Sunday, January 20, 2008

Late


I perceive that I have not lived up to my expectations exactly.
To be honest, I completely forgot I had ever planned on writing after coming back from class.
But I have been a little confused and tired this past week because of an ear/sinus infection I caught the week before classes and because of all the antibiotics I've had to take since then.
To be sure, by Thursday I was in a much more coherent condition, but I'm not sure even yet how much I have totally recovered.

So the important thing I wanted to mention about my critical thinking class is as follows:
My professor has said that one of the key things a critical thinker must do is abstain from making a decision when there is not enough information.
A critical thinker considers claims and beliefs and uses arguments to come closer to the truth. Sometimes, one simply does not know, and therefore, they need to be able to admit that. Most of us, however, dislike doing this. For one thing, we hate uncertainty, so there is a temptation to just choose an opinion or belief even if one does not have enough to decide on. For another thing, our social status demands us to know things. If we appear unsure or unable to decide, we are thought to be incompetent. Those who seem to know what they are talking about, very frequently are respected as knowing what they are talking about. So admitting that one does not know whether something is true or not can be harder than you might think.

I find this idea most interesting. It is like I went to class and had the professor tell me I needed humility. That is not heard in classes all the time. It is a different experience.

So, may you all learn humility this week, or at least, come a little closer to true humility before God.

1 comment:

Homemanager said...

The Lord uses many people and many ways to speak the truth to us, doesn't He!
I'm glad that you can hear and see His truth, the real truth in the midst of your lectures. The Lord is so awesome!
I can tell you are going to enjoy this class. :-)