Towards a Research Agenda for Informal Logic and Critical Thinking.

Three contrasting approaches to the epistemology of argument are presented. Each one is naturalistic, drawing upon successful practices as the basis for epistemological virtue. But each looks at very different sorts of practices and they differ greatly as to the manner with which relevant practices may be described. My own contribution relies on a metamathematical reconstruction of mature science, and as such, is a radical break with the usual approaches within the theory of argument.

In this article it is argued that a complex model that includes Toulmin's functional account of argument, the pragma-dialectical stage analysis of argumentation offered by the Amsterdam School, and criteria developed in critical thinking theory, can be used to account for the normativity and field-dependence of argumentation in science. A pragma-dialectical interpretation of the four main elements of Toulmin's model, and a revised account of the double role of warrants, illuminates the domain specificity of scientific argumentation and the restrictions to (...) which the confrontation and opening stages of scientific critical discussions are subjected. In regard to the argumentation stage, examples are given to show that a general account of argumentation, as advocated by informal logicians, is not applicable to arguments in science. Furthermore, although patterns of inference differ in various scientific practices, deductive validity is argued to be a crucial notion in the assessment of scientific arguments. Finally, some remarks are made concerning the burden of proof and the concluding stage of scientific argumentation. (shrink)

The periodic table may be seen as the most successful example of inquiry in the history of science, both in terms of practical application and theoretic understanding. As such, it serves as a model for truth as it emerges from inquiry. This paper offers a sketch of a central moment in the history of chemistry that illustrates an intuitive metamathematical construction, a model of emerging truth. The MET, reflecting the structure the surrounds the periodic table, attempts to capture the salient (...) epistemological elements that warrant truth claims based on sets of models that are progressive in light of both empirical and theoretical advance seen over time. (shrink)

The paper explores the work of four contemporary theorists of educational reform, following deep currents in epistemology and the theory of rationality. An examination of the positions yields a controversial epistemological conclusion which promotes the examination of philosophical issues relevant to education and the modernist/postmodernist debate.

Musclebuilding for Strength in Critical Thinking.

During the past decade, the Philosophy for Children Program has offered teacher-training workshops throughout the United States and elsewhere. The workshops frequently supported by grants, enable teachers to work with a professional philosopher in developing the skills required for teaching critical thinking to elementary and intermediate schools.

Richard Morehouse has identified two crucial areas, central to the pedagogical core of Philosophy for Children. These, he claims enable techniques associated with P4C to be generalized to other contexts. After Lipman, he reminds us that the power of the P4C curriculum is found, first in the novels which are written to be "captivating and beguilding, designed to liberate the literary and illustrative powers of the children and to stimulate their thinking." This philosophical 'liberation' is both enabled by and enables (...) the child's insight into the individual as 'concrete wholes existing in relationships.' The reading of the novels is the basis for the other major program component, the discussion that prompts the 'reflection on that experience,' 'the pulling of leading ideas from the narrative and the application of conceptual tools to the understanding of those ideas.' The ideas that constitute the content of the P4C program are drawn from the philosophical texts and are applied to the text in the discussion. These ideas include the 'basic tools of philosophy.'. (shrink)

In a number of recent discussions of non-standard, Philosophy programs vaarious ages have been identified as the focus for spontaneous or exceptional interest in philosophising. Such claims, supporting a particular population as naturally suited to philosophical inquiry, are based as often as not, on anecdotes that exhibit telling instances of philosophical activity. Needless to say, such motivated activity occurring spontaneously and outside of a formal classroom may occur in many contexts and at various ages. If professional educators egar to support (...) philsophical programs on the basis of the naturalness of the philosophical enterprise are to warrant their interest on the basis of claims to age-appropriateness, some reasonable attempt at gathering empirical data is required. We offer the questionaire on the following pages as a probe to be used by interested educators and others. (shrink)

The paper bridges between a science-based metamathematical model of emerging truth and truth emerging from inquiry within ordinary contexts of argumentation. This requires that the underlying intuitions driving the notion of truth in the scientific image be made clear and analogues identified in a manner that permits their application within the ordinary contexts found in the manifest image.

Mark Weinstein; Creativity and Discovery, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 27, Issue 2, 30 May 2006, Pages 275–280, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-975.

The relation between critical thinking and race prejudice can be made obvious, once we grant that race prejudice cannot be supported by good reasons. For, if, as Harvey Siegel has pointed out, critical thinking is being "appropriately moved by reasons," then holding racially prejudiced beliefs is to believe without being appropriately moved by reasons, thereby being, in this regard at least, an uncritical thinker. A practical corollary of this, for those of us who espouse critical thinking as an educational ideal, (...) is that it is incumbent upon us to speak to the issue of race prejudice, an obvious and glaringly pernicious example of uncritical thought that affects one of, if not the most, central social and ethical issues of our times. (shrink)

A narrative review of a 35-year career in critical thinking reflecting an idiosyncratic approach to both practical and theoretical matters. The social as well as the intellectual context is described. Critical thinking across the disciplines and metamathematics are discussed as alternatives to more standard perspectives such as informal logic.

For those of us who have experienced Philosophy for Children in the schools, it has become increasingly clear that the program meets the educational needs of school children viewed as autonomous and thoughtful rational agents. As expressed by Matthew Lipman, philosophy is concerned with "the improvement of reasoning proficiencies, clarification of concepts, analysis of meanings, and fostering of attitudes that dispose us to wonder, inquire, and seek meaning and truth." These traditional philosophical goals, as implemented through the various curricula developed (...) by the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children yield benefits that rebound to the advantage of both teachers and students. (shrink)

This paper looks at the attack on scientific racism in the 20th century by a group of social and biological scientists. I will utilize the apparatus of my model of emerging truth to show how even in complex socially conditioned argumentation the ultimate virtue is seeking the truth through increasingly powerful logical connections and deeply embedded warrants.

Informal logic offers a radical new perspective on the evaluation of arguments. But little work has been done on how deep concepts in the logical foundations of argument need to be modified in light of such efforts. This paper offers an indication of what might be done by sketching a new approach to the theory of entailment, truth and relevance.

The nine principles ennumerated below form the core of classroom methodology in any participatory philisophical discussion appropriate to a pre-college setting. They have been taken from the Teacher's Manual of a soon to be available literature based critical thinking and evaluative reasoning text, THE FEILDSTON ETHICS READER, edited by myself and Beatric Banu and published by the Ethical Culture Schools. Although most of these principles are contained either implicitly or explicitly in the manuals for IAPC material and various published books (...) and papers on Philosophy for Children, they have never to my knowledge, been enumerated and presented as conditions necessaryfor philisophical discussions that reflect the centrality of participtory and non-indoctrinating classroom practices and the formation of a Community of Inquiry. Hopefully, thse conditions, presented starkly and without compromise, will furnish a core that defines the essence of a non-didactic and philosophical approach based on the insight of Lipman and others. Such an approach, whether utilizing IAPC materials or other sources more congenial to particular school settings could then serve as a means of distinguishing between programs consistent with the ideals of philosophical thinkingin Lipman's sense and other approaches to critical thinking or reasoning skills development. (shrink)