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ACADEMICS

No.9 Sep.2019

General No.256

Rationality,Logic and Critical Thinking Education in China

Zhang Cunjian
(School of philosophy and Public Administration 3iangsu Normal University,
Xuzhou Jiangsu 221 1 16)

Abstract:In uncovering the mechanisms of teaching critical thinking in China,scholars tend tO ignore the re—

quirement of rational thinking in teaching.Based on the discussion of rational presuppositiom of critical thinking in

Western cultures,this article argues that,while Western critical thinking presets a kind of rationality which is biased tO-

wards descriptive logic rather than prescriptive logic,the virtue—centered traditional Chinese culture cultivates a gener-

al habit of using methods of prescriptive logic.Descriptive logic accounts for“how to get”true jud舯ents while pre—

SC邱tive logic aims at explaining“why a true judgment is true”.Critical thinking education in China should pay more

attention tO the role descriptive logic plays.The fact that the new—media information dissemination is deepening in—

tercultural communication makes it necessary tO implement critical thinking education in China,but the implementa-

tion should be focused cultivating the students’ability tO organize discourse in logical


on a way.

Key words:rationality;logic;critical thinking;education;discourse competence

DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1002—1698.2019.09.018

I.Introduction

In China,the new—media information dissemination favors the randomness of young people’

s choosing cognitive factors and fuels the freedom of their establishing relationships among the

factors,highnghting the problem of how to read or express in accord with others,which causes fur-

ther problems in terms of decision making and reasoning in general.What the young men and
women need to battle the problem is a kind of critical t11jnlcing.Critical thinking,also known as
“trial identification thinking”in China,is a kind of reasonable reflective thinking,which is mainly

used to draw clear judgments and help people decide“what to believe or what to do”(Ennis,
1992).It is argued that critical thinking education is good for promoting the students’ability to

make high—quality choices through some practice,such as


clarifying misleading words,analyzing
argmnents,assessing proofs of all kinds,using derivations on the basis of judgments,and proper

reasoning in order to draw conclusions logically,etc(Pither and Sodan,2007).


Reflections about critical thinking Can be traced back to Greek and Enlightenment philoso-

About the author:Zhang Cunjian,Ph.D.,professor ofJiangsu Normal University

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Academics 2019.9

phies,but systematic researches on it appear only in the past 40 years.Since the 1980s,Grasher,

Facione,Ennis,Scriven and other researchers have pushed for a Critical Thinking Movement.Criti-
cal thinking education is broadly considered to be a way of cultivating innovative talents in the
sense that the education would help students use rational methods of thinking(Ennis,2015;Ke优.
1er,2014).But it is necessary to note that these researchers suggest teaching critical thinking in the
context of Western cultures,and hence they presuppose some cultural premises.Some scholars

have argued that critical thinking is under—developed in traditional Chinese culture(Oda,2008).


Thus,to practice and improve critical thinking education in China,it is necessary to provide

cross—cultural reflections.

Critical幽jnldng education is still in the early stage in China.In summary,teaching critical

thinking in China is mainly copying Western models of critical thinking education.7n伦idea that

teaching should be supported with critical thinking is welcomed increasingly by teachers of many
disciplines.Neither middle school teachers nor coUege teachers would like to say that their teach-

ing does not provide one with skills for critical恤jnldng teaching.However,so—called critical

thinking education in China is unsatisfactory.Testing coUege students with simple reasoning,e.g.


“he gave me spinach,’’“if he loves me,he gave me spinach,’’so“he loves me”,one will find that

few students are capable of realizing the formal mistake in their reasoning.Critical thinking helps

students to participate actively in class discussing,but it is reported now and then that Chinese

students are reticent and passive learners.FoUowing the unique Chinese culture of learning,which
is deeply rooted in Chinese traditional values about education since Confucius,they believe that

being reticent in class is an indication of respecting teachers(Cortazzi and Jin,1996;Zhong,Q.


