Thinking as opposed to what often passes for thinking
1) I ask myself a question. "What are my biases that might affect how I approach the subject at hand?"
2) I ask multiple questions of proponents and opponents of the issue.
3) What have I taken for granted? Go back to #1 and #2.
4) Many issues are complex and technical. Do I have the tools to understand the particular issue I'm considering?
If I don't, who does? How do I know they understand the issue? Would you expect a pest exterminator to be an
expert on foreign policy or public health?
5) Discussion of issues is often framed around who stands to gain and who stands to lose. Are some of the people
discussing the issue interested parties? Would the Wolf and the Three Pigs frame their discussion of the story the same
way?
6) Go back to # 1 and # 2.
7) Having reached a conclusion, am I leaving room for it to be modified by new information?
8) Do I have to admit, in all honesty, that I can't reach a conclusion?
Life aint easy. Don't expect the answers to be.
2) I ask multiple questions of proponents and opponents of the issue.
3) What have I taken for granted? Go back to #1 and #2.
4) Many issues are complex and technical. Do I have the tools to understand the particular issue I'm considering?
If I don't, who does? How do I know they understand the issue? Would you expect a pest exterminator to be an
expert on foreign policy or public health?
5) Discussion of issues is often framed around who stands to gain and who stands to lose. Are some of the people
discussing the issue interested parties? Would the Wolf and the Three Pigs frame their discussion of the story the same
way?
6) Go back to # 1 and # 2.
7) Having reached a conclusion, am I leaving room for it to be modified by new information?
8) Do I have to admit, in all honesty, that I can't reach a conclusion?
Life aint easy. Don't expect the answers to be.
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