Beyond the Boundaries: The Epistemological Significance of Differing Cultural Perspectives

This paper explores the issue of the epistemological significance of taking into consideration alternative perspectives, particularly those from other cultures. We have a moral duty to respect the beliefs and practices of other cultures, but do we have an epistemological duty to take these beliefs and practices into consideration in our own deliberations? Are views that are held without exposure to alternatives from other cultures less credible than those that have undergone such exposure

Critical thinking and cognitive biases

We argue that psychological research can enhance the identification of reasoning errors and the development of an appropriate pedagogy to instruct people in how to avoid these errors. In this paper we identify some of the findings of psychologists that help explain some common fallacies, give examples of fallacies identified in the research that have not been typically identified in philosophy, and explore ways in which this research can enhance critical thinking instruction

Inquiry: A dialectical approach to teaching critical thinking

We argue that the central goal of critical thinking is the making of reasoned judgments. Arriving at reasoned judgments in most cases is a dialectical process involving the comparative weighing of a variety of contending positions and arguments. Recognizing this dialectical dimension means that critical thinking pedagogy should focus on the kind of comparative evaluation which we make in actual contexts of disagreement and debate

DAMed If You Do; DAMed If You Don’t: Cohen’s “Missed Opportunities”

In his paper, “Missed Opportunities in Argument Evaluation,” Daniel Cohen has in his sights a “curious” asymmetry in how we evaluate arguments: while we criticize arguments for failing to point out obvious objections to the proposed line of reasoning, we do not consider it critically culpable to fail to take into account arguments for the position. Cohen views this omission as a missed opportunity, for which he lays the blame largely at the metaphorical feet of the “Dominant Adversarial Model” of argumentation – the DAM account. We argue here that, while Cohen criticizes the DAM account for conceptualizing arguments as essentially agonistic, he accepts its basic framing and does not follow his critique where it leads. In so doing, he misses the opportunity to develop an alternative, non-adversarial account of argumentation which would avoid his criticism of how we evaluate arguments

Capabilities for supporting prevention and chronic condition self-management: a resource for educators of primary health care professionals

The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, through the Australian Better Health Initiative (ABHI), determined that education and training of the existing and future health workforce was a key element in assisting patients to better manage their chronic conditions. To begin to build an understanding of what this education and training might entail, two separate but related projects were conducted. These projects aimed to (a) develop a curriculum framework for self-management support education of the future workforce, and (b) determine the skills required for prevention and self-management support of chronic conditions by the current PHC workforce

Reason in the balance: Teaching critical thinking as dialectical

In this paper we describe the approach to critical thinking pedagogy used in our new text, Reason in the Balance: An Inquiry Approach to Critical Thinking. In this text we concentrate on develop-ing students’ ability to analyze and assess competing arguments in a dialectical context. This approach shifts the emphasis from the more common and traditional approach of evaluating individual arguments and fallacy identification. Our focus is on teaching students to analyze and assess competing arguments sur-rounding an issue with the goal of achieving a reasoned and justifiable judgment (an enterprise we refer to as inquiry)

Fallacy identification in a dialectical approach to teaching critical thinking

The dialectical approach to teaching critical thinking is centred on a comparative evaluation of contending arguments, so that generally the strength of an argument for a position can only be assessed in the context of this dialectic. The identification of fallacies, though important, plays only a preliminary role in the evaluation to individual arguments. Our approach to fallacy identification and analysis sees fal-lacies as argument patterns whose persuasive power is disproportionate to their probative value

Control in chronic condition self-care management: how it occurs in the health worker–client relationship and implications for client empowerment

This item is under embargo for a period of 12 months from the date of publication, in accordance with the publisher's policy.Aim. To examine health worker–client interactions during care planning to understand processes that foster client empowerment and disempowerment. Background. It is unclear how health worker–client exchanges and information sharing through chronic condition care planning currently operate in primary health care. Moreover, it is unclear how control in these exchanges either enhances collaborative decision-making, partnership and client empowerment, or works to create client disempowerment and dependency on workers and health services. Design. Critical discourse analysis of qualitative data from ethnographic observations and audio-taped worker–client consultations. Method. Multidisciplinary teams in two Australian community-based primary healthcare sites participated. This included nurses, general practitioners and allied health workers and their clients who had a chronic condition care plan. Nineteen worker–client consultations were observed/recorded in 2011. Results. Control was expressed through multiple processes inherent in the worker role and in their interactions with clients. When workers exercised disproportionate control and clients relinquished their own control, client disempowerment and dependency were evident. Clients’ attempts to gain control and workers’ attempts to relinquish control alleviated clients’ disempowerment and dependency. However, structural features of information sharing systems and workers’ care planning behaviours diminished such efforts. Conclusion. Worker awareness of their communication style and the power of their role must improve for client chronic condition self-care management to be achieved. Training on the impacts of control in worker communication and systems where they work must be provided if unbeneficial forms of client dependency are to be overcome and true self-care management is to be realized

A behavioural therapy approach to self-management: the Flinders Program

Chronic diseases, including diabetes, represent the most prevalent problem in healthcare today. They are the most common cause of disability and consume the largest part of health expenditures internationally. Most diabetes care is provided by people with diabetes and their family or supporters. Therefore, understanding how to enhance diabetes self-management is of primary importance in addressing this growing burden. The effective self-management of type 2 diabetes is closely linked to environmental factors and a person’s lifestyle. In this article, the authors describe the Flinders Chronic Condition Self-Management Program, which highlights the person’s perspective, and provide an example of its practical application in an Aboriginal population in South Australia