Chi-Ming Lam

Is Popper's Falsificationist Heuristic a Helpful Resource for Developing Critical Thinking?.

Based on a rather simple thesis that we can learn from our mistakes, Karl Popper developed a falsificationist epistemology in which knowledge grows through falsifying, or criticizing, our theories. According to him, knowledge, especially scientific knowledge, progresses through conjectures (i.e. tentative solutions to problems) that are controlled by criticism, or attempted refutations (including severely critical tests). As he puts it, ‘Criticism of our conjectures is of decisive importance: by bringing out our mistakes it makes us understand the difficulties of the problem which we are trying to solve. This is how we become better acquainted with our problem, and able to propose more mature solutions: the very refutation of a theory ... is always a step forward that takes us nearer to the truth. And this is how we can learn from our mistakes’ (1989, p. vii). Since criticism plays such a crucial role in Poppers falsificationist methodology, it seems natural to envisage his heuristic as a helpful resource for developing critical thinking. However, there is much controversy in the psychological literature over the feasibility and utility of his falsificationism as a heuristic. In this paper, I first consider Poppers falsificationism within the framework of his critical rationalism, elucidating three core and interrelated concepts, viz. fallibilism, criticism, and verisimilitude. Then I argue that the implementation of Poppers falsificationism means exposing to criticism various philosophical presuppositions that work against criticism, such as essentialism, instrumentalism, and conventionalism; it also means combating what seems a common tendency of humans to be biased towards confirmation. I examine the confirmation bias, to which Popper did not give much attention: its pervasiveness and various guises, some theoretical explanations for it, and the role of teachers in undermining its strength and spread. Finally, I consider the question whether students can and should be taught to use disconfirmatory strategies for solving problems.

Sociological and philosophical perspectives on education in the Asia-Pacific region

Chapter 1 Introduction: A sociological and philosophical approach to education.- Chapter 2 Fostering rationality in Asian education.- Chapter 3 Redeeming philosophy through the issue-enquiry approach: A case in Hong Kong.- Chapter 4 Sustainable development as a worldview: Implications for education.- Chapter 5 The Water Margin, moral degradation, and the virtue of Zhixing.- Chapter 6 Teachers as translators in Asian religious education.- Chapter 7 Reflections on our individual and collective identities as persons in the world.- Chapter 8 A matrix approach to language policy analysis: The case of Hong Kong.- Chapter 9 Internationalisation of education in Hong Kong: Practice and challenges.- Chapter 10 Glocalization of English language education: Comparison of three contexts in East Asia.- Chapter 11 Re-envisioning teacher education programmes for international students: Towards an emancipatory and transformative educational stance.- Chapter 12 Does Confucianism hinder critical thinking in education? Chapter 13 The Confucian view of lifelong learning: Relevancy to the teaching and learning of older adults.- Chapter 14 Asian education and Asia as method.

The disablement and enablement of childhood

In this paper, I first examine how the dominant view of children as incompetent is constructed in the field of sociology, highlighting the constructions of them as playful, vulnerable and passive. Then, I deconstruct these dominant constructions and argue that they do not do children justice. To restore justice to children through reconstructing the concept of childhood, I suggest that children should neither be constructed as workfree and carefree, nor as innately innocent and vulnerable. Moreover, I suggest that the common practice of legally fixing a chronological identity for adults within the life course should be challenged, and that the relationship between social structures and agency should be understood in terms of relational rather than co-deterministic theories. Finally, to promote agency in children at the policy level, I suggest that they should be empowered to participate actively in various settings, particularly schools.

A Popperian Approach to Education for Open Society

Abstract Karl Popper’s falsificationist epistemology that all knowledge advances through a process of conjectures and refutations carries profound implications for politics and education. In this article, I first argue that, on a political level, it is necessary to establish and maintain an open society by fostering not only five core values, viz. freedom, tolerance, respect, rationalism, and equalitarianism, but also three crucial practices, viz. democracy, state interventionism, and piecemeal social engineering. Then, considering that an open society places great political, and thus educational, demands upon its members, I examine the role played by education in its establishment and maintenance, focusing on its educational aims, curriculum, and pedagogy.

Does Confucianism Hinder Critical Thinking in Education

Nowadays, there is still a widely held view that the Chinese and Western modes of thought are quite distinct from each other. In particular, the Chinese mode of thought derived from Confucianism is considered as comparatively less rational than the Western one. In this chapter, I first argue that although the analogical mode of argumentation, which is often claimed to be in sharp contrast with the Western mode of rationalism, has played a prominent role in Confucianism, it does not make Confucianism any less rational. Emphasizing the importance of rational considerations in Confucian philosophy, I then discuss the normative and communicative features of Confucian rationalism. Finally, I examine the implications of these features for critical thinking in education.