tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post8791591141123726865..comments2024-02-20T12:26:24.682-05:00Comments on language goes on holiday: Critical thinkingDuncan Richterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708344766825805406noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-36666271832198066472012-12-11T20:51:47.636-05:002012-12-11T20:51:47.636-05:00What could possibly motivate someone like our stud...<i>What could possibly motivate someone like our students to want to be more knowledgeable about these kind of things?</i><br /><br />I don't know. I wish they were required to learn about some of them, or had already learned about them in high school. <br /><br />There are people who mistrust intelligence, but I think j. is right that this isn't quite the problem with most of our students. Actually I think everything he says here is right.Duncan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708344766825805406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-17530019503681409422012-12-11T19:30:06.237-05:002012-12-11T19:30:06.237-05:00i would say, not so much intelligence, but authori...i would say, not so much intelligence, but authority which declares itself to somehow rest on intelligence, knowledge, etc.<br /><br />the difficulty seems to be that duncan wants students who recognize the authority of the various things that go into making a modern, reasonable person - scientific consensus, claims grounded in evidence, made without certain kinds of appeals to authority or tradition, assessed with an eye toward how the claims could have been produced or how they could be assessed by others who are not the claimant or the direct recipient of the claim, etc. etc. - but recognizes that this is not something he can bring about on his own.<br /><br />and isn't the content of a stereotypical critical thinking course designed as if it were believed that one could come to acknowledge authority of this sort, or at least be nudged closer toward doing so, with a run-through of a smattering of topics having to do with probability, evidence, bias, informal fallacies, and so on? whereas it seems to me as if the people who do acknowledge this sort of authority do so because they have a history, possibly of a few to several years, of dealing with this sort of authority's characteristic materials, techniques, ways of carrying oneself, probably in high school.j.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09002699528461726304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-54169282352857200122012-12-11T18:41:23.269-05:002012-12-11T18:41:23.269-05:00What could possibly motivate someone like our stud...What could possibly motivate someone like our students to want to be more knowledgeable about these kind of things?<br /><br />It seems to me that part of what you are up against here is a deep mistrust that they have for intelligence. And some of that is triggered by the sheer amount of information that they are flooded by. Giving them more information is bound to make them mistrust you--as if you are out to confuse them even more.<br /><br />Hence my question above: What could possibly make someone like them trust that someone like you is telling them an important truth?Reshefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350527262158734622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-91718247874680013572012-12-11T17:55:46.094-05:002012-12-11T17:55:46.094-05:00Yes, that's right. Some knowledge, too. But it...Yes, that's right. Some knowledge, too. But it is a type of virtue that I think I primarily want to develop (or see developed) in them. And this is what makes the idea of fixing the problem in one or two courses misguided. Duncan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708344766825805406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-52534916920240462932012-12-11T17:52:09.818-05:002012-12-11T17:52:09.818-05:00It's not so much that there is information tha...It's not so much that there is information that I want to discuss with my students so much as that there is information that I want someone to discuss with them. (I do wish I knew enough and had the power to discuss this information with them, but that's a different point.) I want them to be well informed about climate change, evolution, the origin of the universe, and about science in general. Not general scientific facts but what science is, how it is done, and why its results should generally be trusted. I also want them to know about who owns the media, what biases they have or are likely to have, how to spot lies and bull, etc. I cover next to none of this in my classes, because I lack the relevant expertise and it's not what the content of my courses is meant to be. I hope, though, that I do encourage my students somewhat to be less likely to fall for bull, sophistry, etc. Duncan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708344766825805406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-42426487760782378292012-12-11T15:35:43.991-05:002012-12-11T15:35:43.991-05:00I'm not sure I'm following you: What infor...I'm not sure I'm following you: What information do you want to discuss with the students that you don't get a chance to discuss with them?