My PhD project deals with critical thinking and it is done under the supervision of Prof. Florian Cova (University of Geneva) and Prof. Fabrice Clément (University of Neuchâtel). Many researchers believe that critical thinking training is an indispensable element in the fight against fake news, conspiracy theories or irrational beliefs. However, this notion presents serious conceptual problems. For example, there is a plethora of definitions of critical thinking and no consensus among them. This vagueness generates certain misunderstandings that can induce undesirable effects – such as a certain distrust of scientific authorities, due to exce…
My PhD project deals with critical thinking and it is done under the supervision of Prof. Florian Cova (University of Geneva) and Prof. Fabrice Clément (University of Neuchâtel). Many researchers believe that critical thinking training is an indispensable element in the fight against fake news, conspiracy theories or irrational beliefs. However, this notion presents serious conceptual problems. For example, there is a plethora of definitions of critical thinking and no consensus among them. This vagueness generates certain misunderstandings that can induce undesirable effects – such as a certain distrust of scientific authorities, due to excessive skepticism. Thus, I defend the idea that teaching or promoting critical thinking without associating it with certain epistemic virtues (intellectual courage, perseverance, integrity, empathy, but above all humility) can be counterproductive, even dangerous. The challenge of this project is to undertake a critical analysis of critical thinking in order to determine what risks are associated with the use of this concept.
