020 – Critical Thinking in China

This past month I was fortunate to be a guest of Xidian University in China for two weeks. On this episode of the podcast I share stories and reflections from my adventures as a first-time visitor to China, and I give an overview of some of the public talks and lectures I gave. The episode has four distinct parts. The first 20 minutes is stories from my trip and observations about Chinese culture. Then there are three discussions on philosophy, science and critical thinking topics: (1) on circular reasoning in the appeal to science and nature to justify social and political views; (2) on the elements of science literacy and why public science education doesn't teach it; and (3) on the history of critical thinking in the west, and the challenges of talking about the value of critical thinking to audiences in modern China.

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