Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 14, No. 116.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 07:50:21 +0100
From: Soraj Hongladarom <hsoraj@chula.ac.th>
Subject: CFP: Critical Thinking Across Asia
CALL FOR PAPERS
Critical Thinking Across Asia
As Asian countries are finding ways to improve the quality of their
educational systems in order to survive in the contemporary globalized
economy, the role of critical thinking has received a lot of attention as a
means toward producing graduates who are "capable of thinking for
themselves". This capacity, whatever it actually means, is perceived to be
a key toward enhancement of competitiveness in many areas. However,
attempts to teach Asian students to become critical thinkers have been very
difficult to realize. This is due to the fact that in many Asian
traditions, there are deep rooted cultural traditions that seem to
discourage critical thinking. Teachers are normally held in a very high
esteem, and they typically do not want to see themselves being embarrassed
by criticisms, not least from their students. Students are taught to be
obedient; they are expected to believe whatever the teacher says.
Apparently some other kind of value are taken to be of a higher priority
than that of critical thinking.
Hence, some questions that emerge in connection with this phenomenon are:
What exactly is critical thinking? What is it that we teachers want our
students to have or to be in order that they be able to think critically?
Is there any necessary connection between critical thinking and one
particular cultural tradition? In case of Asian culture, which apparently
does not have or does not emphasize critical thinking, what can be done?
What exactly is the value of critical thinking? Why is it so desirable? Or
is it really desirable in all cases? These questions are only suggestive,
and naturally there are many more that can and should be asked.
This special issue of Manusya: Journal of Humanities is calling for
teachers and researchers in any related field to submit their papers for
consideration of publication. Theoretical papers dealing with conceptual
issues, empirical studies dealing with issues related to the topic, as well
as specific case studies of methods of teaching critical thinking
cross-culturally are all welcome.
Topics related to this issue include, but not limited to, the following:
*Analysis of critical thinking
*Value of critical thinking
*Relation of critical thinking to historical or cultural traditions
*Case studies of critical thinking teaching cross culturally
*Empirical studies of cultural factors in critical thinking
*Historical analysis of the perceived lack of critical thinking tradition
in Asia
*Possible latent historical sources in Asian cultures that could promote
critical thinking
*Ways toward promoting critical thinking in Asian students.
Papers should not exceed a maximum of 7,500 words, not including notes and
references. They should be sent as an attachment to the editor's email
address. The file should be in RTF, MS Word 2.0 for Windows, or MS Word 5.1
for Mac format. Further inquires could be directed to the special issue
editor:
Soraj Hongladarom
Special Issue Editor, Manusya
Department of Philosophy
Faculty of Arts
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok 10330, Thailand
email: hsoraj@chula.ac.th
Tel. +66-2-2184756; Fax. +66-2-2184867
Deadline of submission: February 28, 2001
Prospective authors are encouraged to contact the editor for inquiries or
further information. Papers submitted will undergo the usual review process.
Manusya: Journal of Humanities is an international journal dealing with all
aspects of the humanities. It is published by Chulalongkorn University and
distributed worldwide. The web site of the Journal is:
http://www.media.academic.chula.ac.th/manusya/
*****************
Soraj Hongladarom Department of Philosophy
Faculty of Arts
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok 10330, THAILAND
Tel. +662-2184756 Fax +662-2184867
Personal Web Page: http://pioneer.chula.ac.th/~hsoraj/web/soraj.html
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