Unit 2 critical thinking.docx

Unit 2 critical thinking.docx

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Unit2criticalthinking

Unit2CriticalThinking

批判性思维

思辨

KeynoteAddress —July23,2007

ByRichardPaul,DirectorofResearchandProfessionalDevelopmentattheCenterforCriticalThinking,

ChairoftheNationalCouncilforExcellenceinCriticalThinking

The27thAnnualInternationalConferenceonCriticalThinking—July23— 26,2007

Berkeley,CA

Incollegeeducationandindailylife,criticalthinkingisofvitalimportance.RichardPaul,inthefollowingsection,givesanenlighteningdiscussionoftheissue.

Whatiscriticalthinking?

Therearemanywaystodefineit.Itisasystemforopeningeveryexistingsystem.Itopensupbusiness,chemistry,andsportsliketennisandbasketball.Itopensupprofessionalpractice.Itopensupethnicsandenablesustoseethroughideology.Itenablesustoputthingsintointellectualperspective它让我们以知识的眼光看待事物.Asystemthatopensupsystemsisonewaytothinkofcriticalthinking.开发各种系统的系统，这是看待批判性思维的一种方式。

Hereisthefirstdefinitionofcriticalthinking.

Or,criticalthinkingisthinkingthatanalyzesthought分析思想,thatassessesthought评估思想,andthattransformsthoughtforthebetter升华思想的思维.

Hereistheseconddefinitionofcriticalthinking.

There’sathirdwaytotalkaboutcriticalthinkingoverlappingandrelatedtotheothertwo. It’sthinkingaboutthinkingwhilethinkinginordertothinkbetter.

Hereisthethirddefinitionofcriticalthinking.

Everyonethinks. Wehavenochoiceaboutthat.But,noteverybodythinksabouttheirthinking.Andnoteveryonewhothinksabouttheirthinkingthinksaboutitwell.Youcanworryaboutyourthinking. Youcanthinkbadlyofyourthinking.Youcanbeembarrassedbyyourthinking.Youcanfocusonitinadysfunctionalway你可以以功能失调的方式关注你的思维—thatisnotcriticalthinking.

Thismorning,let’sthinkaboutitasawayofthinkingthatenablesathinkertothinkregularlyatahigherlevelthanmostpeoplearecapableofthinking.Inotherwords,criticalthinking,asIamconceivingit,transformsthinkingintwodirections把思维导致两个方向.Youthinkmoresystematicallyasaresult.Andyouthinkmorecomprehensivelyasaresult.Andinthinkingmorecomprehensively,youthinkatahigherlevel.Notbecauseyouareatahigherlevelasaperson,butbecauseyouareabletoputthinkingintothebackgroundandseeit=thinkinginalarger,morecomprehensiveframework.

Forexample,weneed todiscovertheextenttowhichourthinkingisboundbyaculture受文化的约束.Culturesaregoodinmanyways.But,totheextentthattheylockusintooneway使我们局限于某一视角oflookingattheworld,weneedtotranscendthem我们需要超越文化.Weneedtothinkbeyondthem.Whyisthisimportant?

It’simportantbecausewe,ascreatures,aredeeplydetermined深深地受到（我们思维方式）的左右—inourlife,andinourbehavior,andinourcharacter,andinotherways–aredeterminedbyourthinking. Wehavenochoicebuttobegovernedbythought.Thequestionis,dowegovernthethoughtthatgovernsus我们控制了那些控制我们的思想了吗?

 Ideascontrolus.观念控制着我们Dowecontrolthem?

Ideascontrolourthinking.Soinordertothinkcritically,weneedtogetridofideas.

Reversingtheprocesssothatwe’reinthedriver’sseat将这个过程倒过来，这样我们就坐在驾驶座上—sothatwe’redoingthethinkingweneedtodoaswellaswecan–iswhatcriticalthinkingisabout.Ourfutureasaspeciesisdependentonwhetherwecandevelopthewherewithal方法toraiseourcollectivethinking激发我们的集体思维soastoproducepositivechangesinsocietiesacrosstheworld.

ThetaskbeforeuscollectivelyisaHerculean[ˌhɜːkjuˈliːən]大力神的，力大无比的，费力的one.Thetaskofdevelopingcriticalsocieties.Theideaofacriticalsocietydatesbackmanyhundredyears,butitwasverypointedlycalledfor明确提出in1906,byWilliamGrahamSumner,thegreatanthropologist,whoemphasizedinhisseminal开创性的，种子的book,"Folkways,"《民俗论》thatifacriticalsocietyexisted–thatis,asocietyinwhichcriticalthinkingwasamajorsocialvalue–ifsuchasocietyweretoemerge,itwouldtransformeverydimensionoflifeandpractice.Wearefarfromsuchasociety,butweneedtothinkaboutit.Itneedstobepartofourvision.Thestructureofthisconferencesuggestssomeofthemostimportantdimensionsofthisvision.

Ifyouthinkaboutthetaskofdevelopingcriticalthinking,donotthinkthattaskisgoingtobeaccomplishedeasilywithoutfacingbarrierstocriticalthought,amongstwhicharethefollowing.Humanegocentricity,ourtendencytothinkwithourselvesatthecenteroftheworld.Sociocentricity,ourtendencytothinkwithintheconfinesofoursocialgroups.Self-delusion,ourtendencytocreatepicturesoftheworldthatdeceiveusandothers.Narrow-mindedness,whereinwethinkofourselvesasbroad,deep,andintouchwithrealitywhen,ifonlyweunderstood,wewouldseeourselvesasnarrowandlimited.

