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<p>[QUOTE="EWC3, post: 3605583, member: 93416"]I think my circumstances differ, maybe specific to my age and nationality (67 and UK). I learned critical thinking as a schoolboy at a Grammar school. The school, like most such schools, was abolished the year I left (1971). At University I studied pure maths and philosophy. Maths is maths, but I found my philosophy course was really an attempt to damage my “critical thinking skills”. It seemed to me at the time that that was due to university humanities departments back peddling, in the light of the student revolts of 1969. Not that I have any sympathy with the 69 “revolution”. But what I seem and seemed to see was an abuse of critical thinking in 1969, opposed by a blocking of critical thinking, altogether, by 1971. A case where two wrongs made a wrong. </p><p><br /></p><p>Last week I came across a book by Justin E.H. Smith that seemed to encapsulate my own experience – a summary of the contents here:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/the-philosopher-a-history-in-six-types/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/the-philosopher-a-history-in-six-types/" rel="nofollow">https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/the-philosopher-a-history-in-six-types/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Gives me names for what is going on. My personal philosophy, and the one natural to a numismatist, Smith calls the “Curiosus”. The philosophies he worries about are the “Mandarin” and the “Courtier”.</p><p><br /></p><p>I do not want to get at cross purposes with Orfew. These days when I google-search for academic purposes I restrict the search to “books” - so mostly to tenured academics. I do this because the popular general opinions of journalists and the general public readership are so often hopelessly misguided. But looking back in time – how did that come about? What happened to the world in which an independent guy who maintained trams – W H Valentine – had the confidence in his critical thinking skills to deploy them in cutting edge numismatics? Maybe its not that tenured academic work has improved, but rather - that independent critical thinking in the general public has retreated?</p><p><br /></p><p>This seems to me particularly so in connection with numismatics, where the collector “Curiosus” is being driven out by the “Mandarins” and the “Courtiers” far too often found, I judge, in professional archaeology. I hope Orfew at least will read the summary I link to, so as properly to understand what my specific criticisms are.</p><p><br /></p><p>Rob T[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="EWC3, post: 3605583, member: 93416"]I think my circumstances differ, maybe specific to my age and nationality (67 and UK). I learned critical thinking as a schoolboy at a Grammar school. The school, like most such schools, was abolished the year I left (1971). At University I studied pure maths and philosophy. Maths is maths, but I found my philosophy course was really an attempt to damage my “critical thinking skills”. It seemed to me at the time that that was due to university humanities departments back peddling, in the light of the student revolts of 1969. Not that I have any sympathy with the 69 “revolution”. But what I seem and seemed to see was an abuse of critical thinking in 1969, opposed by a blocking of critical thinking, altogether, by 1971. A case where two wrongs made a wrong. Last week I came across a book by Justin E.H. Smith that seemed to encapsulate my own experience – a summary of the contents here: [URL]https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/the-philosopher-a-history-in-six-types/[/URL] Gives me names for what is going on. My personal philosophy, and the one natural to a numismatist, Smith calls the “Curiosus”. The philosophies he worries about are the “Mandarin” and the “Courtier”. I do not want to get at cross purposes with Orfew. These days when I google-search for academic purposes I restrict the search to “books” - so mostly to tenured academics. I do this because the popular general opinions of journalists and the general public readership are so often hopelessly misguided. But looking back in time – how did that come about? What happened to the world in which an independent guy who maintained trams – W H Valentine – had the confidence in his critical thinking skills to deploy them in cutting edge numismatics? Maybe its not that tenured academic work has improved, but rather - that independent critical thinking in the general public has retreated? This seems to me particularly so in connection with numismatics, where the collector “Curiosus” is being driven out by the “Mandarins” and the “Courtiers” far too often found, I judge, in professional archaeology. I hope Orfew at least will read the summary I link to, so as properly to understand what my specific criticisms are. Rob T[/QUOTE]
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