20 1 3).However,there are experimental evidences showing that Chinese students who learn Eng-
lish as a second/foreign language give no sign of reticence and passivity at all(Cheng,2000).
Thus,it appears that critical thinking is closely related to language,and critical thinking teaching in

China needs some foundational guidance.I beUeve that it is necessary to take critical协jn幻ng edu-

cation as a standalone course in some realms,and I restrict my discussion about the education to

taking it as a standalone course.According to the first Annual Reports of Critical ThaaOng and Cre—

ative皿inⅪng in China(Xiong&Xie,2016),critical thinking teaching as a standalone course is in-

tegrated into the teaching of coUege subjects and enactment of coUege programmes in less than 50

universities in China,and textbooks written by Chinese domestic scholars are few and far be-

tween,showing that there is an absence of critical thinking teaching to some extent.

According to cross—cultural researches,the reason for the situation of critical thinking teach-

ing in China is mainly a cultural and linguistic one.Although it is difficult to define the relationship

among language,thought and culture,researchers generally accept the Sapir—Whorf Hypothesis,


believing mat language might affect thinldng,determine the users’perception,and influence the
development of social culture(Kay&Kempton,1984).Humboldt even suggests a concept of

“world view”,argnmg that language determines the social development to a great extent(舢and
Mannheim,1992).Thus,to make a contribution to Chinese social development through teaching of

critical缅jnldng,it is necessary to delineate the Chinese modes of thought,and focus on how to im-

prove the teaching of critical thinking in the perspective of language.


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Rationality,hgic and Critical Thinking Education in China

nIis essay argues for teaching critical th砒dng via discourse competence trainjng in China.

Hrst,on the basis of锄诡I咖the Kantian rationality—logic relation and its possible influence on

critical thinking education in Western countries。I try to show that the rational presuppositions of

the education are mainly of logical descriptiveness.Then,I argue that Chinese culture,which is

supported by five values and four value orientations,lacks such logical descriptiveness,and that

teaching critical thinl血g in China should not copy mechanically the Western model of critical

thinking education.Finally。I give a cognitive analysis of the process of critical thinking and explain

why discourse competence仃airIing should be taken as the focus of critical thmkiIIg teaching in
China.

Ⅱ.田地rational presuppositions of Western critical thinking education

In the Western tradition,a critical thiIIl【er is regarded generally as a rational person who exceis

in the universal processes of logic and adversarial argumentation(Turner,2006;Vandermensbmg-


ghe,2004).nlis tradition points up the connection between critical thinking and the philosophical
ideal of rationality.It is argued that prevalent definitions of critical thinking assume that the reader

has a clear concept ofrationality,and proponents of critical thinking education reduce rationality
to tend to the canons of informal and formal logic since they identify rationality with the rule—off-
ented inferential procedures of critical thinkiIIg(Paul,1989;Waiters,1991).But it is difficult for or-

dreary philosophers to give an accurate definition of瑚Iti伽a】i锣.Harvey Siegel,one of the contribu-

tom of the critical tIIjn硒ng movement,believes that rationality in natural inquiry is embodied in the

relatively young tradition of science and there is no satisfactory detailed account of the nature of

rationality in philosophy(Siegel,1980).In my opinion,Kant makes an unparalleled analysis about

rationality in philosophy.His division of rationality not only has a great influence on Western criti-
cal tIljn硒ng education,but also leaves us a good framework for expt蛐g the rational presupposi-

tions of the education.


Kant leaves us a binary reading of rationality by di讥dmg it into theoretical rationality and
practical rationality.Theoretical rationality is essentially a kind of logic for getting justified beliefs
with reasoning.while practical rationality is a moral rationality for giving a“should’’understanding
of the world.Kant claims that practical rationality is first needed in knowing the external world and
thus higher than theoretical rationality,but the uses of the two are in harmony,so that we should

accept the assumption that nature is ordered and owes its rational order to a highest intelligence

(Kleingeld,1998).In the context of classical Western philosophy,it is easy to find that the Kantian
definition of rationality is essentially an epistemological one,aiming to explain the oriSn,existence
and justification of knowledge.But it is necessary to note that Kant speaks highly of the role logic

plays in explaining rationality.He proposed that common logic presented him with a complete and
systematic catalogue of all the simple operations of rationality,and logic had reached its comple-

tion since Aristotle(Kant,1934).nIis mea.r坞Kant takes rationality as a kind of logical rationality to


some extent.

