Conceptual Mastery and Critical Attitude: Complex Links

Abstract

Can critical analysis be carried out without the support of minimal conceptual structuring in the field in question? The results of a research survey of beginning teachers are briefly discussed. Interviews on radiocarbon dating illustrate what we call a “delayed critique”, i.e. after a phase of critical passivity and concomitant development of conceptual understanding, a (late) trigger of a critical attitude, as if a condition for this were to reach a threshold of understanding. A less frequent case is the combination of conceptual expertise on the subject under study and the total absence of criticism: “expert anaesthesia”, also observed in other studies (on hot-air balloons, survival blankets, osmosis). The rare cases of “early critique” confirm that it is possible to react critically and appropriately to a text without having an advanced conceptual mastery of the field in question. We argue that the development of this attitude should be a priority objective.