<HTML>Thanks Dr. Teller for pointing out the enormous amount of work being
done in critical thinking in the US. While some of this is informed
by psychology, the field also gains much from the field of philosophy -
both theoretically and practically. The philosophical approach to
critical thinking (if I may be so bold as to generalize) offers an
alternate approach to that of the Piagetian (and Kohlbergian) inspired
"moral dilemmas" and cases. The philosophical approach has a stronger
focus on deepening and building on students understanding through
exploration of concepts/meaning and strengthening logical reasoning.
For instance, where the 'moral dilemma' approach might present a situation
and then ask "should I lie to protect my friend?", the philosophical
approach might ask "what is friendship?" and "Is friendship compatible
with lying?". The educational aim here is described as developing
*reasonableness* (where we might describe reasonableness as sound
reasoning+sound or appropriate judgment). This is, I think, vital to
Jewish education.
There was a series of articles addressing critical thinking and
religious education in *Inquiry* - one of the leading critical
thinking journals. The details are below for anyone interested. On a
more general note I'd suggest *Reasonable Children: Moral Education
and moral Learning* by Michael Pritchard and *Teaching for Better
Thinking* by Laurance Splitter and Ann Sharp.
The following articles were all in *Inquiry: Critical thinking across the
disciplines* (specific vol/date follows title).
"Religious Life and Critical Thought: Do They Need Each Other?" by
William Reinsmith (vol.14, no.4, 1995)
"Three Types of Critical Thinking about Religion: A response to
William Reinsmith" by Jack Weinstein (vol.15, no.3, 1996)
"A Brief Response to Jack Weinstein" by William Reinsmith (15/3,
1996)
"Do Religious Life and Critical Thought Need Each Other? A Reply to
Reinsmith" by Richard Carrier (vol.16, no.1, 1996)
Regards,
Jen Glaser
School of Education, Hebrew University</HTML>
