Against all kinds of prejudice

The critical habit of thought, if usual in society, will pervade all its mores, because it is a way of taking up the problems of life. Men educated in it cannot be stampeded by stump orators ... They are slow to believe. They can hold things as possible or probable in all degrees, without certainty and without pain. They can wait for evidence and weigh evidence, uninfluenced by the emphasis or confidence with which assertions are made on one side or the other. They can resist appeals to their dearest prejudices and all kinds of cajolery. Education in the critical faculty is the only education of which it can be truly said that it makes good citizens. William Graham Sumner

Prejudice seems to lie in every society and touch on every domain. One discrimination we do not usually think about - and seems to be widely accepted - is against people who are considered of less-than-average intelligence.

This article focuses on the topic: http://www.justfocus.org.nz/articles/2007/06/08/redefining-intelligence.

Fairly recent researches imply to observe cultural relativism, also in the ways intelligence is defined across cultures.

See http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/intelligence.html.

To me, there exists at least two main types of intelligence: theoretical (academic) and practical (savvy), characterised by different cognitive styles and inducing more or less experience.

Social scientists point that culture is experience.

A useful question is what is its raison d'être if intelligence does not serve action?

One should ask whether the dominant perception of intelligence in the Western world is linked to the fact that some very intelligent people are marginalized and depressed, and end up to be treated for disorders, and sometimes resort to violence against others and/or themselves (for example by committing or attempting to commit suicide).

From my view point, human intelligence developed as a function of survival, and still evolves through interactions with the environment. This aspect is mostly undermined - but also discarded in other places - in post-industrialised countries, diverting it from its initial purpose.

Thinking outside the box or one example of applying intelligence in various ways
Thinking outside the box is a cliché or catchphrase used to refer to looking at a problem from a new perspective without preconceptions, sometimes called a process of lateral thought.

Lateral thinking is about reasoning that is not immediately obvious and about ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic.

Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking_outside_the_box to know more about "thinking outside the box" and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_thinking for "lateral thinking".

Humour and Provocative Operations (PO)
Can this series of propositions be considered as an example of lateral thinking?
A. All men are born equal" can be discussed as follows:
B. "Are women (also) born equal?" This interrogation leads to the statement:
C. "All people are born equal"
D. Since evidence does not confirm that "all people are born equal", so a new quotation needs to be coined which concludes that:
E. "All people die equal".

Now, lateral thinking can be paralleled with critical thinking to examine which feature, abstract or practical, of intelligence is prominent.

Application and Abstraction, twin components of thought
This section is mainly based on information provided on the web page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking

It is noticed that problem is always at the centre of thinking: 'Expressed most generally, critical thinking is “a way of taking up the problems of life.” (William Graham Sumner, Folkways, 1906)'. This means that practice plays an essential role in the formation of ideas.

However, abstraction is also an important component:
'Irrespective of the sphere of thought, “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 open-mindedly 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.'

(Paul, R. and Elder, 2006)
The affective dimension of critical thinking and the danger of dehumanising intelligence
'Critical thinking may be distinguished, but not separated, from emotions, desires, and traits of mind. Failure to recognize the relationship between thinking, feeling, wanting, and traits of mind can easily lead to various forms of self-deception, both individually and collectively. When persons possess intellectual skills alone, without the intellectual traits of mind, weak sense critical thinking results. Fair-minded or strong sense critical thinking requires intellectual humility, empathy, integrity, perseverance, courage, autonomy, confidence in reason, and other intellectual traits. Thus, critical thinking without essential intellectual traits often results in clever, but manipulative, often unethical, thought. In short, the sophist, the con artist, the manipulator often uses an intellectually defective but effective form of thought---serving unethical purposes (...)'

Development of intellectual empathy and humility


'There is no simple way to reduce one's bias. There are, however, a network of ways that one can begin to do so. The most important require developing one's intellectual empathy and intellectual humility. The first requires extensive experience in entering and accurately constructing points of view toward which one has negative feelings. The second requires extensive experience in identifying the extent of one's own ignorance in a wide variety of subjects (ignorance whose admission leads one to say, "I thought I knew, but I merely believed"). One becomes less biased and more broad-minded when one becomes more intellectually empathic and intellectually humble, and that involves time, deliberate practice and commitment. It involves considerable personal and intellectual development.'
'One should become aware of one's own fallibility by:

1. accepting that everyone has subconscious biases, and accordingly questioning any reflexive judgments.
2. adopting an ego-sensitive and, indeed, intellectually humble stance
3. recalling previous beliefs that one once held strongly but now rejects
4. realizing one still has numerous blind spots, despite the foregoing'.

Intellectual engagement in learning (understanding the end of intelligence)

'There are two phases to the learning of content. The first occurs when learners (for the first time) construct in their minds the basic ideas, principles, theories that are inherent in content. This is a process of internalization. The second occurs when learners effectively use those ideas, principles, and theories as they become relevant in learners’ lives. This is a process of application.'

Relativism, contextual and universal concepts
'Given the nature of the process, critical thinking is never final. One arrives at a tentative conclusion, given the evidence and based on an evaluation. However, the conclusion must always remain subject to further evaluation if new information comes to hand.'

'There are many standards appropriate to the assessment of thinking as it might occur in this or that context, but some standards are virtually universal (that is, applicable to all thinking): clarity, precision, accuracy, relevance, depth, breadth, and logic.'
'The following concepts are crucial to all critical thinking, since they are the structures that underlie all thinking:

• Purpose for thinking: goal, objective
• Question at issue: the problem
• Concepts: theories, definitions, axioms, laws, principles, models
• Assumptions: presuppositions, taken for granted
• Information: data, facts, observations, experiences
• Interpretations and inferences: conclusions, solutions
• Points of view: frame of reference, perspective, orientation
• Consequences and implications'.

Taking principles of critical thinking into account, one can 'deconstruct' nearly everything: ideologies, dogmas, statements of all natures. Following this presentation, one can even question whether religion is a consequence of relationship with God (reality) or a solution given to a problem (concept). One can decide for oneself according to one's mindset (relativism).