Critical Condition

Replacing Critical Thinking with Creativity

By: Patrick Finn

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Paperback | 18 June 2015

At a Glance

Paperback
146 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 0.79

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Should we stop teaching critical thinking? Meant as a prompt to further discussion, Critical Condition questions the assumption that every student should be turned into a ""critical thinker.""

The book starts with the pre-Socratics and the impact that Socrates' death had on his student Plato and traces the increasingly violent use of critical ""attack"" on a perceived opponent. From the Roman militarization of debate to the medieval Church's use of defence as a means of forcing confession and submission, the early phases of critical thinking were bound up in a type of attack that Finn suggests does not best serve intellectual inquiry. Recent developments have seen critical thinking become an ideology rather than a critical practice, with levels of debate devolving to the point where most debate becomes ad hominem. Far from arguing that we abandon critical inquiry, the author suggests that we emphasize a more open, loving system of engagement that is not only less inherently violent but also more robust when dealing with vastly more complex networks of information.

This book challenges long-held beliefs about the benefits of critical thinking, which is shown to be far too linear to deal with the twenty-first century world. Critical Condition is a call to action unlike any other.

Industry Reviews

``In this engaging and important book, Patrick Finn attacks traditional critical thinking for promoting hurt, anger, suspicion, and violence. He argues persuasively that critical thinking encourages the use of speech as a tool for dominance, control, and repression. He makes an eloquent and revolutionary plea for replacing critical thinking with 'creative, loving, open-source thought.' Critical Condition should be read by everyone who cares about the harmonious advance of the human project, particularly in the universities, but also in the world beyond.''--Philip Slayton

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