Four Levels of Competency

–Unconscious Competence–Conscious Competence–Conscious Incompetence–Unconscious Incompetence

• From THE EMPATHIC COMMUNICATOR, William S. Howell, 1982, pp. 29-32

B. Methodological Doubt and Belief

KEY: undertake pure doubt and pure belief:

i. consciouslyii. systematicallyiii. explicitly iv. with discipline

Source: Methodological Doubting and Believing: Contraries in Inquiry, in Peter Elbow, EMBRACING CONTRARIES: EXPLORATIONS IN LEARNING AND TEACHING 258 (1986)

Individual Exercise: Methodological Doubt

–Consider the applicant’s account and

• doubt everything,• no matter how compelling it

might seem • to find flaws or contradictions we

might otherwise miss.

Individual, then Group Exercise: Methodological Belief

–Consider the applicant’s story and• believe everything, • no matter how unlikely or repellent

it might seem • to find virtues or strengths we might

otherwise miss.

Introduction to PoetryBilly Collins

I ask them to take a poemand hold it up to the lightlike a color slideor press an ear against its hive.I say drop a mouse into a poemand watch him probe his way out,or walk inside the poem's roomand feel the walls for a light switch.I want them to waterskiacross the surface of a poem

waving at the author's name on the shore.But all they want to dois tie the poem to a chair with ropeand torture a confession out of it.They begin beating it with a hoseto find out what it really means.

The Apple that Astonished Paris, 1996, University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, Ar

4 Observations about Methodological Doubt and Belief

1. Disciplines you to be wary of acting BEFORE you have subjected your action plan to both methodological doubt and belief.

2. Offers those who naturally gravitate to one pole or the other a way to check themselves.

3. Creates a practice for deeply exploring closely, passionately held views.

4. Balances out the widely held misconception that rigorous thinking requires doubt alone.