Many people already recognize moral reasons for driving less, eating less meat, supporting public policies aimed at mitigating climate change and so forth. And most will see acting on those moral reasons as calling for personal sacrifices for the sake of distant and future people and life. But the degree of sacrifice called for is … Continue reading Climate Change vs Nihilism: Leading Meaningful Lives in the Anthropocene
Written in response to some discussion board activity in my online Intro to Philosophy: Some of you have referred to climate change a few times in our discussions, most recently in connection with trying to get clear on the difference between something being true and something being believed (or something “being true for someone” as … Continue reading Critical Thinking Note 20: Climate Change
It’s been a little while since we put out a Critical Thinking note and this has partly been due to uncertainty about how to proceed given the loss of ALL BC-FYI. The note below was submitted to ALL BC-FYI Digest on Monday, but with no reply or explanation, it hasn’t run. I have worried … Continue reading Critical Thinking Note 13 Free Speech
Logic has taken a real hit at BC since the recent changes to the Direct Transfer Agreement. But we just might manage to run two sections of it this fall. We will need some more students though. There are plenty of seats in both the 9:30 and the 11:30 section. In case you know … Continue reading Critical Thinking Note 11: Logic
This time we bring you a dialogue on moral realism authored by our newest philosopher Greg Damico (you might recall Greg as the BC philosopher who recently won the national Rockerfeller prize). MANNY: Perhaps today, Bert, I can convince you of my moral realism. BERT: I am quite convinced that you are a moral … Continue reading Critical Thinking Note 10: Greg Damico on Moral Realism
Everybody thinks it’s good to be open-minded. But we don’t often think critically about just what it means to be open-minded. We might think that being open-minded means allowing that others’ opinions might be true and that your own opinions might be false. Certainly open-mindedness involves a kind of intellectual humility, but I’m not … Continue reading Critical Thinking Note 7: Open-Mindedness
Critical thinking is purposeful thinking. But just what is the purpose of critical thinking? Why think critically? As a branch of human inquiry, philosophy has a pretty clear view of the purpose of critical thinking. But once we get clear on the aims of critical thinking in inquiry, we might begin to worry that … Continue reading Critical Thinking Note 6: A Broader View of Critical Thinking
So I’ve been talking all year about how Philosophy is going to write this free Critical Thinking Text for the BC community. Meanwhile Mark Storey has actually done so. A complete draft should be ready to share in Fall Quarter. We will also be running a Critical Thinking Curriculum Development Seminar using this material through … Continue reading Critical Thinking Note 4: Mark Storey on Validity
Tim Linnemann on Intellectual Virtue This time we feature a discussion of some intellectual virtues by our adjunct instructor Tim Linnemann. I really like the intellectual virtues. They aren’t half as annoying as moral virtues and they really help us understand stuff. First a quick addendum to our previous note: the coming changes to the … Continue reading Critical Thinking Note 2: Tim on Intellectual Virtue
Critical Thinking Note 1 Here is a critical thinking problem that will be familiar to many instructors. We ask students to give a reason for believing something and they answer with a single sentence, perhaps a rhetorical question or just a phrase. Their answer may be in some way relevant to the issue at … Continue reading Critical Thinking Note 1