Universities provide critical thinking skills, but tell us how they do it. What practical exercises do they perform there and what theory do they study?

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3 Answers

  1. Universities provide only a base, this is one of the stages of the school of life, where a young person faces different situations and people, looks for solutions and gets experience that will be useful to him in the future. There is no need to invent any special exercises.

  2. We didn't study at universities. They didn't live in apartments of 15 rooms with bathrooms. (c);)

    But I assume that critical thinking develops by presenting diverse material from different points of view and positions without focusing on the most presumptive true one. This is what allows a person to analyze, develop flexibility of mind and thinking. Disputation-an opportunity for the competition of ideas as a method of teaching dates back to the first centuries of the formation of medieval universities.�

    The term “dispute” comes from the Latin verb disputare, which means “to argue”,” to reason”,”to investigate”. Even the ancient Greek sophist Protagoras (c. 490-420 BC), who was a skilled debater, used public debates to demonstrate his dialectical skill, and also invited his students to defend or refute the theses proposed to them. Developing the theory of eloquence, the sophists could not help but touch upon issues that were later referred to the sphere of logic. Protagoras wrote a special essay, ” The Art of Arguing.” Proceeding from the position that there are two opposite opinions about every thing, he was the first to use a dialogue in which two interlocutors defended two opposing views in an argument.Seventeen centuries later, Protagoras ' dialectical method was destined to become one of the cornerstones of university education.

    In all medieval universities, the two main modes of instruction were lectio and disputatio. As a rule, students were first read a certain passage from the Holy Scriptures or other text written by a recognized authority, and then the mentor announced a quaestio (question) for discussion. The dispute itself consisted of a series of dialectical duels that were held under the chairmanship of one or more teachers responsible for them. Each student had to put forward pro et contra arguments (for and against) the proposed position. The most vivid embodiment of this technique of comparing arguments and counter-arguments was found in the treatise “Sic et non” (“Yes and no”) by the famous French scholar Pierre Abelard (1079-1142). Some debates were held regularly in one or two weeks, and the teachers whose courses they supplemented tried to choose the topics for them in such a way that their totality formed a single whole. From these disputations, the Quaestiones disputae (Questions of Disputations), which abound in medieval writings, have come down to us. here

  3. Universities do not provide critical thinking, they provide knowledge that can be useful. Critical thinking develops primarily due to the person's own desire to know the truth. Not the one that is convenient or pleasant, but the real truth. In the second turn, the hand is played by scrapping templates. When certain facts about which you had clear ideas suddenly cease to be true, because you find and, most importantly, do not reject another view. Then the worldview changes and you realize that most things are not what they are, and you have to look for answers on each point, because the old common truths do not suit you.
    I don't know about others, but my love of satire and stand-ups helped me in my youth. Old Man Carlin and Terry Pratchett opened up the world of critical thinking to me, for which I am truly grateful.

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