Critical Thinking

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

We all have opinions about what is true and false, right and wrong, what is just, divine, and beautiful, what the self, mind, and soul are, or what makes us free. But can we justify our opinions about such things? Have we given rational and open-minded consideration to criticisms and alternatives, or are our opinions perhaps based only on prejudices and assumptions? In this course you will learn to use philosophical thinking to test and improve your opinions and your ability to evaluate the claims of important philosophers. Through the study and discussion of philosophical texts, classic or contemporary, you will grapple with issues of fundamental human importance and develop your capacities for careful reading, clear writing and speaking, and logical argumentation. CD 202410 description: How can critical thinking help us navigate in a world on fire, where the climate crisis, wars, identity politics, domestic politics, and social media divide us as never before? How can we find the courage to think critically and independently when we increasingly obtain information, news, and fake news through echo chambers such as social media and we live in fear of being excluded from these echo chambers? And how can we bridge the gap between critical philosophy and praxis when division and fear of exclusion make the call for critically sound actions as important as ever? These three questions will guide the course, where we will unfold historical philosophical analyses of the present, that is, of the norms and values that we uncritically live by.