Colloquium Series Events

Critical Thinking, Conscious and Unconscious Influences, and the Responsibilities of Tenure:  Ethical Considerations Related to Eating and Performing Research on Animals

Critical thought is unnatural, often lying dormant unless awakened by provocative claims that challenge one’s indoctrinated beliefs. However, critical thought can be trained, and a central goal of our education system should be to make our students fluent and natural critical thinkers. In fact, the concept of tenure is based on the notion that professors are the most well trained and thus the best poised to think critically about socially relevant topics, and to provide reasoned perspectives. And yet even professors retain cognitive defenses that inhibit critical thought, defenses related to those associated with cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias. In my talk I will make these claims palpable by provoking critical thought as it relates to three issues. The first is a “safe” issue upon which we will all agree; the issue of whether slavery should be deemed impermissible. The next two are more contentious; should we conduct research on animals that we would not conduct on humans, and should we consume meat at all, especially meat derived from factory farms? I will argue that when one overcomes the defenses and thinks critically about these issues, the answers most thinkers arrive at conflict with the norms of our society. Given the responsibilities of tenure, if our thoughts lead us to the conclusion that societal norms are inappropriate, then we must speak out. Thus, from my perspective, this talk has two goals. The first is to inform our thinking about the challenges of teaching critical thought. The second is to perform what I view as my tenure-given responsibility to communicate how my critical thinking has lead me to focus on the specific contentious examples that will be the focus of this talk.