Foucauldian critical thinking : An antithesis to technicization

Yulong LI, Xiaojing LIU*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Challenging the way critical thinking is often considered a skill, this article explores possible discursive reasons for the skill-orientation and technicization of this concept. First, using Michel Foucault’s ‘division and rejection’ theory as a discursive analytical lens, the discussion explores the neoliberal alliance of international organizations, national governmental authorities, the media, job markets, schools, and concerned parents. It explores how this alliance promotes the discourse of skill and competence, and prepares the ground for critical thinking’s technicization. Drawing further on Foucault’s decoding of human capital as the essence of neoliberalism, the article explores the way that the technicization of critical thinking fits with a conception of human beings as a complex mix of production and consumption, where, as homo economicus, they become entrepreneurs of themselves. Second, in the light of Foucault’s discursive analytical conception of the will to truth, the article traces a possible historical underpinning of critical thinking’s technicization. It argues that power-knowledge, the dark side of Enlightenment technological rationality, creates an increasingly technical conception of the world that tampers with the criticality of critical thinking. If critical thinking does not render people aware of the power impinging on them, it loses its value and meaning. The article proposes that critical thinking should rather be conceived along the lines of a Foucauldian conception of critique: the art of not being governed, which takes inspiration from Kant’s conception of enlightenment. It explores how to practise Foucauldian critical thinking, how Foucault’s technology of the self can be enacted as the protector of subjectivity against the governmentality of power.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)910-928
Number of pages19
JournalJournal of Philosophy of Education
Volume58
Issue number6
Early online date3 Sept 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

The lead author wants to thank Professor Nicki Hedge and Dr. Fiona Patrick at the School of Education, University of Glasgow, for their encouragement in the earlier stages of this research and recommendations of journal articles on philosophy and critical thinking. Furthermore, we appreciate the reviewers’ helpful suggestions.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain. All rights reserved.

Funding

This research is funded by Shenzhen Pengcheng Peacock Plan: 2023TC0234.

Keywords

  • critical thinking
  • critique
  • discourse
  • Foucault
  • technologies of self

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