Smart Thinking: Skills for Critical Understanding and Writing, 2nd Ed

PLANNING AND CREATING YOUR REASONING 133

a. What are the factors we need to consider if we are to understand the

external dimensions of our text?

b. What are the factors we need to consider if we are to understand the

internal dimensions of our text?

c. How does context affect text and vice versa?

d. What is the difference between an objective and an intersubjective phil-

osophy of knowledge?

e. Why is it important to consider the connotative element of our claims?

f. What general purpose do plans fulfil?

g. What is the primary advantage of the analytical structure format when

used for planning?

h. What are the key differences between a narrative sequence plan, a mind-

map, and an analytical structure format?

NOTES

1 Some philosophers would maintain that knowledge can be objective, in those circum-
stances in which the knowledge is not affected at all by human subjectivity. I would
contend that, while theoretically possible, this objective status is never reached in prac-
tice. Although we may, as thinking human subjects, be able to utilise methods and
approaches that eliminate all possibility of subjective bias (and most academic disci-
plines have a wide range of such methods and approaches), the very use of these
methods and approaches itself creates a subjective element. For example, within
Western scientific medical practice, knowledge of diseases may be objective; however,
from a different viewpoint (such as, for example, traditional or folk medicine), the very
decision to use a scientific approach is itself a subjective element. Moreover, the human
subject is created in part by what he or she knows. To say that knowledge is intersub-
jective means all knowledge is interrelated and that the specific pattern of relationship
will depend upon who, when, where, and how subjects express and receive knowledge.
2 Remember that we often refer to the last paragraph of an essay or presentation as the
'conclusion'. Here, of course, because we are talking analytically, the conclusion is the
key claim that we want our audience to accept.