2005/09/01 by HARVEY SIEGEL, Harvey Siegel · 69 citations
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Computer science #Critical thinking #Education and Critical Thinking Development #Educational Strategies and Epistemologies #Epistemology #Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics #Philosophy #Sociology #Value (mathematics)
paper · open access · doi:10.1111/j.1933-1592.2005.tb00452.x
published in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 71(2), 345-366 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2005/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
In his recent work in social epistemology, Alvin Goldman argues that truth is the fundamental epistemic end of education, and that critical thinking is of merely instrumental value with respect to that fundamental end. He also argues that there is a central place for testimony and trust in the classroom, and an educational danger in over-emphasizing the fostering of students’ critical thinking. In this paper I take issue with these claims, and argue that (1) critical thinking is a fundamental end of education, independently of its instrumental tie to truth, and (2) it is critical thinking, rather than testimony and trust, that is educationally basic.