What: Greg Colomb, professor of the English language and literature and Director of Writing Programs at the University of Virginia, will be speaking on “Thinking Critically in an Argument Culture” as a kick-off event for this year’s program on argument and evidence presented by the Center for Teaching and Learning at Trinity.  This event is free and open to the Trinity community.  A light lunch will be provided for pre-registered participants only. To reserve a spot, please email common-hour@trincoll.edu.

When: Thursday, September 24, 2009 ~ 12:15 p.m.  

Where: Washington Room, Mather Hall on the campus of Trinity College
300 Summit Street, Hartford, Conn. 06106

Abstract:
Given the evidence of our public discourse, argument would seem to be the enemy of critical thinking. In what passes as public debate—on health care; on the conduct of the current, the last, or the next war; on the consequences of the approximately .05ºC increase in global temperatures since 2000—argument seems to serve best only greed, ideology, and self-interest, more a tool of obfuscation, propaganda, and social division than of light, truth, and understanding.  In this talk, Colomb will show how fair argument can be the most important support for critical thinking, how it serves to rein in some of our least reliable habits of mind, and how it can—and should—be at the center of every liberal arts classroom.

For Colomb’s UVA faculty profile, visit: http://www.engl.virginia.edu/faculty/colomb_gregory.shtml.

For more on Trinity’s common hour program, visit:
/trinityaz/common_hour

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