Debatable Truths: What Buddhist Argumentation Reveals about Critical Thinking
Asian students have often been reported to struggle with Western-style critical thinking. A good understanding of what constitutes this intellectual practice might help them overcome some of their difficulties. To this end, a precise definition is necessary. This paper offers a contribution in this...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge
[2015]
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| In: |
Contemporary buddhism
Year: 2015, Volume: 16, Issue: 2, Pages: 371-400 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Asian students have often been reported to struggle with Western-style critical thinking. A good understanding of what constitutes this intellectual practice might help them overcome some of their difficulties. To this end, a precise definition is necessary. This paper offers a contribution in this regard. First, it presents a summary of the debate on this subject and spells out the three elements that, according to most theorists, constitute critical thinking, i.e., logico-argumentative abilities, dispositions to inquiry and evaluative epistemology. Second, it shows how this tripartite model is inadequate to explain the alleged difficulties of Asian students. Finally, it uses a medieval Indic text on Buddhist argumentation, the Tarkabhāā (XI CE), to expose the shortcomings of this model and to bring into focus three other specific characteristics of academic critical thinking: (1) the topic of inquiry, (2) the direction of the argument and (3) the object of critical scrutiny. |
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| ISSN: | 1476-7953 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Contemporary buddhism
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/14639947.2015.1026150 |