Critical thinking and buddhist studies—the genesis of a workshop

Abstract

A brief review of the ubiquity of the critical thinking agenda in UK Higher Education is followed by a resume of its pedagogic history and of its contemporary commercial success. This is followed by a discussion of the nuances of meaning and referent for the term, reservations about current pedagogic assumptions concerning it and the contestation of its educational value in the political and social sphere. Themes from this concerning authority and ‘process vs content’ are applied to experience of Buddhist Studies candidates. This discussion is then tied in to the motives for the organisation of a workshop on critical thinking held at SOAS in 2012, which is briefly described.