How (And When) To Think Like A Philosopher
Some forms of critical evaluation and philosophical thinking are hard because they force us to suspend other habits of mind that serve us well when our goal is to engage others, says Tania Lombrozo.
As an undergraduate, I majored in philosophy — a purportedly useless major, except that it teaches you how to think, write, and speak.
The skills I was learning from working through papers and arguments extended well beyond the coursework itself, yielding habitual patterns of reasoning that made me a more discerning scientist, a more careful writer, and a better thinker all around. Within and beyond philosophy, I was learning to spot poor arguments, uncover hidden assumptions, tease out subtle implications, and recognize false dichotomies. (It was around this time that my then boyfriend,
