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| Gravitas |
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Soliloquy
in pursuit of well-tempered thought
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| Miscellaneous
articles relevant to critical thinking, and the commentary by Hunter
Finch
pertaining to those articles, are examples of aggregated news in the
blogosphere,
which in this case have mostly been posted to the "Critical Thinking in
the News" section of the Foundation for Critical Thinking website
(criticalthinking.org).
It is the FCT's mission to foster critical thinking throughout all
domains
and disciplines of inquiry, discourse and learning in our social
institutions. Leading
research
suggests, and many leading educators believe, critical thinking will
become
a dominant |
force in the world
only when,
and to the extent that, critical societies emerge. Critical societies
are
those for whom fair-minded critical thinking is a social value and thus
routinely cultivated in all citizens and respected in all social
practices.
One contributes to the emergence of critical thought as a social value
by making changes consistent with the integral concepts, standards and
best practices of critical thinking across all domains and disciplines
in one’s daily life. Intellectual integrity arrived at through open,
accurate,
clear, precise, fair and independent thought processes is at the very
core
of a well |
tempered
mind. It is also at the core of the values and character in a critical
society. As media are reflections of our collective values and
character,
they are also potentially significant in helping us shape and alter our
individual views. Thus, a running index to some of the news, discourse
and critique that contextualizes critical thinking in media as they
alter
and illuminate our times follows. Articles and commentary are of mixed
quality and significance and we leave it to the reader to assess them.
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Is
Acculturation in Thinking a Good or Bad
Thing?
Gravitas --
January, 11 2008
by
Hunter Finch
As globalization brings our worldwide humanity closer in common
interests -- albeit, in a sometimes painful clash of cultures -- it
seems one way or another we are all being forced to revisit our
assumptions? However slowly, our values, beliefs, applied
principles, protocols and institutions for getting things done are
being revisited, rethought, reinterpreted and/or reinvented to
reconcile the cultural nuances and differences made apparent by change.
Is this evolving change likely to lead us into a productive level of
unanimity where the global community lives and works together
better? Or is globalization likely to implode into unanimity
under one or another of our dominant cultures, where everyone
uncritically capitulates to common concepts of good, bad, beauty,
truth, love, god, etc? Doesn't the very nature of these concerns
demand our diversity of perspectives and an abilty to think critically?
Even in the best of human circumstances, don't unchallenged beliefs
ultimately lead to a new status quo and to a gradual forfeiture of
rights to dissent?
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