Critical Thinking and Intellectual Self-defense

Description

The aim of this doctoral training is twofold.

On the one hand, to provide an introduction to basic epistemological issues – that is, questioning the nature of (scientific) knowledge, its production and justification, as well as the way we form beliefs on a daily basis. For instance, topics include (but are not limited to): the limits of our cognitive capacities, socio-cultural biases, basic statistical pitfalls to be avoided, but also methodological aspects like basic of empirical protocols or the introduction of epistemological criteria such as falsifiability and parsimony.

On the other hand, applying these epistemological reflections to provide practical intellectual tools to sharpen our critical thinking skills and dispositions: when faced with information, how should we position and what method should we use to form the most reliable idea, given the information available, so as to make as few mistakes/be manipulated as possible ? In which cases we’d better not to take position and acknowledge the limits of our competence domain ? And so on.

The training will be based on active interactions between the teacher and the participants, as well as on small-groups discussions between participants themselves. With the aim of maintaining didactic clarity and interest on the part of participants, the topics covered during the training will all be illustrated by a wide variety of concrete examples drawn from scientific fields and everyday life.

Trainer: Jérémy Attard

Schedule:

One face-to-face session: 9.30 to 5 pm at UMONS, in Mons. Exact location will be provided upon registration.

followed by

two online sessions : 

1 – Monday 14 April from 10.30 am to 12.30 am

2 – Thursday 17 April 2025 from 1.30 pm to 3.30 pm