Critical thinking is not just private pondering, mental gymnastics, or a bland set of teachable skills - it’s an activity that real people do together in community, according to Martin Fowler, an Elon University lecturer whose first book “The Ethical Practice of Critical Thinking” examines the concept.
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“Skillful analysis, research, and argument are about more than successfully completing the project at hand,” Fowler said. “Critical thinking skills demand collaboration, conflict-resolution, and the ability for businessmen and attorneys to think together as a community. Critical thinking at its best is also an ethical relationship.”
The book includes 50 “shares,” or exercises, to help students understand the concepts Fowler finds important in critical thinking.
“Members of these professions should take time to affirm shared values that help them to think together with mutual respect, to listen with objectivity and to inquire with the curiosity that come with any worthwhile thinking,” Fowler said. “It’s good preparation for handling or even forestalling certain business and legal ethics problems.”
Fowler received his doctorate in philosophy from the State University of New York at Binghamton (now Binghamton University) in 1980, a master’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1975 and his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1973.
He joined the Elon faculty full-time in 2001 after working as an adjunct professor for several years while working as a legal editor for Bourlon & Credle, P.A., in Durham , N.C. His courses have included Critical Thinking, Ethical Practice, Modern Philosophy, and Restorative Justice, among others. Fowler lives in Durham with his husband and has served on several ongoing community volunteer projects.
For more information on the book, click on the link to the upper right of this page.