tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071936218849577375.post5925531404570233169..comments2024-03-19T23:20:47.782-07:00Comments on Unintentional Irony: Everyone Knows This is Now HereJames Killushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08265296146264452333noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071936218849577375.post-38954957258182967742017-08-07T20:36:59.061-07:002017-08-07T20:36:59.061-07:00Quantum Binary Signals
Get professional trading s...<b><a href="http://signals.syntaxlinks.com/r/QuantumBinarySignals" rel="nofollow">Quantum Binary Signals</a></b><br /><br />Get professional trading signals delivered to your mobile phone daily.<br /><br />Follow our trades NOW & <b>gain up to 270% daily</b>.Bloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07287821785570247118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071936218849577375.post-17679355331041078202007-08-11T04:32:00.000-07:002007-08-11T04:32:00.000-07:00"Creationism" wasn't meant as bait, but as the kin..."Creationism" wasn't meant as bait, but as the kind of example that might be both clear and appealing.<BR/><BR/>The reason it all seems so abstract is illustrating how it would be taught woul;d make the comment impossibly lengthy, but you're right to single out your debate class - teaching this kind of thing is a practicum, more akin to a coached sport than a classroom lecture. Depressing you think that teachers aren't capable and students aren't inclined, but that's not to assert you're not right to say it. And, yes, contagion - but can't start a fire without a spark, as the bard would say - and there's very little to lose. I can't imagine you'd mourn the displacement of large chunks of what goes on in the typical 4000 hours of secondarily education.TStockmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14429662359024503711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071936218849577375.post-39750240581791555502007-08-09T13:54:00.000-07:002007-08-09T13:54:00.000-07:00We'll skip the question of whether or not I meant ...We'll skip the question of whether or not I meant "ego ideal" lightly (I usually take my Freudianism a little more seriously than that), and I'll even slip past the baited "creationism" hook without a nibble.<BR/><BR/>My criticism of your list of educational goals would be that it begins at far too abstract a level. To make a specific point: many of the things that concern you are matters that I encountered in my high school speech class as debating tactics and logical fallacies. That essentially harkens back to the older teaching of "rhetoric" which I think is a fine thing, but which may not appeal to the general student.<BR/><BR/>Similarly, I'd note in response to your addendum message that the use of statistics is a very complex and complicated subject, and I doubt that it can, in and of itself, be taught generally.<BR/><BR/>But mostly, I think that critical thinking is one of those matters that is spread more by contagion than education, and there the idea of a general program tends to fail. Finding teachers to pass it on to students would itself be difficult and identifying those teachers might cause more harm than good. It is those sorts of teachers who are most at risk of dismissal in any school system, not the incompetents, and I might prefer that they be allowed to continue their subversive work covertly.James Killushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08265296146264452333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071936218849577375.post-22994995129048875002007-08-09T04:52:00.000-07:002007-08-09T04:52:00.000-07:00As you noted, on the face that's a question that r...As you noted, on the face that's a question that reaches tautology, unless I want people to think in a way I don't or don't aspire to - in order to take advantage of them, for instance - or to allow myself to live in a fantasy world becuase everyone else has their collective feet firmly planted in reality. Using "ego ideal" is just persiflage. But let me see if I can give you a real (i.e. not an NFL high school debater's) answer.<BR/><BR/>I don't expect "critical thinkers" doing what I suggest here to end up appreciably closer to my personal sense of ethics, political preferences, or metaphysics, insofar as I have metaphysics. Instructions not to step off a busy city street against the red isn't a suggestion where to go in the city. As a minor kind of example, my conceit is this kind of "critical thinker" wouldn't endorse "creation science" but that doesn't mean he or she couldn't be a consistent, believing creationist. Unlike the Rand of Atlas Shrugged - or the Tolstoy of Anna Karenina, I guess - I don't believe the better you think, the more you will be like me. In yur terms, I don't think critical thought leads to aunitary critically thought out conclusion.<BR/><BR/>Let me turn the question around - do you think what I suggested wouldn't be a valuable part of a general educational program. Or, conversely, do you think it's already being done?TStockmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14429662359024503711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071936218849577375.post-76092966346175524052007-08-07T10:25:00.000-07:002007-08-07T10:25:00.000-07:00So which of the principles you have listed do not ...So which of the principles you have listed do not correspond to the way you yourself think? Do any of them not line up with your own ego ideal or the way you try to think? Exactly how are you not trying to get people to do things your way?James Killushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08265296146264452333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071936218849577375.post-75273283342165831302007-08-07T05:21:00.000-07:002007-08-07T05:21:00.000-07:00Oh, and good and bad research designs. Use and mi...Oh, and good and bad research designs. Use and misuse of statistics. Philosophy of science.<BR/>Really Stupid Ideas Throughout History.TStockmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14429662359024503711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071936218849577375.post-11091198931212370362007-08-07T05:14:00.000-07:002007-08-07T05:14:00.000-07:00I guess I'd start out with the notion that while I...I guess I'd start out with the notion that while I'm going to inevitably start with premises and questions, that critical thinking is more like learning the play basketball than mastering a subject at the secondary school level - hitting a basket once is meaningless and there is almost no end to what practice can do. So, the first lesson would be:<BR/><BR/>For the rest of your lives, people will be trying to get you to do things their way. They may be deliberately deceitful, but more commonly they will be simply conveying their own self-interested or otherwise unexamined ways of thinking. They have a variety of methods, and my only goal is you realize what they're doing, so you can give informed, fully aware assent when inclined to assent.