National Conference
on Student Writing and Critical Thinking in Agriculture
Teaching Critical Thinking:
Skills versus Attitudes
(Including the Virtues of a Reasonable Person in a Critical Thinking Class)
Ed Sherline
Department of Philosophy
University of Wyoming
Laramie, WY 82071-3392
307-766-5156
Sherline@uwyo.edu
Handout 3: Some open questions to use as prompts in teaching critical thinking
within an agriculture-based course.
Value
Questions
What
is the value, if any, of biodiversity?
What is the best way to promote the value of biodiversity?
What
is ethical treatment of nonhuman animals for research? For food?
For work?
Do
we have a moral obligation to insects?
If so, what is the content of this obligation, and on what value is it
based?
What
are ethical issues pertaining to our extraction and use of natural resources
(e.g., water, soil, air, and genes) in the processes of agriculture, fisheries,
forestry, grazing, mining, and manufacturing?
What
are our obligations to future generations with regard to the use of
non-renewable resources?
Domestic
Policy Issues
Should
the government protect family farms from competition with factory farms?
Should
the government continue leasing grazing land at a cost below its market value?
Should
the government be in the business of influencing the price of milk and other
agro-products?
What
is an acceptable level of odor for hog farms?
Should
the government protect endangered species?
If so, to what extent?
Should
cloning be banned?
Should
the government ban the use of non-native biological control agents?
What
is an acceptable level of risk of environmental disaster for pest management ?
Should
the government ban the use of bovine growth hormone?
Should
the government regulate the safety of food products for consumers? If so, how?
Who
owns seeds? Who owns genetically
engineered organisms?
Foreign
Policy Issues
What,
if anything, should rich nations do to help developing nations address problems
such as famine and overpopulation?
Should
the government protect domestic agricultural operations from foreign
competition?