Debatable Truths: What Buddhist Argumentation Reveals about Critical Thinking
Abstract
Asian students have often been reported to struggle with Western-style critical thinking. A good understanding of what constitutes this intellectual practice might help them overcome some of their difficulties. To this end, a precise definition is necessary. This paper offers a contribution in this regard. First, it presents a summary of the debate on this subject and spells out the three elements that, according to most theorists, constitute critical thinking, i.e., logico-argumentative abilities, dispositions to inquiry and evaluative epistemology. Second, it shows how this tripartite model is inadequate to explain the alleged difficulties of Asian students. Finally, it uses a medieval Indic text on Buddhist argumentation, the Tarkabhāā (XI CE), to expose the shortcomings of this model and to bring into focus three other specific characteristics of academic critical thinking: (1) the topic of inquiry, (2) the direction of the argument and (3) the object of critical scrutiny.
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- Authors
- Lugli, L.
- Affiliations
- Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lugli, Ligeia
- ORCID
- Lugli, Ligeia
- Venue
- Contemporary Buddhism
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-05-07
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 371-400
- ISSN
- 1463-9947 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-7953
- OpenAlex
- W2268531032
- Cited by
- 6
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 1.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Contemporary Buddhism (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Education and Critical Thinking Development
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Indian and Buddhist Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
- Keywords
- critical thinking, Asian students, academic argumentation, Indian logic
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