Author Archives: Todd Carney

Current Reading I

For as long as I can remember, I’ve kept several books going at one time on my reading list.  Actually, it’s not really a list, it’s more like a pile or several piles stacked here and there around my house.  At any given time, there might be three or four stacked on the back of my toilet.  Several on my night stand, a handful in my briefcase, and a few even on the kitchen counter.  Here’s what I seem to have going right now:

  • Five Minds for the Future by Howard Gardner (2008).  His five minds are the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind, and the ethical mind. Continue reading →

Critical Thinking Series III: Figure, Question, Problem

This article will discuss the second item on the list presented in Critical Thinking Series I:  All reasoning is an attempt to figure something out, to settle some question, or solve some problem.  Here are a few steps to take in the process.

  • State the question or problem as clearly as possible.
  • Express the question or problem in more than one way to explore all its “angles.”
  • Break the question or problem into its component parts.
  • Distinguish questions for which there is a concrete answer from those which can be reduced no further than personal opinion or basic belief.

As always, it helps immensely to write this stuff down.  On a sheet of paper, just go down the list and figure out, as far as you can, the question or problem at hand.  Your mind is for having ideas–it’s not so good at storing them.  Put them on paper instead.

Critical Thinking Series IV will address assumptions used in reasoning.

Redundancies

In your writing, remove words that repeat the meaning of an associated word. The following are a few examples (highlighted words are unnecessary):

a distance of six miles
advance forward
at the present time
in addition, he also
free gift
false illusion
another one
inside of
future prospects
an actual fact
past history
usual custom
equally as good as
outside of
small in size
retreat back

Why eliminate redundant words?  Because they clutter your writing.  Eliminate as many words as you can from your sentences without changing their meaning.

Stay well, do good work, enjoy yourself.

Doc Carney

Empire of Illusion

Review of Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (Nation Books, 2009).

This book is not a happy read.  I did know the job was dangerous when I took it; Empire of Illusion is not a positive-sounding title.  It speaks of something wrong.  It doesn’t praise, it warns.   The gist of Hedges’s message is that Americans have been largely diverted from literacy by what he calls spectacle: the replacement of words and ideas by images and mirages. In the previous literate society, people kept informed by reading books, newspapers, and magazines–that is, words–and they were not as easily influenced by images and spectacle. “Looks” didn’t mean so much, words and deeds were what mattered most. That reality, one of the great progressive developments of the modern era, is now endangered by the decline of literacy. Continue reading →

Critical Thinking Series II: All Reasoning Has a Purpose

This is a continuation of my series on Critical Thinking. My last post contained a checklist of reasoning principals. This post will address the first item on that checklist: “All reasoning has a purpose.” Though it may seem obvious, it’s sometimes not clear why you are trying to reason something through, and it is very often true that the reasons for someone else’s reasoning are obscure as well. Here are some things you can do to clarify your purposes and those of others:

  • State your purpose as clearly as possible at the very beginning. Often just forcing yourself to do this will make you clarify your intentions. When you are trying to understand the reasoning of others, see if he or she has been clear in terms of purpose.
  • Distinguish your purpose or that of others from related purposes. This will really help you to clarify your intentions and how well you’ve defined them. Again, having to show to yourself and others how your current purpose is different from other possible “purposes” will help to “crystalize” your thinking and to sharpen your focus.
  • As you construct as reasoned argument or explanation, check back as often as necessary with your purpose to make sure you haven’t strayed or that you haven’t been guilty of “mission creep.” Likewise, if you detect a wondering in the reasoning of others, you’ll be in a better position to evaluated their claims and assertions.
  • Make sure your purposes are both important and realistic. Don’t waste you time or scarce mental energy (yes, it is limited) with trifles. Remember what Eugene O’Neill wrote: “We fought so hard against the small things that we became small ourselves.” At the same time, don’t waste you time with the stupendously unreal. This doesn’t mean you can’t create or even “dream,” but it does mean that if your head is in the clouds, your feet ought to be on the ground.

See the next post in this series to learn read about the second item on the reasoning checklist.

