this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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me_irl
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so basically they have to have a liberal arts degree? that's your measure of what critical thinking is? everyone has to do four years of coursework in the humanities?
No, that's not what I said. I said in order to answer your question to me, you'd have to delve in to these disciplines. Although sure, for people to get better at critical thinking, of course it would help to actually... learn to think and have intellectual pursuits.
And it's nothing to do with a degree. It's the deep study time and focused effort that counts.
ok, and how are you going to force people to do that? how are you going to make sure they learn it? and how would you judge they have attain these skills?
I'm not going to force people to do that, the point is not to force it and you can't "force it" anyways
I'm not going to make sure they learn it, you can't "make sure"
I can only judge from my own / our own analysis. You can make up a quantitative metric "critical thinking score" but you would only be fooling yourself.
right, so it's entirely subjective, and your version of 'critical thinking' is probably not critical at all, from my perspective.
So you are just gonna say that what i said is "probably" not a critical thought? That doesn't sound like a very critical thought, itself!
You made a statement that critical thinking doesn't mean anything, but more likely you just are unfamiliar with it.
That's weird. I spend 10 years studying philosophy academically. But I'm sure you don't regard that as critical thinking, no?
So you spent 10 years studying philosophy and responded to my comment, "Critical thinking and empathy are important, and a lot of people don’t have much / aren’t very good at it" (hmm a LOT of philosophers would agree with this and say this is a reason more people should study philosophy) with: "how do you measure it?" and "how do you force people to do it?" -- when I never said it could necessarily be measured or that it could/should be "forced." I also never said people need a liberal arts degree, which you also misunderstood. Then you are basically saying to me, "it's just your opinion, man!" as your arguments. While making your own "opinions, man."
Sure, Jan.
So if I don't agree with you I must be lying?
do you not see the obvious contradiction here? You have just basically said 'my version of critical thought is the only legit version and if you disagree you clearly aren't critical thinking'.
which, form where I stand... is the total opposite of what critical thought is. Critical thinking requires you do not assume you are correct.
not to mention you just go straight with the personal attacks... which is not a legitimate form of discourse in critical thought either.
i never claimed it was opinions, man. but i find it deeply ironic people who proselytize about 'critical thought' basically think 'agree with me and my conclusions and ideas or you are dumb' is what they really mean when they say this. liberals love 'critical thought'... until you use it against their liberal beliefs... same with conservatives... same with anyone. it's almost as if critical thought is about not having beliefs... or assuming there is only 'one legitimate' form of it, that typically is the one that coincidences with your preexisting beliefs.