The Key

When students really want me to prove to them that critical thinking is valuable, I usually default to one thing:

I say, Do you want your life to get better? Because if the answer to that is no, I can't help you.

I know that sounds over-simplified. I get it. But the truth is that humans are motivated by all kinds of irrational, purely emotional, and purely rote things that don't, in fact, have any potential for success. If you are not committed to making your life better by careful self-examination there is no amount of teaching I can do, fundamentally or ethically, that will sink in.

I cannot pretend there is a path other than critical thought to improvement. I can't lie and make emotionality and feelings primary areas for teaching and growth. The idea that intellect and emotion are two sides of the same growth-coin is silly to me. It's the same as saying science and religion are even but two sides of the same coin. As a teacher I'm going to tell you: First you have to want your life to be better. Second you have to humble yourself before objective truths that demands a serious amount of self-reflection.

Here are some objective truths: The first truth is that your mind is what leads to change. Your mind is what does the thinking. Your heart pumps blood. Sorry. I didn't make it this way. Another is that learning from people who think emotionality is a key to intellect will only teach you that emotionality is the key to intellect. You will believe it and you will fail. Until you learn from someone who uses their intellect to show you the definition of intellect and then intelligence, you are at a disadvantage.

Ask yourself what you're trying to achieve. I don't see many people doing this. But if you're going to open your mouth and if you think those words are going to participate in the great dialectic, you need a first premise - like a definition of intellect. Throughout these posts I try to start you off by showing a simple difference between memorizing stuff a "knowing" stuff.

I get it that if you don't understand "thinking", you can't "think" what it is. But use a form of transcendental deduction. If you consider what you have and where you are, what does that tell you independent of your opinion? If what it really tells you is that you need to learn, you cant do that using over-confidence alone.

That's my job.