Hi. I’ve had a couple of things on my plate recently. From the professional (The I’ve Got Questions Guided Journal Cohort! Starting a new podcast!), to the personal (running a middle school volleyball tournament! Attempting to be a person in the s-word storm we find ourselves in!), and I’ve been a bit scattered. I took a cortisol test for my doctor a few weeks ago, and I just got the results: girl, your cortisol is in the tank, which is probably contributing to my lack of focus and brain fog, and not early-onset dementia, which is what I was convinced of.
Anyway! Y’all had great questions this week, so much so that I have a little backlog for the upcoming months. But one stuck out to me, and I accidentally took too many words to answer it. As always, this is a two-way street, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.
Q: Re: false teachers. How do we practice critical thinking in today’s surge of people with opinions? - @marycamcarroll
A: I like how philosopher Michael Scriven defines critical thinking: “the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication as a guide for belief and action.”
A little wordy, but it makes its point.
We could probably point many fingers at many different factors for what seems like a lack of critical thinking in our current culture. But I identify two that really stick out to me: pride and distrust.
A lot of critical thinking has to do with taking your time, putting in research, reflection, and flexibility. In his book, The Death of Expertise, Thomas Nichols writes:
“No, the bigger problem is that we’re proud of not knowing things. Americans have reached a point where ignorance, especially of anything related to public policy, is an actual virtue. To reject the advice of experts is to assert autonomy, a way for Americans to insulate their increasingly fragile egos from ever being told they’re wrong about anything.”
Critical thinking has been hijacked by oppositional thinking. It’s become an honor to “do your own research.” Not only that, but we live in America, where individualism is righteous. And when you believe you are righteous (or even holy), there is really no end to what you’ll do or believe to further that narrative. You’re a sheep if you believe what anyone is telling you. Don’t trust anyone but yourself, even your community. You are smart enough and wise enough to manage yourself.
Pride: I don’t need anyone else.
Distrust: I can’t have confidence in anything outside of my own experience.
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