Since knowledge had been taken as“justified true befief’。the Kantian rationality—logic rela-

tion opens a broad space for discussions on the issue of truth.ne post—Kantian philosophy takes

a practice・-turn of epistemology which influences the development of contemporary We.stem cul-

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tures deeply.m American pⅫ∞0phy,esp.the trend of classical pragnmtism,stresses the role

logic plays in the justification of knowledge.Some scholars have noted that Dewey gives a domi-

nant understanding of critical thinking in How W色njnk(Ennis,1993;Lipman,1988).Dewey at-

tempts to reform the traditional logic into a theory of inquiry in Logic,the Theory of Inquiry.He not

only rarely uses the word“truth”.but also introduces“warranted certainty’’to express the reliable
attributes of statements.Dewey argues that we should interpret certainty with continuous explora-

tioaq,but Russell criticizes Dewey by clawing that his interpretation puts the inquiry into truth too

far off(Russell,1937).Seen from the Kantian division of rationality,Dewey presets that there are

certain or assured knowledge about the world,and he explores the process of obtaining the cer-

tainty with his reconstructed logic theory.Thus,the rationality Dewey’s understanding of critical

tIIin硒ng presupposes is also a kind of logical蹦onality.


Empiricism or so called“Logical Positivism”is another philosophy trend which inherits the

Kantian orientation of rationality.Supporters of empiricism explicitly express the certainty of

knowledge with“truth”in their works.They use logi础skills to explain how to get truths and care

about how to evaluate truths.However,the empiricists believe that there is a fundamental cleavage
between analytic and synthetic truths.They stress a kind of reductionlsm,arguing that meaningful

statement is equal to some logical construct upon terms referring to immediate experience.Be-
cause of Qunie’s criticism of the“two dogmas”of empiricism.philosophers have to find new

ways of keeping off with skepticism(Trends,et a1.,2010).’r0 give the criteria of judging truths,

contemporary philosophers suggest some new theories of mith.Among them,the correspondence

theory regards truths as the consistence between beliefs and facts,but the theory cannot explain
the truths of moral judgments;the coherence theory,which affects other theories of truth deeply,

argues that a proposition is true only if it is coherent with other close propositions in a cognitive
system(Johnson—Laird and Byme,2002).
Siegel argues that Popper,Kulm,Feyerabend,Lakatos,Laudan,and a host of others have

turned up difficulties with the traditional view of蹦onality in science,and that there is no general
consensus among philosophers of scie}nce concerning the nature of rationality in science(Siegel,
1980).In his opinion,critical thinking is the educational cognate of rationality,and the fundamental
educational aim is the fostering of critical thinldrIg(Siegel,1989).Since it is Logical Positivism that
promotes the flourishing of philosophy of science,it might be interpreted that Western critical

thinking education presets the Kantian rationality—logic relation.However,when one comes across

critical廿ljnldng works,he/she can rarely find the term“truth”.Should critical thinking teaching
accept the guidance of truth theory?The answer is yes.From the perspective of the basic rules of

social science researches,achieving a distinctive goal is the fundamental reason for producing a

new theory,but the reliability of the theory normally lies in its capable of giving relevant explana-

tions and predictions.When it comes to the implementation of teaching critical thinking,different

choices of truth theory may lead to different results.Now that logic plays an indisputable role in

getting truths,the rationality Western critical ttdnkmg education presets is essentially logical ration-

ality.

It is necessary to note that logic can be read both descriptively and prescriptively.In the di-

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Rationality,Logic and Critical Thinking Education in China

mension of descriptiveness,logic is mainly the Aristotelian syllogism logic or so called formal logic
that gives a reliable way of getting true judgments of the world;in the dimension of prescriptive-

ness,a logic theory must be able to explain why the judgments are true(Antonelli,2005).’Ik de-

scriptiveness and prescripitveness of logic are both“real and necessary”attributes revealing the

relationships humans,nature,and the society.Descriptive works can support prescriptive


among
researches with logical skills,but the latter can serve a semantic field for interpreting the semantics
of logical formulas of the former.Researches of the two aspects cannot be replaced with each oth-

er.

