On Critical Thinking and Better Thinking
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool.” -Richard Feynman
Critical thinking… about what?
Criticising institutions or your political opponents does not get close to the deep value of critical thinking. Done well, critical thinking is transformative. The first obligation of a critical thinker is to self-questioning. The methods are to be applied to your own certainties. This is the deep practice and obligation of a thinker. Do not fool yourself. It sounds so easy. But could anything be harder?
Better Thinking Requires Asking Good Questions of Yourself
You can learn to think better. You can become more clear, precise, rational, logical, detached, and reasonable. Not all at once, mind you, because better thinking is a practice.
To make yourself a better thinker you will want to examine your own assumptions. What kind of scrutiny do you subject your own opinions to? Where are you wrong? What are you not considering? What are you not understanding? Herein lies the transformative value of critical thinking.
Scrutinise Your Political Orientation
Your political opinions are a worthwhile and challenging place to begin self-interrogation. When was the last time you made a real effort to engage with and understand a perspective with which you disagree? Done honestly, this is a radical act.
Ask yourself the following, and take a minute to come up with a real answer: are you more interested in continuing and spreading your own narrative or are you participating in the search for truth? This question is fundamental to critical thinking.
If you are in a silo then you are not a good thinker. Here is a little self-assessment to see how entangled you are in groupthink:
How many of my friends have political or religious points of view that differ strongly from mine? Do we discuss them?
Which of my friends is most to the right? In what way?
Who do I admire most from the left? Why?
What opinions do I have that I tend to keep to myself most often?
Which of my opinions would irk many of my friends?
When was the last time that I had a respectful and open conversation with someone on the other side?
To have mature perspectives, it is important to re-evaluate your own opinions and to interrogate your own presuppositions. Some questions that I find useful to ask of myself:
Have I ever profoundly re-evaluated my political, religious, or other committed points of view?
Which of my opinions and positions have changed in the last five years? How did that happen?
Can I identify the last time that I changed one of my most cherished or closely held views?
How often do I read or listen to points with which I moderately disagree? How about those I strongly disagree with?
If you tend to be on the right, ask yourself: what are my most left wing opinions? If you or on the left: what are my most right wing opinions? Did you find any?
What would it take to change my mind on xxx issue?
How well am I able to humanise people from the other side?
Pitfalls
It is hard to muster up the intellectual courage to self-evaluate and possibly change your views. Apart from facing the social consequences of doing this there are also many cognitive pitfalls to be wary of. Do you have a good or excellent grasp of logical traps and dead-ends? You can make yourself a better thinker by educating yourself on better thinking. Here’s a place to start:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies
This Wikipedia entry lists over 150 types of fallacious arguments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
This entry presents an impressive and surprising list of cognitive biases.
Have an Interlocutor
Inspired by the Socratic dialogues, the contemporary philosopher Agnes Callard champions the practice of conversational learning. Simply put, better thinking requires other people. It is extremely difficult to re-examine your positions and opinions on your own, or to come up with new ideas. In Callard’s experience, it is essential to dialogue with and be challenged by an interlocutor in order to do this.
When you don’t have someone to talk and debate with, you might turn to reading. Read, with an open mind, perspectives with which you are unfamiliar or with which you partially or deeply disagree. I would suspect that your own thinking will benefit more from positions that are different from but not too opposed to your own, thereby allowing you the opportunity to stretch out your perspective. On the other hand, your ability to argue against positions will be improved by reading those that are quite different from your own, even strongly opposed. When considering a contentious issue ask yourself, what is the best argument of the other side? Learn it and engage with it. Argue against that instead of against straw man positions.
Concluding Thoughts
“When you don’t learn the other side of the issue, you have an artificial confidence in the things you believe.” - Peter Boghossian
By all means, have opinions and take positions. Try not to identify with them. Let them change. If you maintain detachment, and a commitment to better thinking, then they may ripen into more mature perspectives.
Coming Soon: another reader Q&A. If you have questions, or comments, about physical training, practical philosophy or related topics, please let me know. Thank you for reading. -Al
this article brings to mind 'Lux et Veritas', the motto of Harvard and many other elite universities. Oh how the mighty have fallen!