Category: critical thinking

Bruce Pardy: The Four Doctrines of the Apocalypse: Critical Theory and Our Compromised Institutions

Commentary The following is an excerpt by Bruce Pardy from “The 1867 Project: Why Canada Should be Cherished—Not Cancelled,” a new book of essays by 20 Canadian critical thinkers edited by Aristotle Foundation president Mark Milke. Modern Western civilization grew out of the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries. The ascendancy of reason in…


Vax Propaganda Enters New Phase Amid ‘Wild’ Call for Unvaxed Blood

Public health officials have dismissed public concerns about blood donors inoculated against the pandemic. But growing stacks of scientific data show that patients’ fears are grounded in fact, not conspiracy theories. And yet the press continues its relentless campaign to stifle questions. If the media’s role is to speak truth to power, why is it…


PREMIERING at 9:15PM ET: Vax Propaganda Enters New Phase Amid ‘Wild’ Call for Unvaxed Blood

Public health officials have dismissed public concerns about blood donors inoculated against the pandemic. But growing stacks of scientific data show that patients’ fears are grounded in fact, not conspiracy theories. And yet the press continues its relentless campaign to stifle questions. If the media’s role is to speak truth to power, why is it…


PREMIERING NOW: Vax Propaganda Enters New Phase Amid ‘Wild’ Call for Unvaxed Blood

Public health officials have dismissed public concerns about blood donors inoculated against the pandemic. But growing stacks of scientific data show that patients’ fears are grounded in fact, not conspiracy theories. And yet the press continues its relentless campaign to stifle questions. If the media’s role is to speak truth to power, why is it…


Condolences to Liberal Studies

Commentary The last examination of Liberal Studies was held on April 27, bringing an end to 30 years of liberal studies education in Hong Kong. Naturally, the pro-establishment camp breathed a sigh of relief as their decade-long mudslinging brought an end to this subject, which supposedly heralded a new age of independent study but was…


Book Review: ‘Thinking Critically in College: The Essential Handbook for Student Success’

Every year, 40 percent of students drop out of college. Of course, the reasons behind this vary from family emergencies, financial constraints, and even the decision that college is not the best route to success. Another reason, though, is that students are often woefully unprepared for the rigors of higher education. Louis E. Newman, the…


Michael Zwaagstra: ChatGPT Underscores Importance of Traditional Education

Commentary By now, most teachers have heard about ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence program with an uncanny ability to write clear, coherent, and compelling paragraphs about almost any topic under the sun. Whether you need a 1,000-word essay (with references!) summarizing the history of Canada, a 500-word article extolling the virtues of your favourite city, or…


In Defense of Uncertainty

Commentary I don’t know. On a scale of 1 to 10, how squeamish does this sentence make you feel? If the verbiage floating around social media is any indication, 21st century Canadians score pretty high in terms of our intolerance of uncertainty. In fact, we seem to be drunk on certainty, so completely convinced we…


Dark Days for Our Ivory Towers

Commentary Dear class of 2026, Welcome to the beginning of the rest of your life! Ahead of you is four years of a lacklustre education which will saddle you with debt from which you may never emerge. Your professors will teach you not how to think but what to think, and their invitation to question…


Academics Breaking the COVID Spell

Commentary The sphere of public education has been subject to the same psychosis that has afflicted other spheres of society since March 2020. Those in charge of this sphere haven’t addressed the problem by encouraging scholarly debate and the exercise of the academy’s critical function. Taking their cue from forces outside the academy, and from…