On ideology, pillage, language and risk: critical thinking and the tensions of critical practice

In recent years critical thinking has been proposed by a number of authors as providing a rationale for the conceptualization and practice of adult education. This paper undertakes a critical analysis of the debate sparked by these analyses. By examining a number of interpretations of critical thinking the author focuses on critical issues in this debate. In particular, four areas of tension for adult educators engaged in critical practice are discussed; (1) the connection between the educator's making explicit a political commitment and the encouragement of critical thinking in learners; (2) the extent to which conceptualizations of critical thinking and models by which it can be taught should be grounded within one exclusive intellectual tradition; (3) how to develop a language of critical thinking that is accessible to those adults for whom the process is designed to assist, and; (4) the need to balance inspiring a sense of possibility that thinking critically entails, with a realistic assessment of the risks and dangers it involves.