1. A Brief History of Critical Thinking, Pt. 1: Shamans, Seers, and Sacred Geometry

by dfmccx · October 12, 2020

The Story of Nowhere – Studies in Utopianism and Humanity

The Story of Nowhere (available as eBook, Audiobook, & Paperback): https://storyofnowhere.com/book/
The Story of Nowhere Podcast Introductory Episode — “Episode Zero”: https://storyofnowhere.com/zero/

DEFINING CRITICAL THINKING

‘I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it’ – A paraphrase of a statement by Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/378/184
[In the show, I guess that this was said in the 1980’s or 90’s; in fact, this case was in 1964.]

Reader’s Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary, 11th Printing (1975)

CRITICAL (adj.): 1. Given to faultfinding or severe judgments; carping. 2. Exhibiting careful, precise judgments and evaluations; analytical: a critical report. 3. Of or characteristic of a critic or criticism. 4. Of the nature of a crisis or turning point; crucial; decisive: a critical week in history. 5. Attended with danger; risky; perilous: a critical lack of foresight. 6. Pathol. Pertaining to or characterized by a stage of a serious illness or injury in which the patient is momentarily expected to change markedly for better or worse. 7. Necessary for the prosecution of a war: critical materiel. 8. Physics Designating a constant value or point indicating a decisive change in a specified condition, as temperature, pressure, speed, etc. Abbr. crit.—Syn. See Acute.—crit’i-cal-ly adv.—crit’i-cal-ness n.
THOUGHT (n.): 1. The act or process of using the mind actively and deliberately; meditation; cogitation. 2. The product of thinking; an idea, concept, judgment, etc. 3. Intellectual activity of a specific kind: Greek thought. 4. Consideration; attention: Give the matter some thought. 5. Intention or idea of doing something; plan: All thought of returning was abandoned. 6. Expectation; anticipation: He had no thought of finding her there. 7. Rare A trifle; a small amount: Be a thought more cautious.

The Foundation for Critical Thinking

“Critical Thinking: Where to Begin”
“Defining Critical Thinking”
- “Why Critical Thinking?
  - “The Problem
    - “Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.
  - “A Definition
    - “Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content, or problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them.
  - “The Result
  - “A well cultivated critical thinker:
    - “raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;
    - “gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;
    - “thinks openmindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and
    - “communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.
- “Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities and a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.
- “(Taken from Richard Paul and Linda Elder, The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools, Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2008)”
“A Brief History of the Idea of Critical Thinking”
- “The intellectual roots of critical thinking are as ancient as its etymology, traceable, ultimately, to the teaching practice and vision of Socrates 2,500 years ago who discovered by a method of probing questioning that people could not rationally justify their confident claims to knowledge. Confused meanings, inadequate evidence, or self-contradictory beliefs often lurked beneath smooth but largely empty rhetoric. Socrates established the fact that one cannot depend upon those in “authority” to have sound knowledge and insight. He demonstrated that persons may have power and high position and yet be deeply confused and irrational. He established the importance of asking deep questions that probe profoundly into thinking before we accept ideas as worthy of belief.”
Richard W. Paul (1937-2015; founder of the Foundation for Critical Thinking)
- About Dr. Richard William Paul
- Logic as Theory of Validation (1968)
- “How to Teach Series” (YouTube)

ORIGINS OF CRITICAL THINKING

“Oldest Home Sapiens Fossil Claim Rewrites our Species’ History” – Nature

“Remains from Morocco dated to 315,000 years ago push back our species’ origins by 100,000 years — and suggest we didn’t evolve only in East Africa.”

