Does it make sense to teach history through thinking skills?

The post-modernist critique of modernist historiography raises the question whether it still makes sense to teach students of history those thinking skills which are associated with history as a form of knowledge. In this paper I argue that the post-modernist critique contains numerous untenable theses, and that it is one-sided in its rejection of the concepts of objectivity and rationality. On the basis of this evaluation of the post-modernist critique the conclusion is reached that (with certain qualifications) the teaching of a certain set of thinking skills to students of history is a justifiable pedagogical practice

Thinking skills in the context of Formal Logic, Informal Logic and Critical Thinking19

The aim of this essay is to explore the concept of thinking skills in three different contexts, i.e. Formal Logic, Informal Logic and Critical Thinking. The essay traces some contemporary historical connections between these approaches and illustrates differences and overlap between them by referring to the content pages of textbooks which are representative of the different approaches. In evaluating the historical developments sketched in the essay, the conclusion is reached that the open and pragmatic way in which Critical Thinking handles the topic of thinking skills has advantages for interdisciplinary contact and cooperation. However, this pragmatic approach also has a possible downside: the concept of thinking skills can become so vague as to be of no use

Kritiese denke as opvoedkundige imperatief

The purpose o f this paper is to stimulate debate on the teaching o f thinking skills in and across the university curriculum. Because RAU includes instruction in critical and creative thinking skills as an educational requirement in its mission statement, I take issue with this university's mission statement and argue that the leaching o f thinking skills is a useless endeavour unless it is done within the framework of a critical thinking approach: such an approach focuses on the affective dispositions or virtues which motivate the use of thinking skills in concrete situations, and articulates worthwhile goals for the use of thinking skills. In conclusion I focus attention on some of the points in the discussion which seem to merit further research and debate

‘Ideological’ fallacies1

The aim of this paper is to extend the critique which informal logic employs against fallacious reasoning to a critique of ideological argumentation. Two main problems are addressed: the first problem concerns criteria for the identification of 'ideological' fallacies, and the second concerns the place which ‘ideological’ fallacies are to be accorded in a ‘taxonomy' of fallacies. I address the first problem by developing a critical concept of ideology: argumentative ideological discourse serves to justify relations of domination and exploitation and is potentially misleading. Two illustrative examples of 'ideological' fallacy are presented: an ‘appeal to public interest' and an ‘appeal to the will of God’. In addressing the second problem, I argue that these ‘ideological' fallacies may best be classified as typical variations of main classes of fallacies which are traditionally distinguished (inconsistent premises and relevance)

Anton van Niekerk - Rasionaliteit en relaiivisme. Op soek na 'n rasionaliteitsmodel vir die menswetenskappe. 1992. Pretoria: RGN.

This review article places Van Niekerk's book in the context of the current debate on rationality and relativism. The most important challenge which emerges from this debate is to develop a conception of rationality which neither reverts to an a-historical foundational ism nor succumbs to the temptation of relativism. Van Niekerk responds to this challenge by developing a hermeneutical model of rationality for the human sciences. My discussion of Van Niekerk’s book highlights his critique of relativism and his efforts to reconcile rationality and historicity. In evaluating his arguments for this reconciliation, I come to the conclusion that his efforts are beset by unresolved tensions

Jozi rhythmanalogues : measures of sense and nonsense in Johannesburg’s automatic writing

Abstract: The city of Johannesburg pulsates with rhythms that are driven by some of its most fundamental characteristics: pressured economic activity, the mingling and movement of bodies, commuting, and a history of race and class segregation. The collaborative Jozi Rhythmanalogues project attempts to make sense of these rhythms by employing sensory experience as a process of explorative thought. In the course of this project, public spaces are documented over long periods through time-lapse films, which are analysed to reveal patterns of movement. The resulting graphs, representing a kind of ‘automatic writing’ of the city’s rhythms, are interpreted as a graphic score by musical ensembles, producing music, sound and noise. This article reflects on the explorations of spaces, methods and concerns that has led to the development of the Jozi Rhythmanalogues project’s different manifestations, and looks at the ways in which two very different ensembles have interpreted the graphic score. The key questions that emerge relate to the nature of the information that is captured or ‘written’ in the graphs, and what it means to attempt, over and over, to make sense of this information. The idea of ‘sensory thought’ is critical here, as the project in its entirety is concerned with the work of the senses as a thinking process. This phenomenological angle is complicated by the flirtation with abstract data in the measurements that comprise the production of the graphs, revealing a question of movement between poetic and analytical modes of apprehension

The problem of theory and practice in the medical profession1

Scientific knowledge is a symbolic system consisting of hypotheses, models and theories generated by means of a paradigm-mediated interaction between a scientific community and a research domain. Such a knowledge generating paradigm consists of already existing theories, as well as methodological and ontological beliefs or assumptions. In this article it is argued that the meaning ascribed to the central concepts of medical science(such as patient, disease, causality and therapy) are fundamentally determined by the 19th century logical positivist scientific paradigm. The ontological and methodological implications of the postmodern natural sciences (e.g. quantum physics) have not been applied to medical science. The 19th century ‘natural science paradigm’ therefore acts as a metatheory for both medical science and medical practice. However, the theoretical knowledge system generated by medical science acts as the theory for the practice of scientific clinical medicine which therefore functions with the same understanding of the central concepts such as patient, disease and disease causality, therapy etc. The limitations of this paradigmatic monism are illustrated by an analysis of the medical and societal response to the AIDS epidemic and it is concluded that medical science and practice, because of the complexity o f its research and practice domain, must accept in principle the possibility of paradigmatic pluralism (as in the social sciences) or should attempt to develop a holistic paradigm that will cope more adequately with its fields of research and practice

Thinking/making : a discussion of method in the Emerging Arts Activist Programme’s Chewing the Cud and Angry Youth workshops

Abstract: This paper investigates and reflects on the methodologies employed, results achieved and questions raised in two recent transformative educational interventions. Both interventions fall under the broader Emerging Arts Activist Programme created by artist and educator Farieda Nazier. Chewing the Cud, the first workshop, was held at the Apartheid Museum in 2013 and facilitated by Nazier; the Angry Youth Workshop was subsequently held with students of the New Nation School in Fietas, 2014, led by Mocke J van Veuren with mentoring by Nazier and Cedric Nunn. The authors compare the ways in which transformative processes and methods developed in their own critical arts practice has influenced the design and delivery of the youthoriented arts interventions mentioned above. Processes of conscientisation, decolonisation, and the exercise of agency are explored through arts practices that address the interface between historicity, the everyday and personal experience as a field of critical discourse. Through the analysis of creative outputs and student feedback, and reflection on methodology, this paper forms part of an on-going project, which aims to develop and test youth-focused critical pedagogies specifically focused on dealing with the aftermath of Apartheid

Neo-Marxisme in die teologie — Wysgerig beskou

Die breë veld van die ontmoeting tussen Neo-Marxisme en Christelike Teologie laat ’n groot aantal variante van die ontmoeting sien. Die variante van ontmoeting deurloop ’n skaal vanaf felle konfrontasie tot ’n toenadering waarin dit lyk of Christelike Teologie geheel en al opgehef word in Marxistiese teorie. Waar daar in die ontmoeting sprake is van die Teologie wat aan die Neo-Marxisme die hand reik, is daar ook groot verskille in die wyse waarop toenadering gesoek word

Die senaat onder Tiberius :'n studie van Tacitus, annales I-VI

Abstract: Please refer to full text to view abstractM.A. (Latin