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Archive for July, 2011

CFP: American Dialectic

Posted in CFP, Discussion, tagged , , , , , on July 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »

AMERICAN DIALECTIC

Now accepting submissions in all areas of philosophy.

American Dialectic takes an exciting new approach to scholarly publication by promoting greater philosophical engagement between readers and authors.  Lead articles are published at the beginning of each term and are followed throughout by edited responses written by our readers.  By publishing articles, questions, and responses together, American Dialectic creates an active place for the dialectical exchange of ideas in print, and ultimately fosters the continued intellectual development of contributors, respondents, and readers alike.

We hope that this unique publishing mechanism will encourage critical thinking, active participation, and renewed enthusiasm for scholarly discourse in philosophy and related fields.  To start reading or make a submission visit:

www.AmericanDialectic.org

Note: Those desiring more information about AD might want to check out the write up of the journal that I did here. SP

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Informal Logic vol. 31 no.2

Posted in Announcements, Discussion, Informal Logic, Pragma-dialectics, Rhetoric, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Informal Logic vol. 31 no. 2

Volume 31, number 2 of Informal Logic is now available for your reading pleasure.  Particularly recommended in this issue is Geoff Goddu’s 2010 AILACT Essay Prize-winning article on the process/product ambiguity.  I had the good fortune to see this work in an earlier phase at ISSA last summer and I’m very happy to see it in print here.  It’s a valuable article not only for it’s methodological challenge to what is for many in the study of argumentation a foundational notion, but because it spurs us to think more carefully about the metaphysics of argument in general.  The paper and its author well deserve the recognition of the AILACT prize.

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CFP: FEMMSS 4

Posted in CFP, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 9, 2011| Leave a Comment »

FEMMSS 4: Call for Proposals –
Paper proposals are invited for the fourth conference of the Association for Feminist Epistemologies, Methodologies, Metaphysics and Science Studies (FEMMSS) to be held at The Pennsylvania State University, May 10-12, 2012.

We welcome new participants and perspectives from across the academy and outside it that provide feminist discussion on any topic in epistemologies, methodologies, metaphysics, or science studies.  Note the following broad themes of recent and ongoing interest:

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“Baby Logic”, Critical Thinking, and the Liberal Arts

Posted in Connections, Critical Thinking, Teaching, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 8, 2011| 2 Comments »

Puzzle Piece, by Wikimedia Commons user Crazy-phunk

Puzzle piece, via Wikimedia Commons

Don Lazere’s short but punchy piece in the Chronicle on the beleaguered state of critical thinking education in the American academy is well worth a read.

While I find myself agreeing with much of what he says, I think he misses one of the principal actors in the play: the increasing role of corporate influence in and on the structure and culture of American higher education.  Increasingly, administrators and board members are not professional academics but professional bureaucrats and managers who see their primary task as generating revenue.  This leads to a mentality that sees terms like ‘critical thinking’ as buzzwords, bogus assessment exercises, fodder for mission statements or worse, “branding” campaigns.  The perils therein are familiar enough and rants plentiful enough that I’ll leave it there.

What interests me the most about Lazere’s short piece is how it fits with what has really been an explosion of formal methods in the last thirty or so years.  Indeed, formal logic has changed so much that it is now virtually unrecognizable to those of us who remember the time when advances in modal logic were considered “cutting edge” to most in philosophy. From today’s perspective, the basic course in predicate calculus looks a lot like “baby logic”. ‘Critical thinking’, as Lazere points out, doesn’t seem to have much real purchase at all anymore:

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