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Study Group: Critical Thinking and the Classics

Study Group: Critical Thinking and the Classics


Dr. Brian Barnes


Only on the Center for Critical Thinking Community Online!


Webcam and Microphone Required


 


Meeting Times

Each Meeting Lasts 1.5-2 Hours
Thursday, April 30 - 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (1:00 p.m. Pacific)
Thursday, May 7 - 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (1:00 p.m. Pacific)
Thursday, May 14 - 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (1:00 p.m. Pacific)
Thursday, May 21 - 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (1:00 p.m. Pacific)
Thursday, May 28 - 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (1:00 p.m. Pacific)
Thursday, June 4 - 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (1:00 p.m. Pacific)


 


Complimentary Access for Community Online Subscribers!


Limited Space!

$0.00


Additional Information About:
Study Group: Critical Thinking and the Classics

In this six-week Study Group, sponsored by the Foundation for Critical Thinking, we focus on how the explicit tools of critical thinking interrelate with deep understandings that come to us through the classics.

Classic literature is deeply interwoven with critical thinking by its very nature, since the classics typically are seen as exemplifying the highest-level standards in literature. But what tools of critical thinking do classic works illustrate? And how can critical thinking help us better understand what makes for the most enlightened ideas as evidenced in classic literature? Or is all classic literature equal in quality? If not, how do we discern the gems in classic ideas, and what should we discard? Just because Aristotle wrote an idea, is it naturally to be considered truth?

In this group, we will study some of the foundational concepts and principles in critical thinking (using the libraries in the Center for Critical Thinking Community Online), and will read in several classic works - including those of Socrates (through Plato), Seneca, John Stuart Mill, and John Henry Newman.

This Study Group can help you not only apply critical thinking to the classics, but to any field of study, since critical thinking principles are universal. We all need these skills, as do our students, employees, colleagues, and intimates.

In this first Study Group, we can take up to 25 participants, who will meet with Dr. Barnes by GoToMeeting. (It is essential we are able to see and hear one another during each meeting, so cameras and microphones will be required.) You will be given brief assignments each week using the activities and resources in the Community Online. After this group ends, we hope some of you will volunteer to lead similar Study Groups with other members in our community, using our approach and working with us while focusing on a multitude of subjects you may be interested in.

Our ultimate aim is to create a Study Group model that others can emulate – those interested in working their way through universal and powerful ideas while internalizing the tools of critical thinking.





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.