Modem mathematical logic creates a


glory of descriptive logic,but the glory represses resear-
ches on the prescriptiveness of logic to some extent.In fact,systematic researches on semantics of

logic just begin with Tarski’s P印er“m concept of truth in formalized languages”(1956).Thus,
it can be summed up that Kant’s division of rationality is in accord with the two attributes of 109-

ic,his idea of theoretical rationality stresses the role descriptive logic plays,and that he gives a

simplistic understanding of the prescriptiveness of logic with his ideas of practical rationality.If

critical thinking can be taken as an educational ideal.and if it is correct也at the critical thinking
movement inherits the Kantian rationality—logic relation,then the rationality presupposed by West-
em critical thinking is a kind of logical rationality.But the presuppositions are biased towards de-

scriptive logical rationality rather than prescriptive logical rationality,asking to understand and ex-

press ideas with reasoning skills.

m.The rationality and logic functioning in Chinese culture

Some scholars argue that traditional Chinese culture accepts a kind of pragmatic rationality,

cadng about moral and social practices(Fang and Luo,2007)..I'he rational presuppositions are
consistent with the Kantian assertion that practical rationality must be pure in the sense that tradi-
tional Chinese culture advocates the ethical stance constructed with blood clan relationships.How-

ever,due to endorsement of the pragmatic rationality,traditional Chinese culture lacks Kantian the-
oretical rationality to some extent.There were plenty of thinkers or philosophers in ancient China,

but their studies,such as discourse on Chinese medicine,were limited in solving pragmatic prob-

lenls.In other words,pure theoretical studies were not stressed enough in Chinese thought.Conse-
quently,because Chinese philosophy is generally weak regarding theoretical thinking,Chinese cul—

ture lacks pure science.Although there are no systematic theories of science in China’s traditional

culture,the culture leaves the Chinese lots of thoughts of science.Since these thoughts are mainly
concemed with solving day—t0一day practical problems,mey are not abstracted theoretically.For
example,The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art,one of the famous Chinese classics,takes ex-

plicitly a kind of practical orientations in each of its nine chapters.’nlis stance can be seen easily
from the rifles of its nine chapters:“field measurement”,“dividing corn proportionately”,“propor-

tional distribution”,and“land measurement”,etc.


Traditional Chinese culture,deeply influenced by Confucianism,follows a pragmatic orienta-
tion of philosophy.aiming at solving problems in real life.The culture presupposes a ldnd of prag-

matic rationality which focuses on the practical value of decmions.In other words,the Chinese are

mainly concentrated with thinking and resolving practical problems.Is this rationality supported by

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some logic theory?I do not think so.nlere are plenty of logical thoughts in traditional Chinese

culture,but there are few systematic theories of logic similar to the Aristotelian formal logic in the

culture.Because of the lack of systematic logic theories,the Chinese excel at imagistic thinking but
they are bad at abstract thinking.Th“dng must be carried out on the basis of abstractions from
world to language,but imagistic thinking is related to the real world.Here,1 would like to use the
expression“abstract thinking”to express the process of thhmdng similar to reasoning f esp.formal

reasoning).Researches from European Americans and Chinese and Koreans provide experimental
evidences showing that,European Americans,more than Chinese and Koreans,set aside intuition
in favor of formal reasoning and that Westerners are more likely than the Chinese to have intuitions

that fall in line with causal—historical accounts of reference(Norenzayan et al,2002;Machery et

al,2004).’111e lack of abstract thjnldng affects negatively the Chinese culture’s orientation of liter-

ature,art,religion,and science and technology,etc.

Some Chinese scholars claim that Mohism,which is famous for its argumentation theory,is the
essential evidence for proving the existence of logic theories in ancient China(Sun,2001;Cui,2002;
Mou,2016).Mohist logic is different from formal logic.’rhe sixth parts of Mohism contend that

there are six major tasks to be realized through arguments,but all these tasks can be summed to

find the“necessity”of facts(、№n,1 982).’Ik post—Mohism inherits the logic of thought lurking
in Mohism,but takes arguments as merely“cure”tools needed in governing.However,the Mohist

logic has been silent since the Qin Dynasty.Since Chinese care about choices needed in daily lives.