<BR/><BR/>The first step is to try to discern what interest your interlocutors may be pursuing - why do they want what they want/ Is thier individual or collective advantage? <BR/><BR/>The next area to consider is the usefulness and limits of what you consider to be <I> authority </I>. This is primary because we can only know and see so much as individuals, and some amount of trust is required so as to avoid a reliance on immediate experience nearly as restrictive as solipsism.<BR/><BR/>Do you concede <I> any </I> normative authority? That is, do you believe that any given individual or collective has a privileged position on ultimate should questions for you, apart from propositional or narrative arguments? If so, are there limits to the authority or ways in which the authority can be lost? How do you establish limits when conceding authority. Do you have adequate vision of the person or people in authority to see whether they are operating within the limits you've established and are conducting themselves so as not to lose that authority, if you believe it can be lost.<BR/><BR/>On questions of fact or theory, what constitutes valid authority for you? Do you trust authority in a circular manner - that those who are normatively agreeable to you also are unassailable authorites in these other matters? Do you allow authorities whose credentialsd are clear in one area to convince you by their own convistions in areas where their authority is weaker or nonexistent? When you agree with an authority, have you looked for the best possible authority 0 not the atrawman or even the lowest common denominator popularizer - on the other side and considered what they had to say? Have you looked for the most despicable or extreme advocate on your side to ensure you know where a line must be drawn to avoid self-caricature?<BR/><BR/>For arguments that seem propositional: What are the logical fallacies? Are you being given dichotomies?<BR/><BR/>For any discursive discussion: what do the words mean, particularly abstracts and coolectives. Have you done some Wittgenstein - or at least Orwell -on those terms? Are they constant? If they are defined uniquely to the argument, are you important emotional baggage from other uses?<BR/><BR/>Are you being flattered? Pandered to?<BR/><BR/>On narrative arguments (like the discussion of Atlas Shrugged above) - how does the presentation differ from how you view the real world? What oversimplification of loading-of-the-dice do you se? Are emotional effects honest - the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Does the resolution seem inevitable in real world terms, likely, possible, or impossible> How will an unrealistc resolution, if you respond to it emotional, change your view of issues.<BR/><BR/>For various emotive appwaks: are you being called names? Are you responding to shame when you still reject the cognitive argument? If you make judgments on the basis of social considerations, are you aware of this and accept it? If you fit too neatly into an ideologicval category it is likely you are responding in this fashion, since there are many, many ways to tranche up the issues.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, like that. There are a lot of useful method texts and of course I believe this approach shuold be the kernel of an approach to to all primary and secondary texts on the liberal art/social science side of things. I think that students ought to do an analysis of a contemporary political speech or editorial every week. I think they need to do it to a book or movie every week, I think they need to do it to a commercial or an internet come-on every week. U think especially they need to do it to every common "inspirational" text,<BR/><BR/>But of course there needs to be the Socratic admonition as well:<BR/><BR/>What are cognitive biases? What are some examples in your own life? If you were raised uniculturally, what are some of the things you're likely to see less clearly? How do Europeans think? What's the best case you can make for Mideast terrorists?<BR/><BR/>Do you believe in reciprocity *whatever variety of the Christian/Kantian/Rawlsian/whateverGolden Rule? If you do not, do you acknowledge this openly, or is prevarication part of the you-against-the-world war? Do you accept or reject others' "right" to treat you without reciprocity?<BR/><BR/>Okay,see, sorry p this goes on for a long time. Critical thinking about personal relationshops. Critical thinking about finance.<BR/><BR/>Hey, does this count ad boring stuff or spam?TStockmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14429662359024503711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071936218849577375.post-24553607842462579492007-07-31T11:45:00.000-07:002007-07-31T11:45:00.000-07:00tstockmann,Only spam and other boring stuff is unw...tstockmann,<BR/><BR/>Only spam and other boring stuff is unwelcome here. I'd be interested in what you have to say about the matter.<BR/><BR/>I will note that my implication was that "critical thinking" is invariably self-referential. What would one make of a person who does not follow what they themselves believe to be "critical thinking?" Nevertheless, it is my observation that many "critical thinkers" do not agree among themselves on what constitutes critical thought, much less what constitutes a specific critically thought out conclusion.James Killushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08265296146264452333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5071936218849577375.post-11548525911473190072007-07-31T02:50:00.000-07:002007-07-31T02:50:00.000-07:00It is truly refreshing to read something the impli...It is truly refreshing to read something the implies the contrarian - not to say crank - position that the public educational system in the United States may not be failing.<BR/><BR/>Of course the implication there isn't something valuable called "critical thinking" apart from the way you or I - may operate is just silly. Would a lengthy comment about what such an approach might look like be unwelcome?TStockmannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14429662359024503711noreply@blogger.com