence (SQ) and spiritual intelligence (DQ), as well as improving operational skills of thinking

Amaximus, the association of citizens, gives equal importance on the development of intelligence as well as the thinking, as an operational skill, which is different from intelligence. The goal of the association is, therefore, to promote and develop all four types of intelligence, but also to improve the way in which students and other participants think, through exploring and practicing specific tools for acquiring the so-called thinking skills.

Proceeding from a belief that the information and intelligence are enough, the current situation is such that the education system at all levels, and especially the higher education institutions pay very little attention to the skill of thinking. Intelligence is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a correct opinion. When teaching certain aspects of thinking, it is mainly about logic, critical thinking, analysis and the like. That is an important, but only a small part of thinking. Research conducted at Harvard University showed that 90% of mistakes in thinking are the consequences of the wrong perception, not logic. Nevertheless, the educational institutions, in most, persist in the belief that thinking is only about avoiding logical mistakes. However, it should be noted that if your perception is limited, even perfect logic will provide an incorrect solution. Poor logic contributes to poor thinking. Good logic, however, does not provide automatically good mindset. If perception is wrong, then good logic provides a poor solution. There is even a further danger that good logic gives a false arrogance that supports the erroneous opinion.

Critical thinking is based on an outdated view that analysis, judgment and argument are sufficient. "Critical" comes from the Greek word Kritikos, which means deliberation. Although, the deliberation as a way of thinking has its place and value, it lacks generative, productive, creative and executive aspects of thinking, that are crucial, especially in the business world where the employees are expected to be creative. The Association will endeavor to make attendants understand and accept the fact that one of the greatest shortcomings of the traditional way of thinking is a support to already formed opinion (based on first impressions, disrespect, prejudice or tradition).

Many of today's problems worldwide persist because traditional education mistakenly believes that analysis, deliberation and argument are sufficient. Our success in science and technology is not a result of critical thinking but of the "probability". The system of probability transforms our information to create hypothesis and visions. It provides a framework through which we can observe things, and also the goal to which we aspire. That's the role of critical thinking, because if you know that your hypothesis will be subject to criticism, you will try to empower it. But the critical destruction of one hypothesis has never produced better. Only creativity produces better hypotheses. The Association aims to convince a greater number of participants, it is necessary to abandon the belief that critical thinking is enough. As long as we believe in it, we can not devote enough attention to creative, constructive and operational aspects of thinking.

The Association aims to promote methods that are confined largely to the so-called perceptive thinking. How do we see the world? How can we improve our perception? The perception itself is fixed on what attracts our attention or responds to our emotions. It is necessary to learn the basic directions to guide our perceptions. These guidelines of attention or focus become the backbone for thinking. The guiding idea of the Association is that if you clearly see the world, our thinking and actions have a much greater chance of being appropriate. Perception is how we observe the world around us. Things that we take into consideration. The way in which we structure the world. Intelligence is a potential. Thinking is an operational skill. Thinking is the operational skill through which intelligence acts on the basis of experience. Even highly intelligent people need to improve the skill of thinking, to take full advantage of their high intelligence. Otherwise, much of the potential remains unused. The Center aims to present and introduce participants with ways of expanding and changing perception, as a necessary precondition for inventiveness and creativity. All of this will contribute to the development of cognitive or comprehensive skills.