it is mainly the ideas suggested by saints,books or officials that support the inheritance of tradi-

tional Chinese culture.In other words,the Chinese are used to taking convergent thinking as the
basic logic skill for understanding or expressing tmths,accepting a simplistic descriptive logic.
Since the so called“Western learning spreads to the East”,more and more Chinese scholars

begin to discuss the future of Chinese traditional culture.Particularly,when it comes to the future
of Chinese traditional philosophy,there are two schools of philosophical researches(Yi,2016).One
argues for Sinicization of the Western philosophy while the other argues the modernization of the
traditional Chinese philosophy.Among the two schools,most of the scholars agree to interpret Chi-

nese
philosophy in Western philosophical ways(Li,2012).Although they take logic as the“back-

bone of philosophy”,the basic role descriptive logic plays in constructing knowledge of disciplines

isundervalued.In fact。there are more than 2000 universities in China,but only a quarter of them

take logic as a foundational subject in their curriculum.

It might be argued that traditional Chinese culture is rich in logical prescriptiveness because

the culture accepts so many rules guiding what one“ought”to do in specific situations but gives
only few explanations about the mental process of making decisions.Liang Shumin,who is regar-
ded as the last Confucian in China,complains that traditional Chinese culture has cultivated many
non—logical ideas(Liang,1989).In my opinion,reasoning on the basis of convergent thinking is

the main logical way for making decisions.It is well known that ancient Chinese scholars stress the

role realizing plays,and speak highly of catching insights through a wake—up call.But,what is re—

alizing?It does not have the form of pure science,nor does it lead to any kind of pure science.Bo

Mou.in his essay“The Structure of the Chinese Language and Ontological Insights:A Collective一

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Rationality,Logic and Critical Thinking Education in China

Noun Hypothesis”,brings out nicely why classical Chinese philosophers seem less interested in de-

bating ontological issues(Mou,1999).In my view,the prevailing of convergent thinking in China is


related with the Chinese distinct way of writing and speaking.1 will give more explanations about

this point in the next section.

’Ihe Chinese prescriptive logic orientation is supported strongly by a rigidly stratified moral

system.Traditional Chinese culture is also a virtue—centered culture.In ancient China,ordinary

people were used to using convergent thinking in making decisions.If a choice causes good or bad

consequences.then the choice is of moral significance.The Chinese approach to morality is a

virtue—centered one that emphasizes the good of the community.Virtuous individuals are those
whose Individual good coincides with their contribution to the common good,and the common
good is conceived in terms of the ideal conception of community life which is based on a well——

balanced social order(Brey,2007).A series of morals constitutes ethics,and any ethical selection

must be consistent with the requirements of inheriting the political ethic culture to the exclusion of

any aberration.For example,Deng Xi,a famous eloquent lawyer before the Qin Dynasty,was sen-

tenced to cut in half because his arguments violated the ideas of former kings and failed in meeting

etiquette requirements of his country.In traditional China society,eloquent lawyers like Deng Xi

might be出ed as shysters at any time.


It seems that traditional Chinese culture lacks logical descriptiveness but rich in logical pre・-

scriptiveness.But it is necessary to note that this conclusion about the rational presuppositions of

the culture is made according to the framework of logic served by Western cultures.In my opinion,

China has a
long honored tradition of culture,interpreting strongly the rightness of its logic.There
is not any weakness of the logic.A definition of logic either gives the typical characteristics of a

kind of logic or describes some scholars’viewpoints.There is a family resemblance among accept-

ed conceptions of logic.There are anthropologist researches showing that Aristotlean logic is not

shared by residents in remote areas.Logic is culture—dependent.Every culture holds its distinctive

logic and it is irrational to prize a logic orientation as beyond others(Ju,2006).In the era of new—
media information dissemination,intercultural communications are deepening day after day.There-
fore,in order to successfully implement and promote critical thinking teaching in China,it is neces-

sary to give a further consideration of the rationality presupposed by Chinese culture.

