 |
USA Edition | Today Is Monday, May 20, 2013 |
|---|
Socratic Warning
Newsroom Magazine
May Challenge
Or Demand
Critical Thinking
|
|---|
|
|
The intellectual roots of critical thinking date back to the Greek philosophers.
Socrates discovered, by means of probing questions, that in the exchange of competing ideas, people sometimes make confident claims based on unreliable assumptions or failed logic.
Such arguments, he discovered, were either erroneous in fact, absent sufficient foundation, or failing in logic. Instead, most arguments were based on confused meanings, inadequate evidence, or contradictory beliefs.
Socrates' contributions to critical thinking were many -- for he established new ways to think about contentious issues in terms of the quality of assumptions, facts and logic.
Thus Socrates demonstrated that persons may have passion, or power or high position but yet be deeply confused and irrational.
Good journalism, like compelling debate, is based on a clear understanding of facts and the logical construction of one's argument. And that is what the Socratic Method and The Sophist Tradition is all about.
Evidentiary Approach
The Socratic Method is the preferred way to examine issues.In the Socratic mode of questioning, postulations, ideas or arguments are examined for their clarity and logical consistency by systematic analysis of facts, assumptions and logical methodology to support a conclusion.
Socratic analysis is accomplished by means of a series of probing questions that systematically examine the quality of an argument or conclusion.
Understanding the quality of information, argument or one's conclusions, is fundamental to critical thinking -- and the goal of critical editing.
Historical Foundation
Socrates’ practice was followed by the critical thinking of Plato (who recorded Socrates’ thought), Aristotle, and the Greek skeptics, all of whom emphasized that things are often very different from what they appear to be.Only the trained mind is prepared to see through the way things look to us on the surface (delusive appearances) to the way they really are beneath the surface (the deeper realities of life.)
From this ancient Greek tradition emerged the need, for anyone who aspired to understand the deeper realities, to think systematically, to trace implications broadly and deeply; for only thinking that is comprehensive, well-reasoned, and responsive to objections can take us beyond the surface.
Means Of Analysis
The common denominators of Critical Thinking requires, for example, the systematic monitoring of thought; that thinking, to be critical, must not be accepted at face value, but must be analyzed and assessed for its clarity, accuracy, relevance, depth, breadth, and logical validity. All reasoning occurs within points of view and frames of reference.All reasoning proceeds from some goals, objectives, and has an informational base. All data, when used in reasoning, must be interpreted. That interpretation involves concepts, that concepts entail assumptions, and that all basic inferences in thought have implications, and each of these dimensions of thinking need to be monitored where problems of thinking can occur.
Questioning Chain
The result of the collective contribution of the history of critical thought is that the basic questions of Socrates can now be much more powerfully and focally framed.In every domain of human thought, and within every use of reasoning within any domain, it is now possible to question:
• ends and objectives
• the status and wording of questions
• the sources of information and fact
• the method and quality of information collection
• the mode of judgment and reasoning used
• the concepts that make that reasoning possible
• the assumptions that underlie concepts in use
• the implications that follow from their use
• the point of view or frame of reference within which reasoning takes place
Jeffrey Slee
Logician
| Ban: Security Council Must Focus On Conditions That Feed Terrorism | Browse All Content | December 2012 CPI Up 1.7% Year Over Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Previous In Section | Browse Defense Department Section |
Next In Section |
We have commended the French for this effort to … stop the AQIM — these terrorists and members of al-Qaida — from being able to develop a base of operations in Mali, and we have always been concerned about efforts by al-Qaida to establish that kind of base,” the secretary said. “And our commitment ever since 9/11 has been to go after al-Qaida wherever they are and to make sure that they have no place to hide
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
Washington
Panetta Answers Mali Questions In Europe
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press ServiceMADRID, Jan. 15, 2013 – Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta discussed U.S. assistance to the French in Mali during news conferences today in Lisbon, Portugal, and here in the Spanish capital.
On Jan. 10, France began airstrikes against forces in Mali affiliated with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.
During a news conference in Lisbon this morning with Portuguese Defense Minister Jose Pedro Aguiar-Branco, Panetta expressed support for France’s action.
“We have commended the French for this effort to … stop the AQIM — these terrorists and members of al-Qaida — from being able to develop a base of operations in Mali, and we have always been concerned about efforts by al-Qaida to establish that kind of base,” the secretary said. “And our commitment ever since 9/11 has been to go after al-Qaida wherever they are and to make sure that they have no place to hide.”
Panetta also noted that the international community and the United Nations support the effort. A reporter asked whether U.S. officials are considering sending ground forces to Mali. “There is no consideration of putting any American boots on the ground at this time,” the secretary replied.
Later, during his joint appearance here with Spanish Defense Minister Pedro Morenes Eulate, Panetta repeated the basic points he first made yesterday about U.S. support for the French action in Mali.
The U.S. and French governments are discussing a range of possible assistance the United States can offer, he said. Panetta yesterday told reporters the French had requested intelligence, logistics and airlift support.
“We are in discussions with the French, and we are discussing in Washington some of the requests that have been made, to determine exactly what assistance we can provide,” the secretary said. “Our goal is to … do what we can to provide whatever assistance is necessary.”
Panetta told reporters he can’t yet offer a likely timeline for French military action in Mali.
“[We are following] events, trying to get a read as to what efforts they’re committed to taking there and what their objectives are. I can’t really give a full analysis … as of this moment,” he said. “Any time you confront an enemy that is dispersed … makes it challenging.”
In Mali, stopping a scattered enemy advance across a large area is a difficult but necessary task, the secretary noted.
“For that reason, we’ve commended France for taking that step,” he said. “And I believe the international community will do all we can to try to assist them in that effort.”
Morenes, speaking through a translator, noted that Panetta’s meetings with Spanish leaders “laid the foundations for significant cooperation in the future.”
“We specifically talked about Afghanistan and Mali,” he added.
European defense ministers have been monitoring the situation for more than a year, Morenes said, and in December they had reached preliminary agreements to train Malian and Economic Community of West African States forces. The movement of extremist forces toward Mali’s southern regions was “sudden, in a way,” he said, which meant that a new response had to develop quickly.
Talks he held with the French minister Jan. 11 and last night indicated the French plan is to prevent terrorist groups from reaching Mali’s capital of Bamako, which would create chaos, Morenes said. “The French minister told us that they wanted to stop that offensive and to … [proceed with] the Mali training mission,” he added.
Morenes said that at a meeting of NATO’s foreign ministers Jan. 18 in Brussels, “we had planned to get ahead of the offensive.”
“Now, [we are] adjusting to a new situation, post-offensive,” he noted.
The Spanish minister added that Spain already has agreed to a French request that Spain allow overflights of its maritime airspace. Panetta and Morenes agreed it is vital to world security to prevent terrorists fro developing a safe haven in Mali.
“[The] objective is to make sure AQIM never establishes a base for operations – in Mali, or for that matter, anyplace else,” Panetta said.