Thought Work

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. -- Bill Gay, professor emeritus of philosophy, UNC Charlotte A new forum for common thinking about thinking. A real masterpiece! For everyone who believes in the value of liberal arts education, this volume ought to become a manual to pore over night and day. -- Jerzy Axer, director, Collegium Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw Specialists from a dizzying array of disciplines provocatively engage with Minnichs previous book, The Evil of Banality, and potently heed the call to attend to the practice of thinking across and within all fields. -- Brian R. Clack, professor of philosophy & A. Vassiliadis Director of the Humanities Center, University of San Diego If we want to think about thinking in all its richness, unfettered and unbanistered (and we must!), this is an excellent help, with friends of thinking working in a most capacious mode. -- Stephen Bloch-Schulman, associate professor and chair of philosophy, Elon University

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 Womens Studies at East Carolina University. During her doctoral studies, she served as Hannah Arendts 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).

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. Shakespeares 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