Critical Thinking ETH

Vision of Critical Thinking ETH

Anyone who has studied or works at ETH Zurich can critically assess and question acquired knowledge, academic structures and their own opinions. Then take an independent position on this basis, represent this position in discourse, and, accordingly, act appropriately. Critical questioning and assessment should be a part of an ever renewing ETH culture.

The four fields of action of CT-ETH

• Enable, encourage and support the development of new perspectives and approaches that can stimulate and further the current university and scientific community through critical thinking; hence encourage critical questioning.
  
  
• Advocacy of other perspectives (audiatur et altera pars), look up and uncover existing or emerging activities that include or promote critical thinking; making critical questioning of the 'academic mainstream' valuable and defending it against attacks.
  
  
• Motivation for critical self-reflection: Encouraging the university and its decision-makers to hold up the mirror to themselves, thus encouraging them to question their actions.
  
  
• Opening up spaces (spatial and temporal) and creating frameworks in which critical thinking and action can develop cooperatively; breaking through supposed temporal and circumstantial stumbling stones that prevent critical reflection or that are used as an excuse to avoid critical reflection.
   

The implementation of CT-ETH

Critical thinking should have an appropriate place in study curricula to enable students to classify and contextually assess knowledge. Critical thinking and thereof resulting critical acting should have a stimulating effect in the research field to foster new innovative research approaches. In the development of human resources, it should create the opportunity to tap into the broad potential of employees. And it should be incorporated into decision-making at all levels so that the most effective solutions for sustainable development of ETH Zurich can be found in the medium and long term.

Critical thinking needs free time and space. If ETH Zurich wants to be in a position to take up and critically reflect current academic and social developments in terms of its teaching, research and public tasks in an inter-institutional and interdisciplinary manner, it must be able to react flexibly and dynamically. To achieve this, it must keep open spaces and time windows in which critical thinking and action based on it can unfold.