Contemporary China is still traditional in the sense that it inherits core values or value orienta-

tions advocated by ancient Chinese philosophers.Chen Lai,a famous Chinese scholar majoring in
Chinese philosophy and culture,argues,strongly and convincingly,that contemporary China ac-

cepts five basic values,i.e.,Ren,Yi,Li,m and Xin,and takes four core value orientations,i.e.,
“responsibility is prior to liberty”,“obligation is prior to right”,“community is higher than individ-

ual”,and“harmony is higher than conflict”(Chen,2015).AⅡthese values and value orientations

have been valued by the Chinese for more than 2000 years.On the other hand.although being influ-
enced by Marxist dialectics,Soviet educational theories and Western constrnctivist ideas,there are

empirical researches showing that the Chinese still tend to use prescriptive methods in making de—

cisions,whereas Westerners tend to use causal reasoning(Machery,2004).So,it is plausible to be—

lieve that Chinese traditional modes of thinking still play a basic role in modern schooling in

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China.

Advocating the five values and four value orientations determines critical ttljnldng education in
China is different from that in Western countries.n伧rationality—logic relation in China is differ-

ent from Kantian rationality—logic relation.It can be summed up that there锄屯two ldnds of barri-

el'8 for introducing teael『Iing critical thinldng in China,those due to traditional Chinese Culture and

those stemming from the absence of descriptive logic.Since the role logic plays in making deci.

sions ale still not emphasized eliough at any level of education,there is another kind of barriers for

introducing critical thinking education in China,that is,barriers due to how the educational system
is set up.In fact,the Chinese students must receive nine years of compulsory basic education,but

they learn little about arguments because most of the textbooks offer little regarding logical 8kills.

However。when it comes to the national college entrance examination,the students have to read

and write with some argumentative¥1dU8.In fact。it is still ditticttlt for most of the鲫xluates to

construct discourses logically.So.teaching critical thinldng in China should follow a modified mod-

el of Western critical thinking education.and teachers should know clearly about the Chinese cul-

ture’s rational presuppositions and give a full understanding of the requirements of developing the

culture in the context of llew—media information dissemination.

IV.Teaching critical thinking via discourse competence training in China


Successful teaellang is inseparable to high quality text books.So it is with critical thinking

teaching in China.But it seems that critical thinking education in China lacks such hi曲quality text

books.In the context of Western cultures,logic is held to consist of the systematic study of the

form of arguments,and critical thinking teaching is focused On cultivating the habit of makJllg deci-
sions with correct forms of reasoning.Accordingly,the textbooks used in Western countries speak

highly of analyzing practical examples.advocating maldng high—quality choices with logical¥1dlls.

However,up to nOW,less than ten indigenous versions of critical thinking text books compiled by
domestic scholars have been published in China,showing that being critical is still repugnant in the

country.These text books inherit the compiling mode of Western text books in containing lots of

analyses of practical examples,but they all try to stress the basic role logic plays in critical think-

ing.Even 80me of the text books ale titled“l ogic and Critical l"lanldng”.Fortunately.although On-

ly a few studies of teaching critical thinking have been reported in recent years,mole and mole 10-

gicians begin to realize that teaching of critical thinking is of great significance for cultivating inno-
vative talents(Gan,2012).
The lack of text books mellllB that there are no good interactions between textbook—profiling

and teaching.What teachers need urgently is to find the proper focus of teacllang critical tllinking.

Because of the absence of formal logic in Chinese culture,the teaching of critical thinking in China

should focus Oil case analysis but stress the basic role descriptive logic plays in the analysis.协
訇】age plays锄essential role in culture exchanges,and successful communication requires parties

involved in communication to express their idea.s in a logical way(van Benthem,2001).Thus,Chi-


nese critical minking teaching should ctistang-uiSh itself from its Western prototype.and focus Oil

la'aining the students’ability of understanding and expressing in Chinese in a logical way.Flll'thel'-

mole,Chinese students ale in urgent need of the guidance of reasoning skills because of the ab-

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Rationality,Logic and Critical Thinking Education in China

sence of logic teaching in all stages of China’s education.Not only do they have to use critical

thinking methods to obtain definitive conclusions,but also to ensure that the conclusions are ac-
cepted by others.In the context of the new—media information dissemination,this kind of accept-

ability is mainly determined by understanding the use of various styles of texts so that discourse

competence cultivating should be taken as the focus of critical thinking teaching in China.IJjn毋lj争

tically,constructed sentences are called discourses,and the ability to construct sentences is called
discourse competence,referring to the ability to understand the use of various styles of texts with

analysis,synthesis,and other methods(Kramsch,1996).


