{"ops":[{"insert":"Thank you to all of you who have been able to join our complimentary webinars. For those who missed our latest two, I invite you to view the following videos of those webinars. The first is a recording of the webinar workshop on "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Why Critical and Creative Thinking Depend on One Another"},{"insert":", led by my colleague, Dr. Gerald Nosich. \n\nThe relationship between critical and creative thinking is frequently misunderstood. And yet, quite simply, critical thinking necessarily involves creativity while creativity pre-supposes critical thinking. Critical thinking, without creativity, is merely focused on pointing out flaws in reasoning and in products of reasoning. It offers no solutions. It offers no contributions of substance and value, and therefore is only a partial form of critical thinking. Though it is frequently essential to seek problems in thinking as a "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"part"},{"insert":" of critical thinking, this is not sufficient to achieve the highest levels of criticality in most contexts. These highest levels typically require creativity.\n\nAt the same time, creativity without critical thinking merely results in novelty, or in other words, something that may indeed be new (or perceived as new) but is not necessarily of value, substance, or quality.\n\nIn critical thinking, one of our primary goals is to identify problems in thinking and create solutions to deal with those problems, whether it is our own problematic thinking or that of others.\n\nThose people who make the most important contributions to human societies, the common good, and to sustenance of the earth’s resources illuminate well the relationship between criticality and creativity. They embody intellectual perseverance, as well as other intellectual virtues and abilities, while working within and actively developing their creative capacities. \n\nView the video here:\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#0563c1","link":"https://community.criticalthinking.org/watchEmbeddedVideo.php?id=349"},"insert":"How Critical and Creative Thinking Depend on One Another (Gerald Nosich, 05-07-2024)"},{"insert":"\n\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":"I also invite you to view the webinar I presented on April 15th:"},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#0563c1","link":"https://community.criticalthinking.org/watchEmbeddedVideo.php?id=350"},"insert":"Why a Thriving Democracy Requires Critical Thinking"},{"insert":"\n\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":"In this webinar, I focus on the fact that "},{"insert":"critical thinking is essential to successful democracies because education is required for successful democracies (which has long been understood) and because critical thinking is essential to education (which is far less understood).\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":" "},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":"Critical thinking is required to both:"},{"insert":"\n\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":"a. critique existing systems of government, such as democracy, and"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":"b. build and maintain any successful government (through all human systems within the society – educational, social, cultural, familial, political, professional, business, government, etc.)"},{"attributes":{"indent":1},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":" "},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":"Delineating or identifying the best democratic systems begins with articulating the core concept of democracy itself. This also requires critical thinking. "},{"insert":"\n\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":"In the webinar, I briefly address these issues, focusing primarily on the overarching questions:"},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":" "},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":"What is the relationship between democracy and critical thinking?"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":"What is democracy?"},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":"What is critical thinking?"},{"attributes":{"indent":1,"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":"\t "},{"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"color":"#212121"},"insert":"I hope you will take some time to view these videos and that you can join us for future webinars."},{"insert":"\n"}]}