<br /><br />As we are discussing this, I'm thinking of a feature of PI: every once in a while he stops and reflects--makes some meta-response, meta-philosophical, ethical, and so on. I imagine this to be the way informed skeptical tendency should also be cultivated: let the student think something through, and then reflect on what they did. (e-portfolio, here I come!) Reshefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350527262158734622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-7064892287038646602012-12-11T15:29:29.748-05:002012-12-11T15:29:29.748-05:00"Reasonableness" is a name of a virtue. ..."Reasonableness" is a name of a virtue. It seems to me, this is what you might be after: cultivating some sort of intellectual virtue in your student. But it seems to also be fairly complex type of virtue you are after. Patience, courage, generosity... are all part of it.Reshefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350527262158734622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-54009703467785705552012-12-11T14:59:01.474-05:002012-12-11T14:59:01.474-05:00Yes, I like that way of putting it. Would that sho...Yes, I like that way of putting it. Would that show what is wrong etc.? Yes, although not everyone will see that it shows that. Duncan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708344766825805406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-66935348520998442772012-12-11T14:56:39.033-05:002012-12-11T14:56:39.033-05:00Right, that's why I don't do much of it. T...Right, that's why I don't do much of it. That is, I hope that by teaching philosophy I encourage thoughtfulness in my students, which should include a tendency to be somewhat skeptical, to want to have reasons to believe whatever they are told (within reason). But the main things I want them to be skeptical about in an informed way are scientific claims and the media, and I don't teach science or media studies. To sum up: I would like my students to have an informed skeptical tendency. Why, then, do I not try to develop such a tendency in them? Well, to some extent I do, but not to a very great extent because the relevant information is not relevant to the courses I teach. Duncan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708344766825805406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-10883880738026685162012-12-11T14:14:59.798-05:002012-12-11T14:14:59.798-05:00would it be accurate to describe some of these cou...would it be accurate to describe some of these courses as courses in 'reasonableness'? and if so would that show what is wrong with trying to load the students up on reasonableness in one course, or in remedying a past deficit of reasonableness in their educations, to prepare them for future college courses in which reasonableness is a prerequisite?j.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09002699528461726304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-49337416734668776232012-12-11T10:35:41.020-05:002012-12-11T10:35:41.020-05:00But then what about your worry about teaching form...But then what about your worry about teaching form without content? How can one focus on cultivating informed skeptical tendencies without giving the students something specific to be skeptical about? Reshefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350527262158734622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-89172292655823592722012-12-11T08:44:48.537-05:002012-12-11T08:44:48.537-05:00On reflection it's embarrassing to have to con...On reflection it's embarrassing to have to confess that I might not be cultivating those tendencies. Perhaps I am doing so, but what I mean is that I spend very little time talking explicitly about this, and that I am never sure how much of a lasting effect my teaching has.Duncan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708344766825805406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-69910869027950757912012-12-10T16:48:13.220-05:002012-12-10T16:48:13.220-05:00I'm not sure that I am already cultivating tho...I'm not sure that I am already cultivating those tendencies in my students, so that's part of it. I also think it might be a popular course, bringing students to philosophy and showing to everyone else that critical thinking (which everyone agrees is a good thing) is part of philosophy (which not everyone values as much as they might).Duncan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708344766825805406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-16571928815488109492012-12-10T13:13:02.514-05:002012-12-10T13:13:02.514-05:00Whence is the urge to teach a course that’s focuse...Whence is the urge to teach a course that’s focused on critical thinking? – assuming that as it is, you are already cultivating your students’ ‘informed skeptical tendencies.’Reshefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350527262158734622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-73549928092029905772012-12-10T12:53:39.854-05:002012-12-10T12:53:39.854-05:00Thanks, Reshef. Yes, you make a good point in your...Thanks, Reshef. Yes, you make a good point in your first paragraph, and one I would not have thought of. <br /><br />Some people seem to think of all courses as being like a course in calculus or computer programming: passing the course means that you have acquired some specific skill. So if students don't write well we should make them take an extra writing course or two. And if they don't behave well we should make them take an ethics course. Etc. In some cases the absurdity is more evident than in others (although I have known people think this way about ethics, which strikes me as the most obviously absurd case of all). And it isn't absurd in every case (as with calculus or typing). Duncan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708344766825805406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-74982062639608056002012-12-10T11:21:19.761-05:002012-12-10T11:21:19.761-05:00There is one other reason for teaching normal intr...There is one other reason for teaching normal introductory courses to logic: It gives the students a false idea of what logic is (false because it is so very partial). The way in which this is a good thing is that it makes it possible to later give them a sense of what logic really is, and why it is important in the first place: The importance of logic can become clear in the contrast to what they’ve been taught in the introductory course. (I have here in mind Rush Rhees saying about Wittgenstein’s On Certainty that is a book in logic. That this is so, and the depth and importance of this comment, can only be seen by people who took introductory courses to logic.)<br /><br />And I completely agree with what you say about teaching critical thinking across the curriculum. The very notion of a course in critical thinking sounds strange as a course in artistic style. It seems like an attempt to deal with form without at the same time dealing with content. <br />Reshefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350527262158734622noreply@blogger.com