Focusing on training the students’ability of tmderstanding and expressing in Chinese in a log-
ical way means that teachers should teach critical thirIldng via discourse competence training.弧e
problem to be solved further is explah[Iing the distinct necessity of teaching critical thinking via dis-
course competence training in China.1 want to start the discussion from the mental process of de-

cision—making. .

In the perspective of cognitive science,there are three types of cognitive factors influencing an
individual’s expression or understanding of an object/event:psychological factors.behavioral fac-

tors,outcome factors.The individual makes a decision about the object/event through a process of

constructing relationships among the three factors.Given the same object/event,different individu-

als may construct different relationships so that they may make different judgments about the ob-

ject/event(Alexander,2012).Theoretically,with the help of critical thinking,it is possible for dif-


ferent individuals to make the same choice under the sme conditions.Furthermore,they are capa-

ble of not only understanding cognitive factors consistently but also constructing the same relation-

slup among them.Thus,in addition to teaching logical skills,critical thinking education should fo-
cus on how to clarifly basic cognitive factors for the students.

I take the basic cognitive factors as assumptions generally accepted by the linguistic communi-
ty.They are the foundational premises for people to express or understand in accord with others.

According to researches on practical thinking,there are two kinds of assumptions functioning in

people’s daily Eves:reality assumptions and value assumptions.田1e former is about“what should
be”while the latter is about“what it is”(Diestler.2012).For iIIstance.when it comes to whether

the trial process should be broadcasted live,the proponents claim that the broadcast can make the

public know more about the trial and the judicial system.On the contrary,the opponents argue that
the broadcast may make the implementation of the law system with an entertainment.n论
former’s reality assumptions may be that the public should know more information about judicial
system,and the latter’s reality assumption may be that people might watch the trial process just
forentertainment.Thus,to confirm basic cognitive factors about an object/event is to clar姆as-
sumptions about it.Furthermore,clarifying value assumptions about an object/event mealls to sort
important assumptions about it and choose the most important one according to the ethical princi-

pies held by the community;cleming reality assumptions about it meal临to sort important reality

assumptions about matters and choose the most professional or reliable one by reference to mature

professional conclusions.

Given basic cognitive factors,it is possible to cultivate the students’preference of conslzuc-

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ting relationships among them with logical skills.Humans have to use language to understand and
express their thoughts.Linguistically,discourse is the nexus,the actual and concrete expression of

the language—culture—society relationship,and it is discourse which creates,modifies,and fine

tunes both culture and language and their intersection(Sherzer 1987:296).Therefore,it is also tea-

sonable to focus on discourse competence订ajning in teaching critical th血蛐.Linguistically,given


basic concepts and relations,it is possible for students to construct a set of interrelated and coher-

ent sentences,and to clear reality assumptions or value assumptions means to sort and choose es-

sential elements needed in constructing discourses.Logically.an individual’s discourse compe-

tence could be justified by his/her use of descriptive skills as well as prescriptive skills.Therefore,
it is necessary to take discourse competence training as the focus of teaching critical thinking.

Then,in what ways is discourse competence training tailored to the Chinese conception and
learning of critical thinking?There are at least three reasons for believing that discourse compe-
tence training in China is different from it is done in the West.First of all,since Chinese and West-
erners vary in preference of logical skills,critical thinking teaching in China should Pay more atten-

tion to the role reasoning plays in constructing discourse,helping students form habit of using
more argumentative discourses.In my opinion,Chinese teaching(as a stan,dalone course)in China

should even introduce discourse competence training earlier on.

Secondly,切埘ng discourse competence缸aining as aimed at applying critical thinking skills,it


is natural that critical thinking teaching in China should be carried out in its own special way.In
Latin and other Western languages,there are strict formal links between words,which then deter-

mille corresponding relationships between their meanings objects,and the relation within the
and

language induces a relation in the world of meanings(Wenzel,2010).By contrast,there is no strict


grammar in Chinese.Chinese characters are associative
compounds,and the habitual using of
methods of associative compounds cultivates a common way of capturing/expressing relation-

ships.Because the Chinese are accustomed to expressing objects to be known with a network of

relationships,they are inclined to use implicit linguistic expressions in addressing themselves

