Kevin deLaplante | 014 - Curiosity and Critical Thinking @PhilosophyFreak | Uploaded December 2016 | Updated October 2024, 27 minutes ago.
On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I talk about the various ways that curiosity is an undervalued resource for critical thinking.
Curiosity plays an important role in generating the kind of background knowledge that supports critical thinking. It also has important and underrated debiasing properties, meaning that it can reduce many of the harmful effects of cognitive biases on our thinking.
I also talk about my personal relationship to curiosity, and how it has influenced many of the decisions I’ve made in my career, including my decision to leave academia.
In this episode:
- Knowledge is not compartmentalized (3:40)
- How curiosity is a resource for generating relevant and lasting background knowledge that supports critical thinking (5:30)
- “Situational” curiosity vs “trait” curiosity (9:30)
- Some people are naturally more curious than others, but curiosity can be cultivated (11:25)
- “Partisan interest” vs genuine curiosity (14:50)
- Genuine curiosity is a debiasing agent (16:40)
- High partisan interest, low curiosity (18:15)
- My personal relationship to curiosity (20:15)
- Why I was never a “true” Academic (23:00)
- Low partisan interest, high curiosity (26:15)
- My reaction to Trump’s win (27:30)
- Why I have no ideological or political agenda (29:30)
- The one agenda I do have (31:40)
- What is possible with crowdfunding (34:30)
...
For show notes, commentary, full transcripts, and to learn more about how to subscribe to the Argument Ninja podcast:
argumentninja.com/podcast/014-curiosity-and-critical-thinking
Become a SUSTAINING MEMBER and UNLOCK EVERY COURSE at the Critical Thinker Academy!:
criticalthinkeracademy.com/p/support
Join the discussion on Facebook:
facebook.com/CriticalThnkerAcademy
On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I talk about the various ways that curiosity is an undervalued resource for critical thinking.
Curiosity plays an important role in generating the kind of background knowledge that supports critical thinking. It also has important and underrated debiasing properties, meaning that it can reduce many of the harmful effects of cognitive biases on our thinking.
I also talk about my personal relationship to curiosity, and how it has influenced many of the decisions I’ve made in my career, including my decision to leave academia.
In this episode:
- Knowledge is not compartmentalized (3:40)
- How curiosity is a resource for generating relevant and lasting background knowledge that supports critical thinking (5:30)
- “Situational” curiosity vs “trait” curiosity (9:30)
- Some people are naturally more curious than others, but curiosity can be cultivated (11:25)
- “Partisan interest” vs genuine curiosity (14:50)
- Genuine curiosity is a debiasing agent (16:40)
- High partisan interest, low curiosity (18:15)
- My personal relationship to curiosity (20:15)
- Why I was never a “true” Academic (23:00)
- Low partisan interest, high curiosity (26:15)
- My reaction to Trump’s win (27:30)
- Why I have no ideological or political agenda (29:30)
- The one agenda I do have (31:40)
- What is possible with crowdfunding (34:30)
...
For show notes, commentary, full transcripts, and to learn more about how to subscribe to the Argument Ninja podcast:
argumentninja.com/podcast/014-curiosity-and-critical-thinking
Become a SUSTAINING MEMBER and UNLOCK EVERY COURSE at the Critical Thinker Academy!:
criticalthinkeracademy.com/p/support
Join the discussion on Facebook:
facebook.com/CriticalThnkerAcademy
