Exploring the many facets of critical thinking and the methodologies useful to being a moral philosopher involves delving into the core activities and approaches employed in this area of inquiry. Drawing on the provided sources, we can begin to build a picture of what this entails. At a fundamental level, moral philosophy, like philosophy in general, is described as inherently criticism. It asks foundational questions about what we are doing, why we are doing it, whether something is better, and why it is better. It is concerned with concepts like good, bad, right, and wrong, often seeking an all-encompassing theory to explain them. Traditionally, philosophical moral positions have been divided into types such as consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics, which attempt to provide frameworks for moral decision-making or understanding what constitutes a good person. However, a significant portion of traditional moral philosophy has focused on abstract or altruistic ideals, paying less attention to concepts like simple moral decency. Critical thinking is presented as a crucial set of skills, traditionally viewed as a branch of philosophy. It's not just about avoiding logical fallacies or following essay rules; it involves deeper processes. A key aspect is the ability to reflect on what you are doing and why, acting as a person rather than a machine. It requires the willingness to think outside the box and challenge existing convictions. Critical thinking isn't a single tool but a collection, including logic, creative tools like brainstorming, and even social and emotional components. In the context of moral philosophy, critical thinking serves to examine moral judgments, the nature of character and wisdom, and what is considered "real" in this domain. It allows philosophers to question traditional moral theories, which might not offer the guidance needed for daily life or realistic moral behavior. It involves scrutinizing moral concepts and criteria, understanding that they may not need to be self-evident or replaceable by non-moral notions. Critical thought can also aid in reflecting on one's own moral practices. Here are some specific methodologies and approaches useful to being a moral philosopher, as highlighted in the sources: 1. **Reflection and Self-Criticism:** A central skill in critical thinking and moral philosophy is reflection, particularly self-reflection. This involves examining one's own beliefs and assumptions. Socrates is presented as a prime example, living a life where self-examination is a positive, heroic force, fostering intellectual and moral integrity by challenging complacent dogmatism. This self-criticism is not merely pedagogical but a method of critically reflecting on the information presented and one's own beliefs. Philosophical reflection itself can advance understanding by providing a more adequate grasp of important moral notions. 2. **Logical and Conceptual Analysis:** Moral philosophy requires careful handling of words and concepts to avoid confusion. Logic is a core critical thinking tool, allowing one to analyze arguments, take them apart, mend, and reassemble them. Philosophers prefer informal logic for critical thinking, which focuses on arguments in natural language where the conclusion also needs to be useful. Logical errors can have practical importance, enabling comfortable but erroneous opinions. Beyond just logic, critical thinking involves defining and clarifying moral notions. 3. **Questioning and Challenging Assumptions:** Philosophy starts with questions. A fundamental aspect of critical thinking is the willingness to question everything, rethink postulates, and even renounce deeply held beliefs. Genuine philosophy delves beneath immediate reality, challenges received truths, and de-fetishizes the taken-for-granted. This involves asking "why" and "why not" relentlessly, getting down to first principles. A critical attitude challenges everything presented as necessary and universal. Philosophy itself, in its critical operation, is a criticism of criticisms. 4. **Critique of Existing Theories and Norms:** Moral philosophy often engages in the critique of established moral theories like consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics, questioning their adequacy for guiding daily life. It also critiques rigid moral systems and social norms that certain groups might try to impose on society. Adorno suggests that moral philosophy today functions essentially as a critique of moral philosophy itself, making its options and antinomies conscious. This critique involves suspending normative systems to test and evaluate them, rather than just judging particulars under existing categories. It examines the limits that "truth regimes" impose on autonomy and resists assimilation into prevailing conceptual orders by revealing the ordering process itself. 