The hottest Critical Thinking Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Why Going with Our Gut is Not Enough: Critical Thinking and the Art of Mindfulness

Humanities in Revolt • 319 implied HN points • 21 Dec 23
📖 Philosophy Critical Thinking Mindfulness Interpretation Intellectual humility
  1. Our thoughts shape our world: The power of critical thinking and mindfulness is evident in how our thoughts influence our experiences and actions.
  2. Mindfulness over gut reactions: While automated thinking can be useful, critical thinking requires self-awareness to assess situations, especially new and unfamiliar ones.
  3. Interpretation and critical thinking: Understanding how interpretation and inference impact our understanding of the world is crucial for developing critical thinking skills and constructing meaningful beliefs.

Knowing When the Sky Isn't Falling: What an Ancient Fable about the End of the World Teaches Us About Critical Thinking

Humanities in Revolt • 279 implied HN points • 29 Dec 23
🚌 Education Critical Thinking Ethics
  1. Both the Chicken Little and Buddhist fables warn about the dangers of group-think and decision-making guided by fear.
  2. Critical thinking involves mindfulness and self-awareness to avoid falling into irrational traps fueled by fear.
  3. The lion in the Buddhist fable demonstrates that critical thinking should be infused with ethical considerations and compassion for others.

Thinking for Ourselves: The Good Life and the Art of Critical Thinking

Humanities in Revolt • 359 implied HN points • 10 Nov 23
🚌 Education Critical Thinking Wisdom
  1. Living a good life involves more than just acquiring material possessions; it requires good thinking and the practice of critical thinking
  2. Critical thinking is a skill that requires intentional development through practice, study, and conscious effort
  3. Critical thinking goes beyond intelligence and involves ethical considerations, reasoning, and striving for wisdom rather than just seeking knowledge
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The Class Where All Students Won a Nobel Prize: Or Factchecking 101

FutureIQ • 2 implied HN points • 26 May 25
🚌 Education AI literacy Critical Thinking Storytelling
  1. Fact-checking is becoming more important, especially with the rise of AI and misinformation. It's a skill that everyone should work on developing.
  2. Stories about historical figures can sometimes be exaggerated, so it's important to verify claims before believing them. Always look for reliable sources when you hear something that sounds too good to be true.
  3. Historians face challenges sorting through conflicting information from the past. Even recent events can lead to differing accounts, showing how tricky it can be to get to the truth.

The cult of positive thinking comes for academe

The Recovering Academic • 356 implied HN points • 14 Feb 23
🚌 Education Academia Leadership Student experience Critical Thinking
  1. Positive thinking originated as an antidote to Puritanism and is about trying to think positively as a practice or discipline.
  2. In academia, positive thinking can enable gaslighting where university leaders may manipulate or undermine faculty concerns to align with their personal visions.
  3. Negative thinking, while often seen in a bad light, can be essential for seeking truth and survival by challenging assumptions and serving as a tool for vigilantly assessing reality.

How to Learn What is True

David Friedman’s Substack • 350 implied HN points • 04 Feb 24
🚌 Education Critical Thinking Expertise
  1. Be skeptical of claims on contentious issues and don't readily believe them without verification.
  2. Evaluate arguments by reading carefully, checking claims, and assessing the logic for yourself.
  3. Recognize that scientific truth is not established by official committees, but through a decentralized process of expert agreement.

Essay Club: The Origins of Cognitive Thought by B. F. Skinner

Mind & Mythos • 199 implied HN points • 16 Dec 23
📖 Philosophy Cognitive Science Behaviorism Critical Thinking
  1. Skinner believed that all behaviors, including thoughts and language, are learned through our environment. He claimed that we respond to rewards and punishments, shaping how we act and think.
  2. He thought that understanding our feelings and thoughts is best achieved by looking at the history and meaning of the words we use to describe them. The words we choose reveal a lot about our experiences and behaviors.
  3. Skinner emphasized the importance of focusing on observable behavior in psychology. He felt that many internal mental states are too complicated and not easily measurable, so we should concentrate on what we can see and test.

Do English professors think of themselves as priests?

The Recovering Academic • 237 implied HN points • 29 Aug 23
🚌 Education Literature Liberal Arts University Reading Critical Thinking
  1. English professors are encountering ideological shifts, with a significant decrease in conservative representation in the field.
  2. Debates about the importance of humanities education and literature often arise in the context of changing university priorities.
  3. There's a growing concern about the impact of identity politics and activism on literature education and the declining enrollments in humanities programs.

Imago DEI at Cornell University

Heterodox STEM • 199 implied HN points • 17 Mar 24
🚌 Education Free speech Critical Thinking
  1. The theme year for Freedom of Expression at Cornell University is controversial, focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
  2. There is a concern about the prioritization of DEI over free speech, leading to a culture of fear and conformity on campus.
  3. Efforts are being made to bring in speakers who promote fearless, rational, and civil speech on campus, to counteract the perceived lack of free expression.

