This anthology poses challenges central to Elizabeth Minnich's book The Evil of Banality: On The Life and Death Importance of Thinking to outstanding thought leaders from a wide range of fields. In a time when even small acts can have consequences that spread wider and much faster than ever, when public discourse is more banal and superficial even as it is inflated by bluster and fractured by group-think, knee-jerk partisanship, and hyper-specialization, it is a book whose outstanding authors reflect with urgency on how we can and why we must think what we are doing as professionals, citizens, public actors, and, crucially also, as educators. The book brings together a group of distinguished thought leaders in widely varied fields: philosophy, evaluation, community organizing, sociology, systems thinking, business management, sociology, leadership, humanities, public policy, ethics, and religion. Each of these authors has struggled with how to practice as well as how to teach people not only to be "a success" as measured by title, office, and pay, but how and why it is crucial that each and all of us learn to think well about what we are doing, its effects, how and why we are doing it. They discuss issues such as lying; the ethics of 'fixing' genes that will then be passed on; knowing when, even whether, to intervene in genocide; unintended effects of economic development efforts; the effects of rewards only for short-term studies; making public policy with the public. Philosophically framed and interdisciplinary in approach, the book is written to be accessible to a general educated audience. It is designed to be thought-provoking, illuminating, and useful.
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Minnich and Patton gather an eclectic cohort of thought-leaders to reflect on the importance and intricacies of thinking in their respective fields. Philosophically framed and interdisciplinary in approach, this illuminating book is designed to be supremely useful to readers from all backgrounds. 
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Preface: Beyond Banalities: Thinking at Work in the World, Elizabeth K. Minnich and Michael Quinn Patton I. What is Thinking? Chapter 1. Thinking about Thinking with Hannah Arendt in Mind Elizabeth K. Minnich 2. Beyond Banality in Thinking About Thinking Michael Quinn Patton II. Teaching Thinking Chapter 3. The Limits of Moral Heroism Allen Dunne Chapter 4. Thinking Responsibly: Barriers and Pathways Troy Duster Chapter 5. Perceiving the Possibility of Possibility: Making Thinking the Heart of Education Eduardo Duarte Chapter 6. Teaching Thinking Elizabeth Minnich Chapter 7. Thought in Progress: Field Notes from Norway Jan Reinert Karlen III. Ethical, Moral, and Political Thinking Chapter 8. Shakespeare’s Faust: A Parable of Our Time Gayle Greene Chapter 9. Why Not Lie? A Reflective Essay Elizabeth Minnich Chapter 10. Critical thinking and its limitations: Can we think our way out of white supremacy? Stephen Brookfield Chapter 1l. Thinking like an organizer: Habits of Resistance Si Kahn IV. Thinking at Work Chapter 12. Beyond Banal Business Practices: Reflections on Thoughtless And Thoughtful Practices of International Businesses in Developing Countries Frederick Bird Chapter 13. Strategic Thinking in Support of Intensive and Extensive Good, John M. Bryson, Barbara C. Crosby, and Danbi Seo Chapter 14. Can Systems Thinking be an Antidote to Evil? G.P. Richardson Chapter 15 Entrepreneurial Thinking As Change Agent for Good Mary Gowan Chapter 16. ThoughtWork in Program Evaluation: Beyond Banality in Evaluation Practice Michael Quinn Patton V. Afterword Chapter 17. Reflections on ThoughtWork Elizabeth K. Minnich and Michael Quinn Patton
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This book resolutely confronts the dangers of banality in classrooms, boardrooms, and in public. It provides timely and vital strategies for exposing and resisting seemingly innocuous silence and inaction which allows incipient violence to escalate even to the level of genocide.
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781538131527
Publisert
2019-10-11
Utgiver
Vendor
Rowman & Littlefield
Vekt
694 gr
Høyde
228 mm
Bredde
160 mm
Dybde
26 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
370

Biographical note

Elizabeth K. Minnich Distinguished Fellow with the Association of American Colleges & Universities, she is the author of The Evil of Banality: On The Life and Death Importance of Thinking; Transforming Knowledge, 2nd Edition (recipient of the Frederic Ness Award). She has taught and served in the administration at Barnard College/Columbia University, and Sarah Lawrence College. Her visiting Chairs have included the Hartley Burr Alexander Chair in Public Philosophy at Scripps College, the Thomas P. Johnson Visiting Distinguished Professor at Rollins College, and the Whichard Visiting Distinguished Professor in Humanities and Women’s Studies at East Carolina University. During her doctoral studies, she served as Hannah Arendt’s teaching assistant; her dissertation was on John Dewey. Michael Quinn Patton Former President of the American Evaluation Association, and recipient of both the Alva and Gunnar Myrdal Award from the Evaluation Research Society and the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award from the American Evaluation Association. The Society for Applied Sociology honored him with the 2001 Lester F. Ward Award for Outstanding Contributions to Applied Sociology. Author of 8 evaluation books including 4th editions of Utilization-Focused Evaluation (2008) and Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods (2015). He is also author of Creative Evaluation; Practical Evaluation; and Culture and Evaluation (1985).