5. **Historical and Genealogical Analysis (Foucault):** Some approaches, like that of Michel Foucault, use history to critique philosophical and non-philosophical practices. This involves attempting to show that what are often taken as natural or universal elements of human experience, including moral and narrative values, are actually historical products. Foucault's approach is described as a "historico-critical attitude" that analyzes the limits imposed on us and experiments with the possibility of going beyond them. It inquires into the historical conditions and limits of singular rationalities, relativizing scientific rationality as one among many. Genealogy examines the contingent historical construction of the subject along axes of knowledge, power, and self-constitution. This method is seen as a form of philosophical critique that unsettles certitudes and dogmatism. 6. **Phenomenological Method (Epoché):** Originating with Husserl, phenomenology involves a skeptical _epoché_, or suspension of judgment, regarding existing convictions to contemplate the matter in hand as it is. In ethical phenomenology, this method involves the descriptive clarification of immediate phenomena that positivist science neglected. A universal ethical _épokhè_ can open possibilities for determining oneself for the best life. It allows for a phenomenological investigation of reason and the forms of ethical life, feeling, and will. This approach takes distance from values and goals posited by society, critically investigating their foundation and goodness. 7. **Seeking Coherence (Reflective Equilibrium):** Rawls's method of reflective equilibrium involves adjusting principles and considered moral judgments until they align. This process is not based on self-evident, non-moral starting points but is designed to help us reach a state of coherence in our moral beliefs. Scanlon suggests that theoretical reflection helps overcome moral disagreement by providing a more adequate understanding of moral notions, even if this makes some decisions more complex by dislodging overly simple understandings. 8. **Drawing on Experience and Intuition:** Some philosophical approaches, like Hume's, suggest that moral inquiries should be founded on fact and observation, rather than just abstract systems. Practical deductions in ethics can begin from a commonly felt, first-personal, phenomenologically experienced encounter with moral demands. This involves exploring with rigor what is already discovered in one's felt experience of morality, allowing for deeper exploration of one's moral status and obligations. Attentiveness to and contemplation of moral demands (like the dignity of the law in a Kantian sense) can help dislodge fixations on passions and reveal the corruption of one's choices. 9. **Thought Experiments and Exploring Possibilities:** Philosophy engages in exploring possibilities. Thought experiments, like those used in discussions of ethical issues, can help reflect without kneejerk emotional or cultural reactions, challenging or confirming moral intuitions. Foucault's critique aims at exploring the possibility of "no longer being, doing, or thinking what we are, do, or think". Genuine philosophy articulates utopian alternatives and formulates "value ideals" by delving beneath empirical reality. It seeks to open experience to new possibilities, asking what else can be known, done, or lived. 10. **Considering the Embodied and Affective Dimensions:** Some perspectives, like care ethics, shift the moral ground from abstract principles to relationships and emotions. The critique of everyday life tradition emphasizes that critical thought must incorporate the "warm stream" of impassioned and creative speculation, attuned to the poetic, irrational, corporeal, ethical, and affective facets of human existence. Empathy, in its various forms (cognitive and affective), is a subject explored in moral philosophy and psychology, suggesting its potential role in moral development, conduct, and judgment. Philosophy also explores the articulation of affects and passions in understanding morality. 11. **Connecting Theory and Practice:** Philosophy is described not just as theory but as a practice. It can be seen as a path or way to wisdom that is intellectual and moral, theoretical and practical, leading to moral improvement and better choices. The critique of everyday life emphasizes that knowledge should be rooted in sensuous human activity, or praxis. Bourdieu's philosophy involves a "theory of research practice" with a "moral commitment" that demands vigilance and socio-political engagement from the researcher. Adorno's practical philosophy aims at "living less wrongly" in a situation of moral uncertainty, even if theory cannot provide full-blown practical guidance due to antinomies. Ultimately, being a moral philosopher involves employing these varied critical and methodological tools to examine, question, and reflect upon moral concepts, theories, practices, and their historical constitution. It's a process of continuous critique and transformation, seeking deeper understanding and exploring new possibilities for thinking and living ethically. It acknowledges the complexity and potential limitations of simple answers, emphasizing the ongoing nature of inquiry.