Or,thinkofthebarrieroffear.Fearunderminesthinking,feardrivesustothelowestlevelsofthought,fearmakesusdefensive.Itmakesuslittleandpetty.Andthenthereishumaninsecurity.And,then humanhabits,ourtendenciestogothroughthesameoldpatternsofthoughtandbehaviorandbedominatedbythem;ourinabilitytotargetournegativehabitsandreplacethem withpositivehabits.Thenthereisroutine:

Ordinaryroutine. Whenyougobacktoyourhomeenvironment,ordinaryroutinewillclickinandmanyofyouwillfindthatthethingsyouintendedtodo,thechangesyouintendedtomake,somehowareswallowedupintheordinaryroutineofthings.Andconnectedtoroutinethereisahugeobstacle:

bureaucracy.Wehavecreatedallkindsoflevelsofmonitoringandtestingandcontrollingandlimitingandsanctioning,ordering,definingourbehaviorandourthoughts.And,veryoftenthebureaucratforgetsthepurposeforwhichtheinstitutionexists.

Thenforuswhoareteaching,studentresistancetocriticalthinkingisanobstacle,becausecriticalthinkingasksthosestudentstolearninanewway.Anditisawaythatisnotcomfortabletomostofthem.Ourthinkingislimitedbymistakennotions,byignorance,byourlimitedknowledge,andbystubbornness,ouractivatedignorance. Andfinally,ourresistancetodoingtheintellectualworknecessarytocriticalthinking.

Weneedhundredsofmillionsofpeoplearoundtheworldwhohavelearnedtotakeandinternalizethefoundationsofcriticalthought. Thiscanbedoneonlyperson-by-personthroughaprocess,whichwecallintellectualwork.Thinkofthe"ElementsofThought:

" Eachelementplaysacrucialroleinthought.Whatisourpurpose?

Whatquestionsareweraising?

Whatinformationareweusing?

Whatassumptionsarewemaking?

Whatdataarewegathering?

Whatdatadowenothave?

Giventhedatathatwehave,whatisittellingus?

And,whenwecometoconclusionsaboutthedata,whatdothoseconclusionsimply?

Withinwhatpointofviewarewethinking?

Doweneedtoconsideranotherpointofview?

 Wherecanwegetaccesstosuchpointsofview?

Questionslikethisarequestionsthatembodytheelementsinveryimportantways.Theyarecrucialquestions.But,areweinthehabitofaskingthem?

There'sawonderfulbookonhistoricalthinkingbyCarr.Thetitleofthebookis"WhatisHistory?

"ThisbookwaswrittenIthinkinthelater'30s,orpossibly'40s, ofthelastcenturyand,init,Carrarguesthatthereisnolongersuchathingas"ourhistory." Thereareonly"histories."Toconstructahistoryistotellastoryaboutthepast,but,asCarrremindsus,thereareinfinitenumbersofstoriesthatcouldbetold. Whichstoryisimportant?

 Theconstructionofhistoryrequiresvaluejudgments.Itrequiresthatweconsiderwhosestoryneedstobetold. And,whenthatstoryistoldweneedtocriticallyconsiderwhatitistellingus;whatisitteachingus.Inwhichcase,then,ifweunderstoodCarr,wewouldrealizethatweareallhistoricalthinkers. We'renotallhistorians,butweallhaveahistory.Andthehistorycandominateus,orwecanuseittoouradvantage.Ourthinkingproducesit.

Thenwhatstandardsdoyouusetoassessyourthinkingandthethinkingofothers?

 NowMostwillsay,Idon'tknowwhatyou'retalkingabout.Whatdoyoumeanstandardsofassessmentinthinking?

Notmanypeoplerespondwithananswerlike:

“Iusethestandardsofclarity,accuracy,precision,relevance,depth,breadth,logicandfairness.”

 Criticalthinkingisnotoneisolatedskill.Itisnotevenarandomlistofskills.It'sanorchestratedwayofthinkingthatenablesyoutodecomposeyourthinkingatanymoment.Itencompassesbasicstructuresintegratedtogetherintoawhole. Itassessthinkingforitsquality,foritsclarity,foritsaccuracy,foritsprecision, foritsrelevance. Itraisesthinkingtherebytoahigherquality. Itmakesitbetter.Criticalthinkingisawayofteaching,awayoflearning,awayofbeingintheworldinwhichthethinkerself-monitorsand self-assesses.

TheAmericanMedicalAssociationdidalargestudythatwaspublishedfouryearsagoonunnecessarydeathsduetothefailureofmedicalpractitionerstodowhatiscalledforinstandardpractice. HowmanyAmericansdiedunnecessarilybecausetheirmedicalpractitioners —theirdoctorsandnurses —didthewrongthingandpeoplediedasaresult?

 AccordingtotheAmericanMedicalAssociation,somewherearound50,000everyyear.Whyaresomanypeopledying throughmalpractice?

They'redyingbecauseofthewaywehaveeducatedmedicalpractitioners.Theyarenotlearningtothinkcriticallyaboutwhatthey'redoing. Theyarenotlearningtomonitortheirbehavioraccordingly. Theyarefailingtofollowbasicgoodpractice. Theyareoversimplifying,jumpingtoconclusions,makingfaultyinferences,misconceptualizing,etc....Somediagnosisisputintotherecordandthenapatientistrapp