(Chun,1988).We have seen in previous sections that contemporary China is still a virtue—cen-

tered country,and that Chinese as a standalone course still does not pay attention to using logical
skills.So,the application conditions of critical thinking in China are weaker than those of Western

countries.
FhlaUy and most importantly,compared with Western students,Chinese students meet more

difficulties in the process of fixing basic premise needed in constructing discourses.Arguments


must be carried out on the basis of reliable premise which is essentially clarified concepts or rela-

tions in the perspective of discourse competence training.In the context of Western culture,
ancient category theories and their development cultivate Westerners’consciousness of keeping

basic concepts and relations.However,there are problems in defining core concepts of Chinese

classics.For example。even distinguished Chinese scholars vary in the interpretations of Dao道


which is the core concept of Tao De Ching道德经.H.u Shi interprets Tao as Wu无.Zhang Dai—

nian argues that Tao should be interpreted as Wh+You有,etc.Seen from Chen Lai’s generaliza-

tion of Chinese culture,on the one hand,concepts can be divided into clarified concepts and con-

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Rationality,Logic and Critical Thinking Education in China

troversial concepts,and the former can be used as basic premise for constructing discourse.On the
other hand,it nught be summed up that there are clarified relations among controversial concepts.

In fact,besides the four value orientations Chen Lai generalized,there are plenty of clarified rela-

tions which can also be used as basic premises for constructing discourse.These relations are the
rules for constructing discourse.Since Chinese culture is rich in prescriptiveness,teaching critical

thinking via discourse competence training should pay more attention to the fact that Chinese

students are easier than Westerners in following inappropriate or even wrong rules in making deci-
sions.
My survey of critical thinking in the West helps the suggestion that critical thinking teaching in
China should focus on discourse competence缸ailling,but it is important to note the diversity of

Western traditions.Besides rational methods,there are irrational methods functioning in Western

philosophical research.Rational methods,esp.109ical skills,play important but not all roles in criti-

cal thinking.For example。Williamson argues strongly that there is a tradition of using“intuitions’’


as evidence in Western philosophy,and the debates about all philosophical issues will inevitably
end in conflicts between intuitions(Wnuamson,2007).Corresponding to debates about rationality,
there is the opposition between monism and pluralism of truth in Western philosophical resear-

ches.Aimed at cultivating the students’ability of making high—quality choices,critical thinking

teaching is essentially intended to make a compromise between monism and pluralism of truth.
TlIis theoretical orientation conforms to the metaphysical standpoint of truth of Chinese philoso-

phy.Although there is no significant concern with tmth(as capturing the way things are)in classi—

cal Chinese philosophy,there are pre—theoretical interpretations of truth in many Chinese cultural
classics(Mou,2009).Logic theory serves a possible way of getting truth,that is,sound judgments

could be reached through correct forms of reasoning with reliable premises,but logic skills support

but differ from critical skills.Thus,in the context of Chinese schooling,it is necessary and possible

to implement teaching of critical thinking through logical efforts on discourse competence training,

but it is also necessary to be aware of distinguishing teaching of critical thinking from teaching of

logic.
V.Conclusion

Critical thh做ng Teaching is suggested in the context of Western cultures and hence presuppo-
ses a kind of logical rationality.ne teaching argues for making high—quality choices with logical
skills,but the logic functioning in the cultures is mainly a kind of descriptive logic.On the contra-

ry,the virtue—centered traditional Chinese culture follows mainly a kind of prescriptive logic,and
the Chinese are habituated to using convergent thinking in between their daily routines.The fact

that the new—media information dissemination is accelerating the compromise between the Chi-

nese culture and Western cultures makes it necessary for Chinese education to pay more attention

to critical thinking teaching,but the new introduced teaching should dis廿ngIlish itself from its

Western prototype in cultivating the students’ability of expressing their ideas in a logical way.

Taking the process of recognizing as constructing relationships among cognitive factors,the logical

ability of understanding and expressing is essentially a kind of discourse competence.Besides aria-

lyzing practical cases in a logical way,teaching critical thjnldng in China should focus on discourse

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Academics 2019.9

competence t删ning and clarify some basic realty and value assumptions needed for cultivating the

students’preference of constructing sentences.

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