Ancient History Encyclopedia

“Elam”
“Mesopotamian Science and Technology”
- “The Sumerians created these things [the wheel, the sail, writing, etc.] in an effort to improve their lives but must have arrived at the need for them through observation of an existing problem and proposing a solution which was then tested. Some scholars object to the use of the terms ‘science’ or ‘scientific method’ in referring to Sumerian/Mesopotamian inventions and innovations because religion played such an important role in the people’s lives and the will of the gods was considered the final and only factor in how the universe and life on earth operated.
- “Even so, ‘scientific method’ is the most precise term for how the people proceeded because the Mesopotamians, while keeping to a theistic concept of life, allowed themselves to imagine a world which operated according to certain natural laws, and in attempting to find out how, they laid the foundation for scientific inquiry which would later be developed by Egyptian and then Greek thinkers and would carry on to the present day.”
“Gobekli Tepe”
“Lascaux Cave”
“Stone Age”
“Stone Age Tools”
“N eolithic Period”
“Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Societies”

“Impact of Tool Use and Technology on the Evolution of the Human Mind” – Center for Academic Research & Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA)
“What Does it Mean to be Human? Stone Tools” – Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
“Human Evolution Timeline Interactive” – Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
“Wheel” – Wikipedia
The Outline of History – H.G. Wells (1920)
The Story of Civilization, Vol. I: Our Oriental Heritage – Will Durant (1935)
Socratic Logic – Peter Kreeft (2010)
“Understanding the Evolution of Human Thought” – Evernote
“Human Abstract Thought: The Most Dangerous Thing on Earth” – CultureQuake
“When Did the Human Mind Evolve into What it is Today?” – Smithsonian Magazine
“Animism” – Encyclopedia Britannica
“Animism” – Religion Facts
“Animism and Earth Ritual” – Ancestral Medicine
Whisperers: The Secret History of the Spirit World – J.H. Brennan (2013)
“Shamanism” – Encyclopedia Britannica
Foundation for Shamanic Studies
“The Origins of Shamanism” – Gaia
Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States – James C. Scott (2017)

ANCIENT CHINESE CRITICAL THINKING

Ancient History Encyclopedia

“Da Yu” (Yu the Great) – Encyclopedia Britannica
“Yu the Great” – Wikipedia
“Great Flood (China)” – Wikipedia
“Three Thousand Years of Educational Wisdom: Selections from Great Documents” – Robert Ulich (Editor; 1999)
“Confucius” – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
“Zhi in Confucian Literature” – Unpolished Jade
“Mencius” – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

ANCIENT MIDDLE EASTERN CRITICAL THINKING

Ancient History Encyclopedia

“Mesopotamia”
“Sumer”
“Sumerian Language”
“Cuneiform”
“The Myth of Adapa” (Mesopotamian ‘Fall of Man’ Story; Adapa is an alternate characterization of Oannes)
“Marduk”
“Ancient Egypt”
“Egyptian Hieroglyphs”
“Ancient Egyptian Science and Technology”
“Thoth”

A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future – Charles Van Doren (1992)
“Oannes” – Encyclopedia Britannica
Jordan Peterson on the Marduk Myth – YouTube [I edited this clip for the episode to contain the most relevant information]
“Hieroglyph” – Encyclopedia Britannica
“The Life and Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus” – Chapter Five of The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall (1928)

PRE-SOCRATIC CRITICAL THINKING

Ancient History Encyclopedia

“Prometheus”
“Prometheus Bound”
“Odyssey”
“Odysseus”
“Greek Philosophy”
“Ancient Greek Science”
“Introduction to the Presocratics”
“Thales of Miletus”
“Pythagoras”
“Xenophanes of Colophon”
- Xenophanes on the Nature of God: “‘Mortals suppose that the gods are born and have clothes and voices and shapes like their own. But if oxen, horses and lions had hands or could paint with their hands and fashion works as men do, horses would paint horse-like images of gods and oxen oxen-like ones, and each would fashion bodies like their own. The Ethiopians consider the gods flat-nosed and black; the Thracians blue-eyed and red-haired. There is one god, among gods and men the greatest, not at all like mortals in body or mind.’ (Diogenes Laertius, Lives)”