Critical thinking:
Critical thinking appears to be crucial to the idea of the humanities. The chapter discusses that there are people who believe we can only either think, or enjoy. However, this chapter explains that that is really not the case, "thinking just might be the ultimate way to enjoy living" (page 31). Critical thinking involves analyzing the information that we are taking in, and often with that comes reflection. If we are able to reflect on information we have properly analyzed rather than information we just accepted and threw aside, it will be much more valuable to us. This is in my option how we are able to find enjoyment using critical thinking.
The text also states that "critical thinking is valid as a process, not as the absolute determination of good or bad" (page 19). I agree with this quote completely. We are often quick to judge good or bad, right or wrong. But the reason of why that this is good or bad is really what has importance, not the overall answer of which it is. The idea of this, finding out why, is also briefly discussed on page 19 of the text.
On page 21 the text shares that once we finally develop the skill of analysis and evaluation, we will fully be able to appreciate the humanities, and that will allow us to understand what is worth our time and what is not. I personally do often question if things are worth my time or not, and now understanding that I need to analyze and evaluate will be a tool I use in the future to help answer that question.
The section "HISTORICAL CONTEXT" as a whole provides a lot of detail on being able to better understand things. It tells us that if we have a better understand of the past, then we might be able to make more sense of certain things. Being able to recognize that say a movie was filmed in the 1900's might give us a better idea of why the characters were acting a certain way or using certain language that we might not use today. "Knowledge of historical context makes us more tolerant of outmoded styles" is how the text explains it (page 24). I think the use of the word tolerant was a great choice to use in this sentence because we may choose to tolerate it in that instance, but that doesn't mean we necessarily accept it or agree with it. The example mentioned in this section was racism, if we do realize that a movie is from the 1900's we may tolerate that racism was present in the movie. But that does not mean that we accept the idea of racism or agree with it today.
Another concept that drew my attention was the literalist vs figuratist. Literalists get stuck on exactly what they hear and may be seen "latching on to the very last thing that was mentioned" (page 30) . Where figuratist may use "language that means something other than what is being directly said" (page 31). The discrepencies on how the two carry their conversations can lead to them misunderstanding each other. The text does not say this but personally I think it would be a good idea to if aware of the two, try to be mindful of which you are using. If you know someone tends to be a literalist aviod using figurative language when talking to them. Or do if you know they understand and appreciate that.
Overall it seems that the key to critical thinking is just being aware of it. We don't often have someone tell us to stop and analyze, but if we are able to do that then we will have better understanding of things and will be able to more appropriately judge them. Ultimately leading to a more accurate reflection in the future.
Janaro, R. P., & Altshuler, T. C. (2017). The Art of Being Human: The humanities as a technique for living (11th ed.). Pearson.
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