How would you determine whether studying philosophy improves critical thinking? Last October, Michael Prinzing (Baylor) & Michael Vazquez (UNC) produced an informal report for the American Philosophical Association arguing that, even though there are some selection effects, they had nonetheless found some “initial and suggestive evidence” in favor of the claim that majoring in philosophy makes students, in general, better thinkers. Prinzing and Vazquez incorporated these findings...| Daily Nous
A new study "offers the strongest evidence to date that studying philosophy does indeed make people better thinkers." Readers may recall the previous research of Michael Prinzing (Baylor) & Michael Vazquez (UNC), discussed here last year, about how "philosophy majors tend to [show] more growth than non-philosophy majors" on some traits indexed by the Habits of Mind| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession
"The decline in liberal-arts disciplines is happening because, on many campuses, no one has taken ownership of explaining them." That's Scott Carlson and Ned Laff in The Chronicle of Higher Education on "The Hidden Utility of the Liberal Arts". The authors thoughtfully discuss some of the causes of this decline and its various aspects, and they| Daily Nous - news for & about the philosophy profession