You Think?

This quarter, I'm teaching a class titled "Written Analysis." The point of the class is to challenge students to think creatively and critically about issues related to their fields of study and then propose solutions to these problems based on the thinking they've done.

Last night, we had the first class, and we started with a discussion about worldviews and how our worldview affects (deeply affects, in fact) the way we approach the act and exercise of thinking and decision-making. Here's the thing: it occurred to me as we were talking, or rather as the students were talking and I was listening, just how little most people think about what they believe and how what they believe influences their behavior. As we laid out some of the bigger categories of worldviews (e.g. nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism) it was fascinating to see little cracks in some of the students as they realized that their behavior in certain situations actually cross a couple or even several different worldviews.

I don't know exactly where this discussion will ultimately lead, but it gave me great confidence that these students are going to be able to handle this class and anything I throw at them this quarter. I also walked away more convinced than ever, that we as humans need to do more thinking about what we think.