Critical being: a philosophical approach to understanding and expanding the scope of critical thinking in UK higher education with attention to cross-cultural diversity

Abstract

This thesis develops a philosophically informed understanding of critical thinking applicable at an expansive scope in UK universities, with particular attention to cross-cultural diversity. I begin from the assumptions, substantiated by existing literature, that 1) UK universities should (and ostensibly do) aim to teach and practice critical thinking at an expansive scope 2) this aim is often not being met, in part due to assumptions underpinning dominant understandings of critical thinking 3) the increasingly international nature of UK higher education creates additional challenges in the theory and practice of critical thinking. I argue that addressing these issues requires renewed attention to critical thinking theory and that philosophy can meaningfully contribute to this effort. I begin by justifying the above assumptions and clarifying the aims of this project. I provide a terminological and conceptual model for understanding the idea of critical scope. This includes building on the idea of critical being put forward by Barnett (1997) as a manifestation of criticality at an expansive scope. I then show how dominant conceptions of critical thinking unintentionally narrow critical scope in theory by relying on context-specific educational aims and/or assumedly universal substantive values as defining features of critical thinking. I argue these efforts constitute uncritical impositions on critical thinking that are particularly problematic in cross-cultural contexts. I use exploration of criticality in Chinese philosophical traditions to show how resources which are often excluded from critical thinking theory can support a more expansive and inclusive understanding. This includes attention to how non-critical modes of thinking and being – such as those of wonder and wu-wei – can help expand critical thinking towards critical being without need for the imposition of predetermined aims or assumedly universal values. This leads me to argue that the context-specific and necessarily determinant aims of education cannot define the entirety of critical thinking at an expansive scope, which is a context-reflexive and indeterminant process. I contend that whatever features ‘define’ critical thinking must themselves remain open to critique. This leads me to suggest pragmatic assumptions capable of animating critical thinking at an expansive scope within and between diverse contexts while avoiding dogmatism and relativism. I conclude by considering implications for practice, including attention to how this approach to critical thinking – exemplified by critical being – can help navigate perennial tensions within the purposes, aims, curricula, pedagogies, and environments of UK universities. Ultimately, this thesis aims to support universities in cultivating criticality that draws on diversity as a resource, helping people with divergent perspectives think and speak with (instead of past) each other in constructive critical endeavours.