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Letter from the President, October 26, 2017



Dear Critical Thinking Colleagues:
 
We face tremendous barriers to the realization of fairminded critical societies, as is evidenced in the news of the world on a daily basis. Many people now "espouse" the importance of critical thinking, but few can tell us what it is. Our children need a chance at learning how to distinguish real evidence from fabricated information coming from vested interest groups. This they cannot do in a world that tolerates and even applauds the spreading of fake news, while ignoring the basic principles of criticality and the educated mind.
 
How many of our world leaders and politicians are focusing on the lack of critical thinking that leads to the many pressing problems now facing us as a species, some of which are devastating to people, other species, and our planet?  How many of our politicians are arguing for the importance of fairminded critical thinking in our schools, colleagues, universities, businesses, and governmental agencies?
 
For almost four decades, the Foundation for Critical Thinking has been fighting the good fight to advance the concepts and principles in a robust conception of critical thinking. But we cannot continue without substantial help from our community. This is why you are so essential to the work of critical thinking. Please understand that you are one of the rare few who is actively working to advance critical societies.
 
As one of the longest-running independent intellectual think tanks advancing freedom of thought and freedom of speech, we are not beholden to any vested-interest group to keep our work going. But we need your help to spread the concepts of critical thinking, and to help those within your circle of influence develop the language of critical thinking, so they begin to command their minds at increasingly higher levels. 
 
If you believe in our work, one way you can help us keep it going is to purchase anything from our bookstore now - and spread the word about our work on your Facebook and other social networking pages. Please include a link to our website!
 
Another way you can help is to donate now any amount to help us continue our work. (Larger donations will net one or more gifts...)   
 
Another way you can advance critical thinking is to place powerful critical thinking concepts before your students and colleagues. To help you in this endeavor, we are pleased to announce that everyone who purchases any
three of our critical thinking posters through next Friday, November 3, will receive the complete Set of Five Posters. These posters feature concise diagrams of the most fundamental concepts and tools in a substantive conception of fairminded critical thinking. For this reason, they have long been a favorite among educators, as well as business, government, and the military. And because we want to encourage the use of these posters throughout all of your halls and classroom, there is no limit to this opportunity - paying for two copies each of any three posters will earn you two Sets of Five, three copies will earn three Sets, and so on.
 
I leave you this week with an excerpt from The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell (1967) - a book I highly recommend:

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. . .

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. . .

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. . . . A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

It is precisely the love and deep concern for our fellow creatures, of which Russell speaks so eloquently, that binds all of us together, linking us with those deep thinkers who have come before, and with those who will come afterwards in this journey towards a more humane and just world.

To live in accordance with these high principles, even in a struggle that perhaps can never be won, is the surest way to ward off the profound regret which envelopes so many in their final days.

For this reason, and many others, we carry on. Thank you, once again, for  your essential contributions in this struggle for fairminded critical societies.

Sincerely,
Dr. Linda Elder
Educational Psychologist
Senior Fellow


Please do not pass this message by.

CRITICAL THINKING IS AT RISK.

Here are some of the big reasons why:

  1. Many people believe that critical thinking should be free and that scholars qualified to teach critical thinking should do so for free. Accordingly, they do not think they should have to pay for critical thinking textbooks, courses, or other resources when there is "so much free material online" - despite how erroneous that material may be.
  2. There are many misguided academicians, and some outright charlatans, pushing forth and capitalizing on a pseudo-, partial, or otherwise impoverished concept of critical thinking.
  3. Little to no funding is designated for critical thinking professional development in schools, colleges, or universities, despite the lip service widely given to critical thinking (as is frequently found in mission statements).
  4. Most people, including faculty, think they already know what critical thinking is, despite how few have studied it to any significant degree, and despite how few can articulate a coherent, accurate, and sufficiently deep explanation of it.
  5. People rarely exhibit the necessary level of discipline to study and use critical thinking for reaching higher levels of self-actualization. In part, this is due to wasting intellectual and emotional energy on fruitless electronic entertainment designed to be addictive and profitable rather than educational and uplifting.
  6. On the whole, fairminded critical thinking is neither understood, fostered, nor valued in educational institutions or societies.
  7. People are increasingly able to cluster themselves with others of like mind through alluring internet platforms that enable them to validate one another's thinking - even when their reasoning is nonsensical, lopsided, prejudiced, or even dangerous.
  8. Critical thinking does not yet hold an independent place in academia. Instead, "critical thinking" is continually being "defined" and redefined according to any academic area or instructor that, claiming (frequently unsupported) expertise, steps forward to teach it.

As you see, increasingly powerful trends against the teaching, learning, and practice of critical thinking entail extraordinary challenges to our mission. To continue our work, we must now rely upon your financial support. If critical thinking matters to you, please click here to contribute what you can today.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO CONTINUE OUR WORK.

Thank you for your support of ethical critical thinking.