Disinformation & Why People Believe It

The Digital Anthropologist • 19 implied HN points • 03 Jul 24
📰 News Disinformation Storytelling Conspiracy Theories Online Communities Critical Thinking
  1. Disinformation and misinformation are unintended consequences of the early days of the Digital Age, impacting societies globally.
  2. Disinformation often revolves around storytelling, with different groups creating narratives to shape their reality.
  3. The spread of disinformation is fueled by the rapid dissemination of stories in our hyperconnected world, highlighting the need for critical thinking skills in education.

We Need to Do Better than Hum 1 & Soc Sci 2 in General Education

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 215 implied HN points • 05 Feb 24
🚌 Education Humanities Higher education Liberal Arts Critical Thinking
  1. The purpose of humanities in education should be more than teaching a limited view of Western literature and thought.
  2. It is valuable to provide students with a broad liberal education that includes exposure to different perspectives, even critical ones.
  3. American universities should focus on teaching true facts and how to think critically rather than implanting specific values.

Links to Consider

In My Tribe • 349 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
🚌 Education Leadership Non-profit Ideology Critical Thinking
  1. The key to effective leadership is genuinely caring about your subordinates, not just pretending to care.
  2. Comparing profit-seeking businesses with non-profits, profit-seeking businesses are more incentivized to solve customer problems than non-profits are to create benefits that exceed costs.
  3. Wokism stems from the equality thesis of race and sex differences and a background of Christian morality, leading to challenges in discussing disparities and natural differences among groups.

bell hooks’ Labors of Love: Taking Action, Thinking Critically

Humanities in Revolt • 179 implied HN points • 30 Apr 23
🚌 Education Feminism Critical Thinking Socialization Authenticity Self-Expression
  1. Thinking critically is as important as physical action, according to bell hooks, as it leads to understanding and learning how life works.
  2. bell hooks challenges the societal norms that discourage critical thinking, arguing that it is a vital capacity for truth, authenticity, and autonomy.
  3. bell hooks emphasizes that critical thinking fosters self-knowledge, agency, and survival, going beyond being a mere academic expectation.

Two Master Fallacies

Fake Noûs • 306 implied HN points • 16 Sep 23
🚌 Education Logic Critical Thinking
  1. Assumption is a common error where people quickly believe something with little evidence.
  2. Dogmatism is the resistance to changing beliefs, even in the face of evidence.
  3. To avoid assumption, consider alternatives, objections, empirical tests, and listen to different perspectives. To combat dogmatism, question your beliefs and avoid dogmatic techniques like ignoring contrary evidence and appealing only to your belief system.

17. Be Antifragile by Expanding Awareness

Insight Axis • 158 implied HN points • 18 Jul 23
📖 Philosophy Mindset Critical Thinking Personal Development
  1. Antifragility is about gaining from stress rather than simply not breaking under it.
  2. Antifragility is a concept by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, explored in his various books like 'Antifragile' and 'The Black Swan.'
  3. Being antifragile involves thriving in a world full of unpredictable stressors by not predicting when events occur, but figuring out how to survive and benefit from them.

Well-framed problems

The Uncertainty Mindset (soon to become tbd) • 139 implied HN points • 01 Nov 23
🚌 Education Critical Thinking Innovation Collaboration Strategy
  1. Framing problems well is important to find good solutions. It helps to balance being open to many ideas while also being clear about what is acceptable.
  2. Good problem framing encourages innovative thinking. A broad question can lead to more varied solutions than a narrow one.
  3. Making tradeoffs clear in problem framing helps focus the search for solutions. It saves time by pointing us toward the best options while avoiding distractions.

The case for narrow utilitarianism

inexactscience • 99 implied HN points • 08 Dec 23
📖 Philosophy Ethics Utilitarianism Critical Thinking Decision-making Moral Philosophy
  1. Utilitarianism is about making choices that increase overall well-being and treats everyone equally. It's a way of thinking that encourages using data and math to improve lives.
  2. While utilitarianism sounds good, taking it too far can lead to poor decisions and people justifying bad behavior. It's important to recognize our own biases and limits.
  3. Narrow utilitarianism suggests we apply these ideas only in clear situations where we understand the problems well. It's better to stay focused and cautious rather than trying to force comparisons between very different choices.

'Luckily, we love tedious work'

imperfect offerings • 119 implied HN points • 24 Aug 23
🚌 Education Workplace dynamics Artificial Intelligence Humanities Critical Thinking
  1. Generative AI may impact the job market, emphasizing marketization over addressing economic and social challenges.
  2. Artificial intelligences may free humans from tedious tasks, but can also lead to uncreative and repetitive work.
  3. AI technologies are evolving, but their impact on graduate job market transformation may not align with initial expectations.

