Critical Thinking

I would like to facilitate a class or workshop on Critical Thinking. I'm not exactly sure how it would work, but I need to say one thing about Crit Think--it's not Critical Theory.

Critical Theory as I understand it, is a segment of Cultural Studies where scholars delve into the metanarratives underlying different works, or develop philosophies of patterns that exist in various subjective media. And objective media too, come to think of it, since so much of what passes for "objective" is merely bias dressed up to look like there's no slant whatsoever. I bypass calls for objectivity because I feel in my heart it's dishonest on some level.

Which leads to what critical thinking is. Theory is great and all, but rarely does Critical Theory lend itself to action. At best it lends itself to becoming part of an artist's style. I'm thinking of post-postmodern writers such as Acker, Tillman and Dennis Cooper. Theory is a huge part of their works, and it works for them. But Critical Thinking is not Critical Theory.

In a CritThink workshop, theories may be discussed, but ultimately it's about the three A's--awareness, acceptance and action. When I think of a workshop on Critical Thinking, what I'm wanting to do is provide a laboratory of honesty, open-mindedness and willingness to see from a different perspective whatever problematic area exists in our lives upon wich C.T. may be worked to one's benefit. I'm going from a book I read by Stephen Brookfield on Developing Critical Thinking in Adult Learners. (The title was something like that. I can look it up on Amazon at a future date.)

Critical Thinking incorporates all the various kinds of intelligences we have. It brings in our reasoning ability, to be sure, but also our emotional intelligence, our spiritual intelligence, our physical intelligence as well as the mental. Critical Thinking as I get it is meant to be a "whole foods" approach to facing difficulties and solving problems in our lives. Sometimes a plan of action will be mapped out, and other times it'll just be offering minor changes to approaches we might take, and at still other times, the upshot of a session might lead to someone seeking therapy or the outside viewpoint of a professional. Though hopefully someone who saw that as their next step wouldn't stop after that, and would come back to the workshop, willing to share info and tinker more with the tasks at hand.

I'm just sort of drawing out a general sketch of how I think it should work. But the key to critical thinking too is that it's opening up a dilemma to a group of people who are there to face their situations and share their courage with others. A person in a CT workshop would be opening themselves up to people asking very basic, maybe even "stupid" questions. But sometimes that stupid question turns out to be just what the person ordered.

One time I was in a workshop where people were talking about "The Lesiban and Gay Aesthetic." There was all sorts of theory and folderal happening there, but one ingenuous young man raised his hand, and asked the fundamental question "What's an 'aesthetic?'" The great thing is that no one laughed at the guy. But then several people talked about what it meant in very concrete ways that helped everyone in the room locate themselves in a context. The truth is we are always teaching others all the time, everywhere we go. I learn from the Bus Driver I saw hello to who drives the bus that will take me to work. I learn from the cashier I pay for my cashews and my banana. I am teaching the people I walk past as I head to a meeting or wander about without a care in the world. There's always opportunity for critical thinking and its applications to be tried and tested. I just would like to find a mode and a space to make it more conscious.