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Fostering Theoretical Thinking in UndergraduateClasses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2007

Mark Souva
Mark Souva
Affiliation:
Florida State University
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Extract

How should educators teach students to make better theoreticalarguments, that is, an argument that is logical and fruitful?Logical thinking is about making valid deductions from a set ofpremises and avoiding fallacies. Fruitful thinking involves makingan argument that fits reality. Theoretical thinking, then,emphasizes building a sound argument with relevantand interesting empirical implications. In this way, theoreticalthinking complements the more common educational mantra of teachingstudents to think critically, which tends to focus on the detectionof fallacies or other flaws in an argument. Emphasizing detectioninstead of construction, however, limits the development ofanalytical and independent thinking. To better teach the range ofthinking skills most educators want their students to acquire callsfor a focus on the understanding and construction of theoreticalarguments, and this calls for greater emphasis on learning at leasta basic system of logic.I thank EricHoffmann, Bob Jackson, Will Moore, Jeff Staton, and thereviewers for many helpful comments on earlier drafts. Allremaining errors are my responsibility.

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THE TEACHER
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , July 2007 , pp. 557 - 561
Copyright
© 2007 The American Political Science Association

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