Stay well, do good work, enjoy yourself.

Doc Carney

Critical Thinking Series I

This post begins a series of articles on critical-thinking concepts and skills. Critical thinking is the ability to analyze and evaluate statements, claims, or assertions made by others (or by oneself) based on evidence and careful reasoning. Its essence is judgment, though critical thinking often reveals the need to accept and tolerate ambiguity regarding what we are told or even what we observe ourselves. I know the preceding sounds like vague double talk, but it really isn’t. If you follow this series throughout fall term, you’ll get a pretty concrete idea just what critical thinking is all about.

We’ll begin with a simple Checklist for Reasoning:

  1. All reasoning has a PURPOSE.
  2. All reasoning is an attempt to FIGURE something out, to settle some QUESTION, or solve some PROBLEM.
  3. All reasoning is influenced by often-unstated ASSUMPTIONS.
  4. All reasoning is done from some POINT OF VIEW.
  5. All reasoning is based on DATA, INFORMATION, AND EVIDENCE.
  6. All reasoning is expressed through, and shaped by, CONCEPTS and IDEAS.
  7. All reasoning contains INFERENCES or INTERPRETATIONS by which we draw CONCLUSIONS and give meaning to data.
  8. All reasoning leads somewhere or has IMPLICATIONS and CONSEQUENCES.

The next eight articles in this series will explore each item on this list and give examples of how it can be put into practice.

Stay tuned.

Doc Carney

Getting Things Done

GTD_bookHere’s a quote from David Allen’s, Getting Things Done (2001):

It’s possible for a person to have an overwhelming number of things to do and still function productively with a clear head and a positive sense of relaxed control. . . . [There are] two key objectives: (1) capturing all the things that need to get done–now, later, someday, big, little, or in between–into a logical and trusted system outside of your head and off your mind; and (2) disciplining yourself to make front-end decisions about all the “inputs” you let into your life so that you will always have a plan for “next actions” that you can implement or renegotiate at any moment.

I began to follow Allen’s ideas a couple of years ago, but more so in the last month. I’ll have more to share about this “Getting Things Done” (GTD) method as the fall term progresses. But you can start to do something now if you like: sit down with a yellow pad and begin a list of every thing you need to do in all the aspects of your life–school, church, family, relationships, hobbies, household, legal, automotive, financial, and so forth. Try to get it all out. Look around for reminders to prompt you. You can work on this here and there as you get time. Carry a small notebook or index cards in your pocket to capture things as they occur to you.

Next time, I’ll share ideas about what you can do with your list and how it can be the beginning of a new way of maintaining “relaxed focus.

Stay well, do good work, enjoy yourself.

Doc Carney

H1N1 Swine Flu and You (and us)

I just got out of a meeting of the College of Arts and Sciences faculty. Among the many topics of discussion was the current epidemic of “Swine” flu caused by the H1N1 virus. Though you’ve no doubt heard plenty about from the media, here’s a few things from the SOU side of things.

  • Do your best to guard against infection by frequent hand washing and the use of sanitizer. You will notice a number of sanitizer dispensers placed around campus.
  • If you sneeze or cough, do so into a handkerchief or your sleeve instead of your hand.
  • If you have a sore throat, a cough, or if you are sneezing or have a fever, stay home! SOU faculty will give you a week of absences without asking for a physician’s note. It’s better you nurse yourself back to health and that you don’t spread whatever you’ve got. For your Hst 250 work, there’s plenty for you to do at home on the Blackboard site.
  • Get a shot for the regular “seasonal” flu that comes around every year, and get an H1N1 vaccination as soon as it’s available. Those under 50 years old seem to be the most susceptible to the virus, so plan accordingly.
  • This was not mentioned in the meeting, but it’s a big pet peeve of mine: don’t spit in a public place. It is well known epidemiologically that spit is a big spreader of disease. People walk where you spit and then handle their shoes and their food and . . . you get the point. By the way, in the days when tuberculosis was widespread (that is, before the 1960s), public spitting was a crime that carried a pretty high fine. Stop it.

Stay well, do good work, enjoy yourself.

Doc Carney