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Thriving in Academe
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Criticism and Creativity

Having taught a few semesters of logic, I figured I knew what critical thinking was all about. However, colleagues from other fields have challenged me to consider whether there might be more to critical thinking than is usually encountered in philosophy.

In one recent workshop, a faculty member who teaches creative writing argued that telling a story is one way of giving reasons, even though the argument contained in a narrative cannot always be laid out in tidy premise-conclusion form.

The suggestion that critical thinking involves pattern recognition skills was well received by one colleague in the dance department, who immediately added that it all depends on which patterns you care about. In dance, the idea is to help students perceive and produce patterns of movement.

One idea that resonated with workshop participants from other disciplines is that criticism and creativity must go hand in hand. One of my teachers, John Post, used to write a favorite quotation from Igor Stravinsky on the board to inspire students: "To enjoy to the full the conquests of daring, we must demand that it operate in a pitiless light."

Severe criticism can motivate us to create something that passes muster, whether that something is a short story, a musical composition, a scientific theory, or a philosophical argument. Creative people in any discipline subject their own work to criticism, and they also solicit criticism from others.

—Derek D. Turner
Connecticut College

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