Tensions between different approaches to doing good

Understanding Social Change • 117 implied HN points • 18 Mar 23
📖 Philosophy Ethics Critical Thinking Values
  1. There are tensions between different approaches to doing good, like quantifying everything or embracing complexity.
  2. Quantifying impact is important to support evidence-based organizations for maximum effectiveness.
  3. However, focusing solely on quantifiable measures may overlook important indirect benefits, leading to a need for a balance between quantifiable and unquantifiable impacts.

Ready for anything

The Uncertainty Mindset (soon to become tbd) • 139 implied HN points • 09 Aug 23
🚌 Education Critical Thinking Teaching Methods Curriculum Development
  1. Students need to learn how to adapt to constant change, especially with the rise of digital technology. Traditional teaching methods focused on stable information aren't enough anymore.
  2. Digital proficiency isn't about mastering specific technologies but developing skills to understand and respond to changes. This means being able to identify problems, evaluate sources of information, and think flexibly.
  3. Teaching these skills effectively can happen in any subject, not just in standalone courses. Teachers can use creative methods to build critical thinking while covering standard curriculum content.

Living Truths and Dead Dogmas: How the Humanities Honors Freedom of Thought and Expression

Humanities in Revolt • 279 implied HN points • 08 Sep 22
🚌 Education Humanities Critical Thinking Dialogue Cultural analysis
  1. The humanities teach us not to judge something before we understand it, promoting open-mindedness, love for enemies, and freedom of thought and expression.
  2. Criticism of conventional schooling highlights the need for education that fosters critical thinking, independence, and a love for learning, rather than regimentation and conformity.
  3. Humanistic inquiry reinvigorates our understanding of beliefs, encourages critical examination, and emphasizes the ongoing effort necessary to maintain living truths instead of dead dogmas.

How to Go to BBQ Hell via the Use of Data

Think Future • 79 implied HN points • 02 Nov 23
🎭️ Culture Food & Drink Data science Critical Thinking Expertise Futurism
  1. The importance of expertise in interpreting data findings - data can sometimes lead to nonsensical conclusions without proper expertise to guide the analysis.
  2. Be cautious of drawing conclusions solely based on data - critical thinking is essential to avoid errors in analysis, like the case of Trip Advisor's BBQ city rankings.
  3. Consulting with longtime experts is crucial before accepting data-driven findings as 'rock-solid' - having seasoned professionals review results can help prevent misinterpretations and errors.

Skills we need for the AI-driven world

10x your mind • 79 implied HN points • 06 Apr 23
🚌 Education Skills Learning Development Curriculum Critical Thinking
  1. Machines are advancing rapidly, and we need to identify skills to stay relevant amidst automation.
  2. Skills like smarter decision-making, clarity in thinking, and asking the right questions are crucial for navigating the AI-driven world.
  3. Emotional intelligence and the ability to reinvent ourselves are becoming increasingly important in the face of evolving technology.

Beware AI in the classroom

CIEO • 78 implied HN points • 11 Jul 23
🚌 Education Technology Bias Critical Thinking Learning Teaching
  1. AI in the classroom can provide benefits but also comes with costs, such as bias and misinformation.
  2. AI-generated responses may not always be accurate or politically neutral, reflecting biases of developers.
  3. To effectively judge AI responses, individuals need critical thinking skills and knowledge, and teachers play a crucial role in guiding young people.

A crisis in epistemology

Sunday Letters • 59 implied HN points • 20 Nov 23
🚌 Education Curriculum Epistemology AI Impact Critical Thinking Learning methods
  1. We need to rethink what to teach as AI becomes more capable. It's important to understand the basics of how things work, not just rely on AI to do it for us.
  2. Trust is becoming harder in our knowledge sources. With the rise of fake evidence and statistics, we must be careful where we get our information.
  3. The future of learning should focus on teaching people how to learn effectively. This includes critical thinking skills, understanding biases, and the scientific method.

What Critics of the Humanities Don't Understand

Humanities in Revolt • 299 implied HN points • 10 Feb 22
📖 Philosophy Values Critical Thinking Aesthetics Political Philosophy Moral Philosophy
  1. Critics of the humanities often underestimate their importance and mistakenly prioritize practical fields like STEM over humanities. However, an in-depth analysis reveals the value-based assumptions behind such claims.
  2. The humanities contribute to understanding human existence beyond mere practicality by encouraging contemplation of values, creativity, and the human condition. They help us figure out our fundamental goals and values that guide decision-making.
  3. Philosophy delves into examining human values, morality, aesthetics, and political philosophy, emphasizing the indispensable role the humanities play in critically evaluating our beliefs, actions, and societal structures based on deeper values.