How do you know?

Several psychologists have conducted studies and provided insightful
explanations into the ways we learn, think and know. The following
abbreviated list will provide a very basic overview (extremely oversimplified,
in fact, which, regrettably, can’t be helped in such a brief treatment) of a pair
of these fascinating studies and help you to better understand your own
thinking habits and explore additional possibilities.
1. Received knowledge 4 / Dualism 5 describes those instances where
we acquire knowledge by listening to others and is often characterized by
seeing the world in simple dichotomies: right/wrong, good/bad, true/false,
white/black, etc.
2. Subjective knowledge 4 / Multiplism 5 describes the perspective where
an individual considers his or her own ideas as valid as anyone else’s, often
regardless of reason or evidence.
3. Procedural knowledge 4 / Relativism subordinate 5 describes the
frequently academic or scientific method of investigation and analysis in
order to discover and validate facts and knowledge.
4. Constructed knowledge 4 / Relativism 5 recognizes the complexity of
the world and that knowledge is relative to context and subject to different
methods of knowing.
So how do you know? Find out by discussing the following questions:
» Which of the following items have permanent dichotomous
characteristics (always right or wrong, good or bad, etc.)? Defend
your answers any way you choose (no violence, please!!!).
• killing a human being • the fact that evolution does or does not
explain the origin of modern life forms • which car company is best
• which high school or college is best • which flavor of ice cream
is best • whether or not we actually exist or only imagine that we
exist • who’s the best looking person in class • who discovered the
American continents • whether the world is flat or round • which
animal is fastest • the existence of God
» Which of the following items’ truth or value is entirely subjective
(whatever an individual thinks is absolutely correct)? Defend your
answers.
• favorite color • Republican or Democrat • correct way to
pronounce “tomato”, “Nevada” and “economics” • speeding • best
brand/type of gasoline • PC or Macintosh (or Microsoft/Unix/Linix)
• best professional sport and team • stealing • whether curling
and synchronized swimming belong in the olympics • can a society
justly constrain an individual to obtain an education and pay taxes
or prohibit them from stealing or having an abortion?
» Which of the following items depend entirely on circumstances and
11: Critical Thinking 161
context to determine whether or not they are true, appropriate,
valuable, etc.? Defend your answers.
• lying • crimes committed by juveniles or mentally challenged (“Is
there a difference?” you ask) • kissing • thrift • cheating • wages
for manual labor • war • how to be happy • ecoterrorism • gay
marriage • cutting down the rain forest • playing loud music
If someone you discussed these questions with disagreed with you,
how did you each respond? If there was any conflict, was it resolved or
accepted? If so, how?
Some people believe that we can’t actually know anything, or at least
that there’s no such thing as absolute truth because everything is relative.
How was such an assertion reached? How would you respond to such an
idea?
The world once O.D.ed on received knowledge/dualism. For example,
“experts” would decide who the great authors were and establish the
“truth” in many other areas. The Postmodern movement saw the flaws
in such an extreme view and built the case that if someone enjoys
or benefits from one author and not another, then that’s what really
counts.
Regarding writing, postmodernism led to Reader Response Theory,
which states that it hardly matters what an author intended to convey
with her/his words - whatever a reader gets from them (as the words
are influenced by the reader’s context, experience, values, etc.) is what
counts to the reader.
Does postmodernism seem to apply best to received knowledge/
dualism, subjective knowledge/multiplism, procedural knowledge/
relativism subordinate, or constructed knowledge/relativism? What
circumstances would limit the value of a postmodern view?
‘Thinking’ may be broken down into several individual skills, many of
which appear as aptitudes or natural talents. Having a skill as an aptitude
doesn’t mean not needing to work in order to perfect the skill. And while
all skills may be acquired to some degree by those who don’t seem to
possess it naturally, an individual will usually most enjoy using whatever
skills do come naturally to them. A partial list of thinking skills/aptitudes
(along with commentary about occupations who find them useful) includes:
» Systems reasoning: An information organizing aptitude that takes data
and puts it into a system, or takes data and organizes it into a system.
Strong awareness of context as well as content. Often the basis of an
interest in history. Analysis, contingency planning. Useful for programmers,
editors, process planners.
» Flash reasoning: The condition of (mostly) accurately jumping to
conclusions, quickly seeing discrepancies and errors, with a need to answer
questions. Natural debaters, they
Ignorance
is bliss…
right up to
the moment
when reality
comes along and smacks
you in the face or when
you suddenly realize
everything you’ve been
missing…okay, okay, so
ignorance isn’t bliss at all.
It’s just ignorance.
Point
of View
162 The Art & Craft of Writing take strong partisan positions. Therapists, troubleshooter, detectives,
lawyers.
» Cause/effect reasoning: Ability to see extended parallel cause and
effect sequences, something like what will happen if I do this? This
awareness of the long term makes it easier to conceptualize and achieve
long term goals in diverse areas and reduces the need for immediate
gratification.
» Numerical reasoning: A feel for the patterns and rhythms in numbers.
Arithmetical type activities.
» Logical reasoning: Naturally processing data in the form of syllogisms.
Programmers, logicians.
» Mechanical/spatial: An aptitude for things and 3D space. Mostly
found together, the mechanical and spatial can exist separately. High:
engineers, air controllers, doctors, truckers. Low: politicians, poets,
lawyers.
» Semantic equivalence: Aptitude/need for group functioning, including
people politics and the ability / need to identify with others, read vibes
well. High: sales, management. Low: specialists, artists, independent
decision makers, leaders (not managers).
» Idea production: Rate at which ideas are produced (independent of
idea quality.) Folks high in this generate lots of ideas but are distractible.
High: communicators of various types, such as in teaching or sales. Low:
high concentration areas like surgery.
» Sensory discrimination: The condition of making fine sensory
discriminations. Often perceived as fussy, people like this are very quality
aware. Winemakers, coffee buyers.
» Observation: aptitude for looking at things, recognizing and remembering
them.
» Number (visual): remembering, noticing numbers.
» Design: sensitivity to and memory for designs.
» Word (visual): memory for and sensitivity to written words.
» Color: memory for and sensitivity to color.
» Tone: memory for and sensitivity to tones.
» Rhythm: memory for and sensitivity to rhythm and timing.
» Number (audible): memory and sensitivity to spoken numbers.
» Word (audible): memory and sensitivity to spoken words.
» Additional possible aptitudes: hands on task organizing ability, spatial
orientation, sensory threshold/overload point, body memory, common
sense, green thumb, competitiveness, auditory identification, day/night
alertness, intuition, synesthesia, healing, affinity for animals, seeing auras,
parenting, the Ronald Reagan Teflon trait, the ability to get meaningful
data from a noisy background…the list of possibles goes on and on….6
Read several fascinating articles about aptitudes at http://knacks.esmartdesign.com/
index.html