VINCENT RYAN RUGGIERO, M.A., is Professor of Humanities Emeritus, State University of New York, Delhi College. Prior to his twenty-nine year career in education, he was a social caseworker and an industrial engineer. The author of twenty-one books, his trade books include Warning: Nonsense Is Destroying America and The Practice of Loving Kindness. His textbooks include The Art of Thinking and Beyond Feelings, both in 10th editions and available in Chinese as well as English, Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues, and A Guide to Sociological Thinking. His latest book, Corrupted Culture: Rediscovering America's Enduring Principles, Values, and Common Sense, is available at Amazon and in bookstores. Professor Ruggiero is internationally recognized as one of the pioneers of the Critical Thinking movement in education. Earlier in his career, he published essays in a variety of magazines and journals, including America, Catholic Mind, The Sign, The Lamp, and Catholic World.
In recent decades, the study of history has lost its former place of honor in U.S. education. That is unfortunate, for knowledge of history is essential to recognizing and avoiding the threats to our civilization. There have been many civilizations...
Several centuries ago Francis Bacon (1521-1626) offered this sage advice on thought and discussion: “Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.” This passage...
In February, 2023 in the midst of a variety of troubling events in the nation and the world, a group of Asbury University students in Wilmore Kentucky began a revival to pray for unity among all people. What happened then gained the attention...
“Why?” “What could possibly explain this behavior?” “How did we get to this state of affairs?” These questions and a host of similar ones are asked by millions of Americans every time they read a newspaper or watch a TV newscast. Even...
In the late 1980s I was invited to Singapore to help their Curriculum Development Institute develop a program in critical and creative thinking. I first visited classrooms to observe teachers and students at work and also spoke with students outside...
The concept of academic freedom is centuries old and has been modified over time. Since 1940 it has had these guiding principles: Teachers are to have “full freedom in research and in the publication of the results,” as well as “freedom in...
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1971) is best remembered for his incisive and witty television presentations, but he was also a brilliant scholar whose 1925 doctoral dissertation—God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy—was called by Commonweal...
Watching the news these days calls to mind the old Jewish adage, “Send a fool to close the shutters and he’ll close them all over town.” It’s hard to tell whether there are more foolish people today than there used to be, or whether the ones we’ve...
