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"...What's it with humanities people that make them believe that only them, of all people, are able to do critical thinking?..." The same thing that is with ev
by bilbo0s 12y ago
"...What's it with humanities people that make them believe that only them, of all people, are able to do critical thinking?..."
The same thing that is with everyone else. If you look around our societies today it seems almost a matter of course that the first argument deployed in any debate is a dismissal of the opposing view holder's ability to think critically. Not to put too fine a point on it... but you can see that argument employed a lot here on HN. It's not really a matter of STEM people being dismissive of others' critical thinking skills - or even Humanities people being dismissive of others' critical thinking skills - as much as it is a matter of ALL people being dismissive of others.
It's, kind of, the nature of discourse in our society these days.
- xkcd-sucks 12y agoReasoning in "humanities" needs to be internally consistent, i.e. to sound good. Reasoning in "sciences" needs to be externally consistent, i.e. consistent with the "observable reality" of the "natural world." Of course, "humanities people" are in the business of programming human beings, which is pretty useful for getting things done.
- throwaway9324 12y agoI disagree. People who practice critical thinking, like at least some Humanities courses do, become better at it. I think the idea that things are equally good or bad everywhere in large stems from a lack of practice of/in critical thinking. I also think people are confused what critical thinking means. It's much more about how you discuss something rather than what you are discussing or what position you take.